Wales · Partial ruin
Holt Castle
Holt Castle was a medieval fortress built on a sandstone promontory beside the River Dee on the Welsh–English border. Constructed between 1277 and 1311 as a pentagonal, five-towered stronghold, almost all above-ground stonework was removed in the 17th century and only foundation-level masonry and fragments survive today.
First raised
1282
Its prime
1311
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1311
The shape it held in its prime.
Perched on a 12‑metre high red sandstone promontory by the River Dee, the castle in its prime was a pentagonal fortress of local red sandstone with a tower at each corner and curtain walls linking them. A stepped ramp led up to a main gateway and barbican, and a water-filled moat fed from the Dee encircled the base. Several towers were built against the exposed rock face; the inner ward and keep rose within the curtain walls.
Its story
The story of Holt Castle.
Edward I started Holt Castle on a sandstone base beside the River Dee soon after his invasion of North Wales in 1277. In 1282 he granted the Welsh lands of Bromfield and Yale to the loyal lord John de Warrene, who was given the task of completing the work; by 1311 the five-towered fortress was finished, with a planned town laid out beside it for English settlers. In the medieval period it was known as Castrum Leonis, or Castle Lyons, for the lion carved above its main gate.
Welsh forces burned the town in 1400 during the uprising of Owain Glyndŵr, though the castle was not taken. By the 16th century it had fallen into disuse — the Elizabethan map-maker John Norden found it 'nowe in great decay'. Garrisoned by Royalists for most of the First Civil War, it was captured by Parliament in 1643 and retaken in 1644; in the 17th century almost all the stonework was removed, leaving only the sandstone foundations and fragments of masonry.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1311.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Holt Castle — including 1 interior: inner ward and keep (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Holt Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1311 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Holt Castle.
The families that held Holt Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Warenne
Granted with the lands of Bromfield and Yale to John de Warrene in 1282, who completed the five-towered castle by 1311.
