Dolbadarn Castle

Dolbadarn was raised by Llywelyn the Great in the 1220s or 1230s at the base of the Llanberis Pass, overlooking the lake of Llyn Padarn. The Welsh princes had traditionally governed not from castles but from undefended courts called llysoedd; it was the Norman advance into Wales from the late 11th century that changed the calculation. Having built the innovative stone Castell y Bere in the 1220s, Llywelyn began Dolbadarn shortly afterwards with two square stone towers. The site controlled an important mountain pass, and possibly carried a political message as well: Llywelyn claimed authority as lord of the mountains and coasts of Wales, and several of his castles appear to have been placed with that symbolism in mind.

A second phase followed, probably in the 1240s, after Llywelyn married his eldest son Dafydd to Isabella, daughter of William de Braose, a powerful Marcher lord in Brecon, Builth and Abergavenny. The Marcher castles used circular keeps and integrated curtain walls, and Llywelyn now added both — probably aiming both at the latest military technology and at a castle of equal prestige to those of his new allies in the south. The round keep, built of purple and green slate and mortared where the rest of the castle is largely dry stone, was entered at first-floor level and fitted with a portcullis; the historian Richard Avent judged it "the finest surviving example of a Welsh round tower". After the 1240s the surrounding district of Is Gwyrfai, previously run from Llanbeblig, was administered from Dolbadarn.

After Llywelyn's death in 1240 Gwynedd's power declined, and Henry III of England took many of its eastern lands in 1247. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the old prince's grandson, took power in 1255 and imprisoned his own brother, Owain ap Gruffudd, who was not released until 1277. Which castle held him through those years has been much debated, but Hywel Foel ap Griffri wrote a famous poem describing Owain's long imprisonment in a round tower, and historians believe it refers to the keep at Dolbadarn.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's final campaign against Edward I ended with the prince's death near Builth in December 1282. His brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd assumed power but was forced south into Snowdonia during 1283, and by May his government was based at Dolbadarn Castle. Edward deployed 7,000 troops to detain him; Dafydd was captured and executed that October, and Dolbadarn was occupied by Norman forces.

Edward, determined to prevent further rebellion, built a sequence of new castles and walled towns and replaced the old Welsh administrative system with a principality governed from Caernarfon. Dolbadarn no longer mattered, and within two years timber from the castle was being carried off for the construction of Caernarfon Castle — a practical measure, and a demonstration of power over one of the most important possessions of the Welsh princes.

The remaining buildings served as a manor house into the 14th century, but by the 18th century Dolbadarn was ruined and uninhabited. From the 1760s it became a popular subject for painters working in the fashionable Sublime and "Picturesque" styles, who typically set the ruin in the middle ground against the lakes and mountains of Snowdonia — frequently rearranging the landscape for more dramatic effect. J. M. W. Turner's 1800 painting Dolbadarn Castle, with the back-lit tower looming over the landscape, became particularly famous; Richard Wilson and Paul Sandby also produced important paintings of the castle.

In 1941 Sir Michael Duff gave the castle to the State. It is now maintained by Cadw and protected as a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument, and since 2024 Cadw has used the Welsh name Castell Dolbadarn in English.