Castell Dinas Brân is a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
, built by the Princes of
Powys Fadog, who occupy a prominent hilltop site above the town of
Llangollen in
Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The presently visible stone castle was probably built in the 1260s by
Gruffydd Maelor II, a prince of Powys Fadog, on the site of several earlier structures, including an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hillfort.
''Dinas Brân'' has been variously translated as the "crow's fortress" or "fortress of Brân", with ''Brân'' as the name of an individual or of a nearby stream.
[ An English name, "Crow Castle", has also been used since at least the 18th century.][
]
Name
The name Dinas Brân has been debated since at least the 17th century. In modern times it is sometimes incorrectly translated as ''the City of Crows'': the word ''dinas'', "city" in modern Welsh, in Middle Welsh signifies a defended enclosure, while ''brân'' is the Welsh for "crow", singular, (plural: ''brain''), suggesting a meaning "the crow's fortress".
An alternative theory is that Brân is a personal name. Humphrey Llwyd and William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...
both suggested it came from that of a Gaulish chieftain, "Brennus". There is a legend which says that Brân was a Cornish prince, the son of the Duke of Cornwall
Duke of Cornwall is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch, previously the English monarch. The duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in England and was established by a ro ...
, while another suggests Brân could be named for King Brân Fendigaid (the Blessed) also called Bendigeidfran, a Celtic God who appears in both Welsh and Irish mythology. Camden also suggested the name was simply derived from the word ''bryn'', "hill".
A further suggestion is that ''Brân'' simply refers to a mountain stream of the same name which originated in the Eglwyseg Rocks and ran at the northern foot of the hill, a suggestion made by Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...
amongst others. The 17th century scholar Edward Lhuyd, in ''Adversaria'', confirmed that to his knowledge the name ''Brân'' came from "''the brook of this name by Lhangollen''". As with several other streams in Wales, the word ''Brân'' was applied to the brook apparently due to the black colour of its water.[
The castle is known in English as "Crow Castle".] This form of the name has been used since at least the 18th century, having been recorded in Gough
Gough ( ) is a surname. The surname probably derives from the Welsh (English: "red"), given as a nickname to someone with red hair or a red complexion or as a reduced form of the Irish McGough which itself is an Anglicized form of Gaelic , a patro ...
's edition of William Camden's Britannia. By the mid 19th century this was the form of the name said to be used by most of the inhabitants of Llangollen, where there was an inn of the same name.[
]
History
Iron age
During the British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ire ...
, around 600BCE, a large hillfort was built on the summit of what was to become Dinas Brân by a Celtic tribe named the Ordovices
The Ordovīcēs (Common Brittonic: *''Ordowīcī'') were one of the Celtic tribes living in Great Britain before the Roman invasion. Their tribal lands were located in present-day North Wales and England, between the Silures to the south and the D ...
. An earthen rampart - probably with a wooden palisade
A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade.
Etymology
''Palisade' ...
- surrounded a number of roundhouses and an extra deep ditch was cut to defend the gentler slopes on the southern side of the hill. This was one of many strongholds belonging to the Ordovices in this part of North Wales. In the west are Craig Rhiwarth
Craig Rhiwarth is a mountain in the Berwyn range, in Powys (formerly Montgomeryshire), Wales, overlooking the village of Llangynog to the south. On the summit is an Iron Age hillfort, and there are remains of slate quarrying on the southern slopes ...
in the Berwyn Range and Dinas Emrys near Beddgelert in Gwynedd. In the east are Castell Dinas Brân itself, Caer Drewyn
Caer Drewyn is an early Iron Age hillfort to the north of the town of Corwen, Denbighshire (Grid reference ). It has a large stone rampart with entrances on the west and north sides; there is a guard chamber within the north-east entrance, and it ...
, Caer Euni and Moel y Gaer near the Horseshoe Pass
The Horseshoe Pass ( cy, Bwlch yr Oernant, "Pass of the Cold Stream") is a mountain pass in Denbighshire, north-east Wales. It separates Llantysilio Mountain to the west from the 565 metre (1,854 feet) mountain and Marilyn Cyrn-y-Brain to the eas ...
