Holt Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Chastellion; Castrum Leonis; Castle Lions

In the community of Holt. In the historic county of Denbighshire (Modern authority of Wrexham, preserved county of Clwyd).

Holt Castle, known as Chastellion or Castrum Leonis from the lion sculpture above its gateway, was built some time between 1282 and 1311 by John de Warren, who was granted the area after Edward I's final defeat of the Welsh. The King's architect may have been responsible for the design of the castle. An irregular pentagon of walls, c.20-24m across, set upon and against a boss of natural rock, reached by a causeway from the N, and raised c.10m proud the expansive floor of a quarry that has subsumed any traces of ditches, moats or ourworks. It was probably intended to guard the river crossing. The visible remains are difficult to interpret since almost all the stonework was removed between 1675 and 1683 for the construction of Eaton Hall. A survey of 1562 shows all the towers as round with a rectangular external annexe containing the chapel running full height of the south-eastern tower opposite the gate as square or rectangular.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This site is a Not known if listed listed building protected by law*.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ41135377

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Monuments Record number; 307202 County Sites and Monuments Record number; 101260

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/holt.html
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_wales/117/holtcastle.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/holt.html
• Books
  • Gravett, Christopher, 2007, The Castles of Edward I in Wales 1277-1307 (Osprey Fortress series 64)
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p66
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p93
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p75
    Burnham, H., 1995, A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales: Clwyd and Powys (Cadw, London)
    Butler, l., 1987, ‘Holt Castle: John de Warenne and Chastellion’. in Kenyon, J.R. and Avent., R. (eds). Castles in Wales and the Marches: essays in honour of D. J. Cathcart King (Cardiff: University of Wales Press) p105-24
    Taylor, A.J., 1986, The Welsh Castles of Edward I (Hambledon Press) p42-3
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p103-4
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p358
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works, vol1: the Middle Ages (London) p334-5
    Neaverson, E., 1947, Mediaeval Castles in North Wales: A study of Sites, Water Supply, and Building Stones (London) p24
    RCAHMW, 1914, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Denbighshire (HMSO) p74-5
    Palmer, A.N., 1910, The Town of Holt (London) [reprint of 1907-1908 Arch. Camb. articles]
    Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47834#s9
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p386
• Journal Articles
  • Grenter, S., 1988, ‘Holt Castle’, Archaeology in Clwyd Vol10 p6–8
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Pratt, D., 1965, 'The medieval borough of Holt' Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions p8-74
    Hemp, W.J., 1935, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol90 p357-8
    Palmer, A.N., 1908, 'The town of Holt in county Denbigh' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol63 p155-63
    Palmer, A.N., 1907, 'The town of Holt in county Denbigh: its castle, church, franchise and demesne' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol62 p311-4, 389-402
    Jones, 1875, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol30 p91-3
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents. This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p162-3
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p69