Caergwrle Castle, Hope

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Queen's Hope

In the community of Hope. In the historic county of Flintshire (Modern authority of Flintshire, preserved county of Clwyd).

Masonry castle on hill top built by Dafydd ap Gruffydd after 1277, Probably never finished, deserted and damaged by the welsh in 1282, repairs started by Edward I but castle burnt down the next year, recorded as ruinous in 1335.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ30705723

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's National Monument Record (Coflein) number is 95099
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 101294; 101295 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/hope.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/caergwrle.html
• Books
  • Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p118-20
    Gravett, Christopher, 2007, The Castles of Edward I in Wales 1277-1307 (Osprey Fortress series 64)
    Harston. C L. 2000. Caergwrle: an enigmatic castle. Spyglass History Series 1. (Ceiriog Press. Wrexham)
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p70
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p35
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p50-1
    Burnham, H., 1995, A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales: Clwyd and Powys (Cadw, London)
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p173
    Clwyd Archaeology Service, Caergwrle Castle: the 1988 excavations. (Clwyd County Council)
    Davis, Paul R., 1988, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Swansea)
    Taylor, A.J., 1986, The Welsh Castles of Edward I (Hambledon Press) p38-40
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p151
    Avent, Richard, 1983, Castles of the Princes of Gwynedd (Cardiff)
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p327
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works, vol1: the Middle Ages (London) p330-2
    Davies, E., 1949, Prehistoric and Roman Remains of Flint (Cardiff)
    Neaverson, E., 1947, Mediaeval Castles in North Wales: A study of Sites, Water Supply, and Building Stones (London) p27-8
    Lowe, W.Bezant, 1927, The Heart of North Wales (Llanfairfechan) Vol2 p213-17
    RCAHMW, 1912, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Flintshire (HMSO) p47-8
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol3 (London) p417-8
    Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47835#s2
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p390
• Journal Articles
  • Manley, J., 1994, 'Excavations at Caergwrle Castle, Clwyd, North Wales: 1988-1990' Medieval Archaeology Vol38 p83-133 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Taylor, A.J., 1992, 'The Hope Castle Account of 1282' Flintshire Historical Society Journal Vol33 p21-53
    Manley, J., 1992, 'The outer enclosure on Caergwrle Hill, Clwyd' Flintshire Historical Society Journal Vol33 p12-20
    Manley. J., 1990. ‘A medieval bread-oven from Caergwrle castle. Clwyd’ Archaeology in Wales Vol30 p21-24
    Manley. J., 1989. ‘Caergwrle Castle’. Archaeology in Wales Vol29 p58-9
    anon, 1988, ‘Caergwrle Castle — 1988 dig’, Clwyd Archaeology News winter p2–3
    Grenter, S., 1987, ‘Caergwrle Castle’, Archaeology in Clwyd Vol9 p28–32
    Cathcart King. D J. 1974. ‘Two Castles in Northern Powys: Dinas Bran and Caergwrle’. Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol123 p113-139
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Taylor, A.J., 1965-6, ‘The earliest reference to works at Hope Castle’ Journal of the Flintshire Historical Society Vol22 p76-7 [reprinted in Taylor, A.J., 1986, Studies in castles and castle-building, (London: Hambledon Press) p177–8]
    Maxwell, 1843, Trnas. Cymmrodorion Vol2 pt4 p380-3
• Guidebooks
  • Anon, n.d., Caergwrle Castle (Cheshire County Council for Flintshire County Council)
• 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] p197
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/glameng.html#flint6]
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1906, Leland's Itinerary in Wales (Bell and Sons; London) p73 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryinwales00lelauoft
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such.)
  • Davies, Felicity, 2006, The Archaeology of the North East Slope of Caergwrle Castle Hill (Wirral and North Wales Field Archaeology) http://www.field-archaeology.net/Caergwrlereport.doc [Download]