. The inhabitants of Old Oswestry
Old Oswestry () is a large early Iron Age hill fort in the Welsh Marches near Oswestry in north west Shropshire, England. The earthworks, which remain one of the best preserved hill forts in the UK, have been described as "The Stonehenge of the ...
hillfort were either from the tribes of the Ordovices or Cornovii
The Cornovii is the name by which two, or three, tribes were known in Roman Britain. One tribe was in the area centred on present-day Shropshire, one was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there was probably one in Cornwall. The name has a ...
and Iron Age hillforts in the Clwydian Range to the north (including Foel Fenlli
Foel Fenlli or Moel Fenlli is a hill in Denbighshire, North Wales. With a summit at an elevation of , it is the second highest peak of the Clwydian Range.
A popular ascent leads south from the car park at Bwlch Penbarras, which is also a popul ...
and Moel Arthur) were occupied by the neighbouring Deceangli. The Ordovices were also neighboured to the north-west by the Gangani, to the east by the Cornovii, to the south by the Silures
The Silures ( , ) were a powerful and warlike tribe or tribal confederation of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Dobunn ...
and south-west by the Demetae.
In 1879 the pioneering English geologist Charles Lapworth named the Ordovician geological period
The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronol ...
after the Ordovices as the rock formations he had studied were located in the tribe's former North Welsh domain.
* Lapworth wrote (''op. cit''., pp. 13 – 14): "North Wales itself – at all events the whole of the great Bala district where Sedgwick first worked out the physical succession among the rocks of the intermediate or so-called Upper Cambrian or Lower Silurian system; and in all probability much of the Shelve and the Caradoc area, whence Murchison first published its distinctive fossils – lay within the territory of the Ordovices; ... Here, then, have we the hint for the appropriate title for the central system of the Lower Palaeozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...
s. It should be called the Ordovician System, after this old British tribe."
Post Roman Britain
The earliest structure that might have been built at Dinas Brân is believed to have belonged to Elisedd ap Gwylog
Elisedd ap Gwylog (died c. 755), also known as Elise, was king of Powys in eastern Wales, son of Gwylog ap Beli.
Little has been preserved in the historical records about Elisedd, who was an ancestor of Brochwel Ysgithrog. He appears to have recl ...
during the 8th century. Elisedd, who was a Romano British ruler during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is the process which changed the language and culture of most of what became England from Romano-British to Germanic peoples, Germanic. The Germanic-speakers in Britain, themselves of diverse origins, ev ...
is named on the Pillar of Eliseg
The Pillar of Eliseg – also known as Elise's Pillar or Croes Elisedd in Welsh – stands near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales rid reference It was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell (died 855), king of Powys in honour of his great-grandfath ...
and is considered one of the founders of the Kingdom of Powys, however, no archaeological evidence for any structure from this period has been found.[
]
Late Medieval period
Dinas Brân may have been a fortification in the Kingdom of Powys. When its last Prince, Gruffydd Maelor, died in 1191, his kingdom was divided into Powys Fadog in the north and Powys Wenwynwyn in the south. His son, Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor
Madog ap Gruffudd, or Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor, was Prince of Powys Fadog from 1191 to 1236 in north-east Wales.
Early life
He was elder son of Prince Gruffydd Maelor and his wife, Angharad, a daughter of King Owain Gwynedd. He succeeded his fa ...
, the lord of Powys Fadog, who founded Valle Crucis Abbey at Llantysilio
Llantysilio ( cy, Llandysilio-yn-Iâl) is a community in Denbighshire, Wales, near Llangollen. It has a population of 472, falling to 421 at the 2011 census.
The community includes the site of Valle Crucis Abbey, the Horseshoe Pass, and Llanty ...
in 1201 might have ruled from Dinas Brân. Whatever structure existed at this site, it would have been a wooden fortification probably consisting of a wooden palisade surrounding a hall and other buildings. Early records attest to this early castle being destroyed by fire.
