Tomen y Rhodwydd

Tomen y Rhodwydd
south-west of Llandegla, Denbighshire in Wales, United Kingdom
Coordinates	53.0554°N 3.2295°W / 53.0554; -3.2295
Grid reference	SJ1769651606
Type	motte-and-bailey castle
Site information
Owner	Private
Open to the public	No
Site history
Built	1149

Tomen y Rhodwydd is a motte-and-bailey castle built by Owain Gwynedd to protect the borders of Gwynedd Is Conwy. It stands in an area of fields and low hills to the south of Llandegla-yn-Iâl (today's south-east Denbighshire), Wales.

This, it seems, was the 'Castell yn Iâl' (castle of Yale) built by Owain Gwynedd in 1149, according to the Chronicle of the Princes, when he seized the hundred of Ial from the kings of Powys. That first castle stood until 1157 when it was burnt down by Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd (Iorwerth Goch) of Powys following a raid by Henry II of England on Gwynedd. There is another record in an English document from 1212 which refers to the repair of 'Yale castle', but it is likely that another castle in the same area is meant, namely Tomen y Faerdre, 3 miles down the valley near Llanarmon-yn-Iâl.

An aerial view of Castell y Rhodwydd

The castle stands on private land but can be seen from the A525 road between Wrexham and Ruthin, about a mile and a half south-west of Llandegla.

References

• Richard Avent, Cestyll Tywysogion Cymru (Caerdydd, 1983)
• Paul R. Davies, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Abertawe, 1988)