URPoint Details
Disabled car park adjacent to shop. Ground level access with some help there is a slope from the ticket office to the entrance shop is fully accessible.
A chronicle in stone of medieval fortress-technology, the strong and splendid castle of Kidwelly developed during more than three centuries of Anglo-Welsh warfare.
Its half-moon shape stems from the original 12th century stockaded fortress, defended on one side by the river Gwendraeth and on the other by a deep crescent-shaped ditch.
Within this, one of Edward I's barons later raised a rectangular stone stronghold, perhaps castles he had seen on crusade. Next came an outer half-circuit of towered walls, making Kidwelly an up-to-date 'concentric' castle. The south gatehouse was begun - but stood unfinished when Owain Glyndwr's Welsh insurgents attacked in 1403. Yet Kidwelly's tiny garrison held out and later the great gatehouse was completed as the castle's chief strongpoint.
- Type:
- Landmark