Following the destruction of the wooden castle, Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Bran, the son of Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, rebuilt Dinas Brân in stone sometime in the 1260s. At the time Gruffydd II ap Madog was an ally of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Prince of Wales, with Powys acting as a buffer state
A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...
between Llywelyn's heartland of Gwynedd
Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...
and England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Dinas Brân was one of several castles being built following the signing of the Treaty of Montgomery which had secured Wales for Llywelyn, free from English interference. The castle at Dolforwyn Castle
Dolforwyn Castle ( cy, Castell Dolforwyn) is a Welsh medieval castle above the village of Abermule, Powys. The fortification was established by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Gwynedd in the late 13th century. It is sited on a wooded ridge comm ...
near Newtown, which was ordered to be built by Llywelyn around the same time, has some similarities to Dinas Brân and may have been the work of the same master mason.[ When Gruffudd died in 1269 or 1270, the castle was inherited by his four sons. Madoc the eldest son was senior but each of the sons may have had apartments at Dinas Brân.
The peace between Llywelyn and ]Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
did not last long. In 1277 Edward launched the Conquest of North Wales from Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
. Two of Gruffudd's sons, Llywelyn and Madoc, quickly made peace with Edward. However, their surrender documents state the need to recapture Dinas Brân proving that the fortification was not under Madoc's control. Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln was sent with forces from Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
to capture Dinas Brân. As soon as he had arrived he was told that the defenders of the castle, probably the younger brothers Owain and Gruffudd - who were still allies of Llywelyn Prince of Wales, had abandoned the castle and set it alight. The reason for this action is not clear but it may be that they had no confidence that they could defend the castle so did not want to let it fall intact to the English or their elder brother. Despite the fire, the castle was not badly damaged. The Earl of Lincoln recommended to Edward that the castle be repaired and garrisoned. The castle was occupied by the English till at least the Treaty of Aberconwy when Llywelyn sued for peace and ordered some repair work be undertaken.
When the war restarted in 1282, the history of the castle is not recorded. It may have been recaptured by the Welsh like many other castles in the early months of the war, but ultimately it fell to the English. After Madoc died: the three surviving brothers all fought for Llywelyn. Following the end of the war in October 1282 and the death of Llywelyn, most of Powys Fadog including the castle was granted to John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. Rather than rebuild Dinas Brân, De Warenne choose instead to build a new castle by the River Dee at Holt
Holt or holte may refer to:
Natural world
*Holt (den), an otter den
* Holt, an area of woodland
Places Australia
* Holt, Australian Capital Territory
* Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...
on the Flintshire-Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
border. Dinas Brân was left to fall into ruin.[
]
Later History
Castell Dinas Brân has also been a source of inspiration for artists in more recent centuries, such as J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
and Richard Wilson, both of whom strove to capture the castle and its surroundings through their paintings.
Layout
Dinas Brân has rectangular stone defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
s with the longer sides running in an east-west direction. The northern wall is defended with the steep natural slope that falls sharply downwards for several hundred feet. The walls on the gentler slopes on the southern and eastern sides are strengthened with an additional deep rock-cut ditch and counterscarp bank.
At the south-eastern corner where the ditch is at its deepest stood the keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
, which looks out onto a relatively easy approach to the castle from the River Dee. The two-storey structure00 would have been the strongest part of the castle, with its own defended approach through a narrow passage. Adjacent to the keep at the north eastern corner is a gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
, which was originally approached by a wooden bridge spanning the ditch. There is however almost no evidence remaining of the bridge and its supporting structure so that the exact configuration remains unclear. The bridge was also overlooked by the keep which allowed archers stationed there to guard the entrance. The Gatehouse had two towers either side of a decorated covered passageway into the castle courtyard.
The Great Hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...
is sited on the castle's southern side, where some of the more visible remains still stand. This was a large room used for dining and receiving visitors. Its much enlarged windows still look south across the valley and an arched gateway leads from the west end of the room to what was once the Kitchens in the basement of the adjacent apsidal ('D' shaped) tower. This tower, called the Welsh Tower, is a typical feature of Welsh castles of the period. It would have protruded from the castle wall into the defensive ditch and provided archers with a clear view of any attackers attempting to approach the southern wall. The tower had perhaps three storeys with living quarters on the upper floors. In the south western corner was a Postern gate. This was an additional exit from the castle, designed to be used in times of siege to allow the garrison to 'sally' out and attack their besiegers. Fragments of the arch remain as well as the slot for the door's drawbar.[
Originally, in the enclosed area of the castle there would have been stables, workshops, storage buildings and maybe a ]chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
but as these were built of wood nothing remains above ground level.[
In the 19th century there was a local tradition, recorded by ]Walter Hawken Tregellas
Walter Hawken Tregellas (10 July 1831 – 28 May 1894) was a British writer of historical, biographical and other works. He was also a professional draughtsman.
