Qualla: Dryslwyn Castle https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dryslwyn Castle https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle Dryslwyn Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle/ Photo credit Alan Hughes, CC BY-SA 2.0. Eleven thousand English soldiers stood at the foot of the rock in 1287, and the man on top still believed he could hold them. Rhys ap Maredudd had spent years strengthening the walls of Dryslwyn, augmenting what his ancestors built, making peace where other Welsh lords made war. He had been the cooperative one, the lord Edward I let keep his castle. Then he rose up anyway, and the king of England sent an army to remind him why submission had been the wiser choice. The trebuchet went up. The mines went down beneath the curtain walls. Three weeks later, the rocky hill above the Tywi Valley belonged to England.

Read more: Dryslwyn Castle on Qualla

Image: Alan Hughes | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/gcjp-dryslwyn-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dryslwyn Castle: A Prince's Inheritance https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle/ Photo credit George Causley, CC BY-SA 2.0. Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd held the kingdom of Deheubarth together through the late twelfth century, and on his death in 1197, his three sons promptly tore it apart. Welsh kingdoms could die of love as easily as war, divided again and again as fathers parcelled out land among contesti...

Read more: Dryslwyn Castle on Qualla

Image: George Causley | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/gcjp-dryslwyn-castle-a-princes-inheritance.mp3 0:06 2 full Dryslwyn Castle: Two Castles, Two Sons https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle/ Photo credit Nigel Davies, CC BY-SA 2.0. Rhys Gryg died in 1234, and the family theory holds that he had built two castles for two heirs - Dryslwyn here, and Dinefwr a few miles east. The pair are uncannily similar: same round tower, same flared base, same curtain wall flowing with the land. They guarded the heart of De...

Read more: Dryslwyn Castle on Qualla

Image: Nigel Davies | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/gcjp-dryslwyn-castle-two-castles-two-sons.mp3 0:06 3 full Dryslwyn Castle: The Three-Week Siege https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle/ Photo credit Wilson44691, CC0. Dafydd ap Gruffudd, the last native prince of Wales, was executed in 1283, and the country he ruled vanished into the realm of Edward I. Almost every Welsh lord lost his castle. Rhys ap Maredudd kept his, because Rhys ap Maredudd had been conciliatory, accommodating, useful to th...

Read more: Dryslwyn Castle on Qualla

Image: Wilson44691 | CC0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/gcjp-dryslwyn-castle-the-three-week-siege.mp3 0:06 4 full Dryslwyn Castle: What the Stones Remember https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle/ Photo credit Wadesnj001, CC BY-SA 4.0. Rhys ap Maredudd escaped. His revolt sputtered out the following year, and captured in 1291 and executed in 1292. Dryslwyn remained in English hands but mattered less and less. The political centre of Welsh power had moved elsewhere, into the ring of Edward's massive new castles ...

Read more: Dryslwyn Castle on Qualla

Image: Wadesnj001 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/gcjp-dryslwyn-castle-what-the-stones-remember.mp3 0:06 5 full Dryslwyn Castle: A Rare Survivor https://qualla.com/dryslwyn-castle/ Photo credit Nigel Davies, CC BY-SA 2.0. Most of the castles Welsh princes built were demolished, replaced by English fortresses, or left to dissolve into the landscape. Dryslwyn is one of the few that survived in recognizable form. It is, by current reckoning, one of the most important remaining stone structures built ...

Read more: Dryslwyn Castle on Qualla

Image: Nigel Davies | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/p/dryslwyn-castle-wp/gcjp-dryslwyn-castle-a-rare-survivor.mp3 0:06 6 full