Castell Gwain Goch, Penrhyndeudraeth

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Deudraeth; Deudrait; Castell Aber Iâ; Portmeirion; Gwaun Goch

In the community of Penrhyndeudraeth. In the historic county of Merioneth (Modern authority of Gwynedd, preserved county of Gwynedd).

The original Deudraeth Castle was built by Gruffydd ap Cynan beginning about 1175, making it one of the earliest Welsh castles to be built in stone (although possibly a drystone construction rather than masonry). That castle is mentioned by Geraldus de Cambrensis in his "Journeys through Wales". Little of that earlier castle remained in the mid C19 when the property was aquired by David Williams. Williams, a wealthy attorney, built a fanciful villa in mock-Gothic style on a high promontory overlooking Portmeiron village.
Gareth Hughes, the Conservation Officer for Broadland District Council informs me that:-
"The existence of Castell Deudraeth, mentioned by Gerald of Wales in 1188 as a stone castle, "lately erected" , is not in doubt, but the connection of the structure seen in the twelfth century to the putative archaeological site currently identified with it is not yet proven. The 1983 Centenary Gazebo high above the Town Hall stands on an isolated, flat-topped outcrop of rock (the topography is blurred by planting established over the last 170 years and the site needs close inspection and the mind’s eye to envisage it without the close tree cover). This outcrop is part of a ridge which extends away to the north east, but this south western end of the ridge it has been severed from the rest of the rock by a narrow, mostly man-made, cutting. On the southern (ie north-facing) side of this cutting a short section of dry-stone walling still survives, partly concealed by modern shrubs, which is clearly the feature interpreted as the abutment of a bridge, spanning the cutting, in the Gwynedd Sites and Monuments Record, based on a series of surveys and other investigations in the early twentieth century. With the exception of this section of wall, the other apparent “ruins” on top of the outcrop are of two main phases, the initial short section of wall having been built by Clough Williams-Ellis (presumably with the intention of eventually enlarging it into something more impressively castle-like) and the longer, straggling sections (with the start of a couple of “arrow-slit” windows) dating only from the mid 1980s (the present writer saw them under construction in 1987). http://www.virtualportmeirion.com/motte/index.htm
Although a “motte” is usually entirely man-made, in this case, as at several other Welsh royal castles such as Dolwyddelan nearby, a naturally defensible site has been made more secure by modification. Though the lack of a continuous documentary record makes it impossible to be certain, if Gerald of Wales’ Deudraeth existed anywhere on the Portmeirion peninsula, the only site which presents itself as likely is this one. A rather poorly-researched website on Portmeirion’s history http://www.portmeirion-history.co.uk/ has, through a lack of care in comparing maps and a lack of understanding of the archaeology, dismissed this site out of hand but conjured up several other potential, phantom, sites for the castle."

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SH58833715

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
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's National Monument Record (Coflein) number is 302700
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 2297 '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/deud.html
    http://www.virtualportmeirion.com/motte/index.htm
    http://www.portmeirion-history.co.uk/
• Books
  • Morgan, Gerald, 2008, Castles in Wales: A Handbook (Talybont: Y Lolfa Cyf.) p241, 255 [listed twice]
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p120
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p39
    Davis, Paul R., 1988, Castles of the Welsh Princes (Swansea)
    Avent, Richard, 1983, Castles of the Princes of Gwynedd (Cardiff)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p277
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    RCAHMW, 1921, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Merionethshire (HMSO) p161
• Journal Articles
  • Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol112 p77-124
    Hemp, W.J., 1949, ‘Castell Aber-Ia’, 96th Annual Meeting: Programme, 1949, CAA, p21 [reprinted in the 1971 Harlech programme p30-1]
    Hemp, W.J., 1948-9, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol100 p311-12
    Morris, T.E., 1927, 'The Castle of Deudraeth' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol82 p355-64
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Giraldus Cambrensis, c.1188, Journey Through Wales [http://www.building-history.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Primary/Gerald2.htm]