Castell Dinas Brân

Looking westwards from Dinas Brân towards the Eglwyseg.

The name Dinas Brân has been debated since at least the 17th century. In modern times it is sometimes incorrectly translated as the City of Crows: the word dinas, "city" in modern Welsh, in Middle Welsh signifies a defended enclosure, while brân is the Welsh for "crow", singular, (plural: brain), suggesting a meaning "the crow's fortress".

An alternative theory is that Brân is a personal name. Humphrey Llwyd and William Camden both suggested it came from that of a Gaulish chieftain, "Brennus". There is a legend which says that Brân was a Cornish prince, the son of the Duke of Cornwall, while another suggests Brân could be named for King Brân Fendigaid (the Blessed) also called Bendigeidfran, a Celtic God who appears in both Welsh and Irish mythology. Camden also suggested the name was simply derived from the word bryn, "hill".[3]

A further suggestion is that Brân simply refers to a mountain stream of the same name which originated in the Eglwyseg Rocks and ran at the northern foot of the hill, a suggestion made by Thomas Pennant amongst others.[1] The 17th century scholar Edward Lhuyd, in Adversaria, confirmed that to his knowledge the name Brân came from "the brook of this name by Lhangollen".[4] As with several other streams in Wales,[5] the word Brân was applied to the brook apparently due to the black colour of its water.[3]

The castle is known in English as "Crow Castle".[3][1] This form of the name has been used since at least the 18th century, having been recorded in Gough's edition of William Camden's Britannia.[2] By the mid 19th century this was the form of the name said to be used by most of the inhabitants of Llangollen, where there was an inn of the same name.[1][3]

Dinas Brân southern wall and deep rock cut ditch

Dinas Brân has rectangular stone defensive walls with the longer sides running in an east-west direction. The northern wall is defended with the steep natural slope that falls sharply downards for several hundred feet. The walls on the gentler slopes on the southern and eastern sides are strengthened with an additional 20 feet (6.1 m) deep rock-cut ditch and counterscarp bank.[8]

At the south-eastern corner where the ditch is at its deepest stood the keep, which looks out onto a relatively easy approach to the castle from the River Dee. The two-storey structure00 would have been the strongest part of the castle, with its own defended approach through a narrow passage. Adjacent to the keep at the north eastern corner is a gatehouse, which was originally approached by a wooden bridge spanning the ditch. There is however almost no evidence remaining of the bridge and its supporting structure so that the exact configuration remains unclear. The bridge was also overlooked by the keep which allowed archers stationed there to guard the entrance. The Gatehouse had two towers either side of a decorated covered passageway into the castle courtyard.

The Great Hall is sited on the castle's southern side, where some of the more visible remains still stand. This was a large room used for dining and receiving visitors. Its much enlarged windows still look south across the valley and an arched gateway leads from the west end of the room to what was once the Kitchens in the basement of the adjacent apsidal ('D' shaped) tower. This tower, called the Welsh Tower, is a typical feature of Welsh castles of the period. It would have protruded from the castle wall into the defensive ditch and provided archers with a clear view of any attackers attempting to approach the southern wall. The tower had perhaps three storeys with living quarters on the upper floors. In the south western corner was a Postern gate. This was an additional exit from the castle, designed to be used in times of siege to allow the garrison to 'sally' out and attack their besiegers. Fragments of the arch remain as well as the slot for the door's drawbar.[6]

Originally, in the enclosed area of the castle there would have been stables, workshops, storage buildings and maybe a chapel but as these were built of wood nothing remains above ground level.[6]

In the 19th century there was a local tradition, recorded by Walter Hawken Tregellas, that at Tower Farm, about a mile from the castle, had formerly stood a tower that was an outwork of the castle defences.[9]

Castell Dinas Brân viewed from the north west

Whilst the historical record for Dinas Brân is sparse, there are many myths and legends associated with the ancient site.

The popular Welsh song 'Myfanwy' was composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875. Parry wrote the music to lyrics written by Richard Davies ('Mynyddog'; 1833–77). The lyrics were probably inspired by the fourteenth-century love-story of Myfanwy Fychan of Castell Dinas Brân, and the poet Hywel ab Einion. That story was also the subject of the popular poem, 'Myfanwy Fychan' (1858), by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–87) and of Felicia Hemans's poem 'Howel's Song', set to music by John Parry in his 'Welsh Melodies' (1822).

