Vale of Clwyd - Rhuddlan Castle

It is well worth a small detour from Rhyl to Rhuddlan Castle in the Vale of Clwyd (3mi/5km south of Rhyl). This fortress, completed in 1282, was the second largest in the chain of castles which Edward I built in North Wales, and he himself sealed the conquest of Wales here in 1284 in the "Statutes of Rhuddlan". The fortress, which was designed by James of St George on a plan of concentric circles, had a double ring of walls, six massive fortified towers and a protected harbor. It was later razed to the ground by Cromwell's troops.