Perched on a great crag above Tremadog Bay, with the mountains of Snowdonia to the north as a backdrop, Harlech is recognized as some of the finest castle ruins in the British Isles. But it wasn't the scenery which attracted the castle's builders to the site in the 1280's, rather the exceptional defensive potential of the rock itself.

Harlech was one of three new palace-castles built around the coast of Snowdonia by King Edward I (who reigned from 1272-1307), after his war against Wales in 1282-83. During the confrontation, the Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, was tragically killed in a skirmish in December 1282. With the death of Llywelyn the hope of an independent nation, free from the control of the English, was extinguished. King Edward strove ahead with another major castle construction programme, adding Harlech, Caernarfon and Conwy to the chain of forts he had commissioned after his first war in Wales in 1276-77.

Together, these symbolic strongholds created an iron circle around Llywelyn's former stronghold, the kingdom of Gwynedd.

Product Code: CPC00031

Published 2016 / 8 pages / ISBN 978-1-8576-335-4

Size 150mm (w) x 210mm (h) Welsh language

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