The castle first literary appearance is in a 12th-century historical document entitled "Fouke le Fitz Waryn," or "The Romance of Fulk Fitzwarine." In this tale the castle, named "Chastiel Bran," is referred to as a ruin during the early years of the Norman Conquest. The tale continues to tell of an arrogant Norman knight, Payn Peveril, who hears that no one has had courage enough to stay overnight inside the castle ruins, for fear of evil spirits. Payn and 15 'knightly followers' determine to stay the night. A storm blows up and an evil, mace-wielding giant called Gogmagog, appears. Payn defends his men against the attacks of the giant with his shield and cross, then stabs Gogmagog with his sword. As the giant is dying he tells of the earlier bravery of King Brân who had built the castle to try to defeat the giant. Despite King Brân's attempts against Gogmagog the King had been forced to flee and since then the giant had terrorised all the land around for many years. The giant also tells of a great treasury of idols buried at Dinas Brân which includes swans, peacocks, horses and a huge golden ox but dies without revealing its location.[10]

The castle is a scheduled ancient monument owned and maintained by Denbighshire council with the assistance of Cadw. It is open all year round for visitors. Due to the exposed steep routes up to the castle, official advice suggests stout walking shoes and warm, waterproof clothing.

The conspicuous hill upon which Dinas Brân was built reaches an elevation of 321.4m / 1054ft Amsl and is composed of thinly bedded, uncleaved, late Silurian [11] [12] deep water marine silty mudstones of the Dinas Brân Geological Formation (formerly the Dinas Brân Group or Dinas Brân Beds). [13] [14] At up to 225m in thickness, the Dinas Brân Formation is thought to range upwards in age into the late Ludfordian Stage, the upper of two chronostratigraphic subdivisions within the Ludlow epoch (427.4 ± 0.5 million years to 423.0 ± 2.3 million years ago in duration). Geographically, the mudstones and siltstones extend from the type exposures around Dinas Brân to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct about 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the east. The formation occupies the core of the Llangollen syncline and, although the basal junction is not seen, it overlies the Vivod Group (or Monograptus leintwardinensis Beds) of Wills and Smith (1922) which also consist of thinly bedded flaggy mudstones. Upper junction of the Dinas Brân Formation is likewise not exposed, but opposite the (Llangollen - Panorama Walk) Wern road T-junction at the base of the Eglwyseg Escarpment is a very small outcrop of dark olive-grey mudstone with abundant remains of the brachiopod Dayia navicula (J. de C. Sowerby, 1839).[15] This exposure is unconformably overlain by Lower Carboniferous Limestone of the Clwyd Limestone Group (deposited between 363 and 325 million years ago) that forms the impressive escarpment, but once again the actual junction is obscured by a combination of scree, regolith and common gorse (Ulex europaeus). Silurian fossils can also be obtained from scree and rubble below the castle on the steep northern slope and in the deep rock-cut ditches partially surrounding the castle, which served the dual purpose of both defense and quarrying stone to build Dinas Brân. Brachiopods, Orthocone straight-shelled Nautiloids (Molluscan Class Cephalopoda) and rare Trilobite remains may also be found.

• List of hillforts in Wales
• List of castles in Wales

Citations

Bibliography

• Camden, William, Gough, Richard (ed.), Britannia, iii
• Evans, John (1804), Letters written during a tour through North Wales in the year 1798
• Kightly, Dr. Charles (2003), Dinas Brân Castle, Denbighshire County Council
• King, D. J. Cathcart (1974), "Two Castles in Northern Powys: Dinas Bran and Caergwrle", Archaeologia Cambrensis, CXXIII: 113–139
• Oman, Charles W. C. (1989) [1926], British Castles, Dover Books
• Pierce, G. Owen (1968), The place-names of Dinas Powys Hundred, University of Wales Press
• Tregellas, Walter H. (1864), "Castell Dinas Bran" (PDF), The Archaeological Journal, 21: 114–120, doi:10.1080/00665983.1864.10851279
• Tregellas, Walter H. (1865), "Castell Dinas Bran near Llangollen, Denbighshire", Archaeologia Cambrensis: 49–58

Further reading

• Reid, Alan (1973), The Castles of Wales, ISBN 0-85097-185-3
• Roseveare, Martin J. (2017), Castell Dinas Bran, Llangollen, Denbighshire: Geophysical Survey Report (PDF), Tigergeo and the Castle Studies Trust

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castell Dinas Brân.

• Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust
• megalithic.co.uk
• 3D model of the standing remains