Dolwyddelan

 In a nutshell. Craggy mountain setting, the medieval stronghold of the Welsh princes.

The village of Dolwyddelan, on the road midway between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed, is dwarfed by its mountainous surroundings, some of the wildest walking country in Snowdonia. Mighty Moel Siabod rears its head to the north, a sight even more stirring when viewed from the battlements of Dolwyddelan Castle.

 The single-towered fortress, unlike the grand showpiece strongholds of Caernarfon and Conwy constructed by King Edward I to subdue the Welsh, is a castle built by the native Princes of Wales. It’s easy to see why Llywelyn the Great chose this strategic spot on a high ridge commanding the Lledr Valley for his early 13th-century stronghold. Strategy aside, he may also have been influenced by the simple fact that he felt at home here, for Dolwyddelan was his birthplace. These were turbulent times – later that century Edward took the castle and refortified it for his own purposes. Unlike other lonely, timeworn mountain strongholds, Dolwyddelan doesn’t look its age thanks to a restoration in the Victorian era.

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