Life and writings
Tregellas was the eldest son of John Tabois Tregellas (1792– ...
, that at Tower Farm, about a mile from the castle, had formerly stood a tower that was an outwork of the castle defences.
Legends and literature
Whilst the historical record for Dinas Brân is sparse, there are many myths and legends associated with the ancient site.
The popular Welsh song 'Myfanwy
''Myfanwy'' (; a woman's name derived ) is a popular Welsh song, composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875.
Background
Sources differ as to whether Dr. Parry composed the music for an existing poem by Richard Davies (" Mynyddog Mwy ...
' was composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875. Parry wrote the music to lyrics written by Richard Davies ('Mynyddog'; 1833–77). The lyrics were probably inspired by the fourteenth-century love-story of Myfanwy Fychan of Castell Dinas Brân, and the poet Hywel ab Einion. That story was also the subject of the popular poem, 'Myfanwy Fychan' (1858), by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–87) and of Felicia Hemans
Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic statu ...
's poem 'Howel's Song', set to music by John Parry in his 'Welsh Melodies' (1822).
The castle first literary appearance is in a 12th-century historical document entitled "Fouke le Fitz Waryn," or "The Romance of Fulk Fitzwarine." In this tale the castle, named "Chastiel Bran," is referred to as a ruin during the early years of the Norman Conquest. The tale continues to tell of an arrogant Norman knight, Payn Peveril, who hears that no one has had courage enough to stay overnight inside the castle ruins, for fear of evil spirits. Payn and 15 'knightly followers' determine to stay the night. A storm blows up and an evil, mace-wielding giant called Gogmagog, appears. Payn defends his men against the attacks of the giant with his shield and cross, then stabs Gogmagog with his sword. As the giant is dying he tells of the earlier bravery of King Brân who had built the castle to try to defeat the giant. Despite King Brân's attempts against Gogmagog the King had been forced to flee and since then the giant had terrorised all the land around for many years. The giant also tells of a great treasury of idols buried at Dinas Brân which includes swans, peacocks, horses and a huge golden ox but dies without revealing its location.
Preservation
The castle is a scheduled ancient monument owned and maintained by Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
council with the assistance of Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...
. It is open all year round for visitors. Due to the exposed steep routes up to the castle, official advice suggests stout walking shoes and warm, waterproof clothing.
Geology
The conspicuous hill upon which Dinas Brân was built reaches an elevation of 321.4m / 1054 ft Amsl and is composed of thinly bedded, uncleaved, late Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...
deep water marine silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
y mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...
s of the Dinas Brân Geological Formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...
(formerly the Dinas Brân Group or Dinas Brân Beds). At up to 225m in thickness, the Dinas Brân Formation is thought to range upwards in age into the late Ludfordian
In the geologic timescale, the Ludfordian is the upper of two chronostratigraphic stages within the Ludlow Series. Its age is the late Silurian Period, and within both the Palaeozoic Era and Phanerozoic Eon. The rocks assigned to the Ludfordian ...
Stage, the upper of two chronostratigraphic
Chronostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy that studies the ages of rock strata in relation to time.
The ultimate aim of chronostratigraphy is to arrange the sequence of deposition and the time of deposition of all rocks within a geological ...
subdivisions within the Ludlow epoch (427.4 ± 0.5 million years to 423.0 ± 2.3 million years ago in duration). Geographically, the mudstones and siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...
s extend from the type exposures around Dinas Brân to the Pontcysyllte
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (; cy, Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use ...
Aqueduct about 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the east. The formation occupies the core of the Llangollen syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...
and, although the basal junction is not seen, it overlies the Vivod Group (or ''Monograptus
''Monograptus'' is a genus of graptolites in the Order Graptoloidea. This particular genus is the last stage of the graptoloid evolution before its extinction in the early Devonian. A characteristic of the genus includes one uniserial stipes ...
leintwardinensis'' Beds) of Wills and Smith (1922) which also consist of thinly bedded flaggy mudstones. Upper junction of the Dinas Brân Formation is likewise not exposed, but opposite the (Llangollen - Panorama Walk) Wern road T-junction at the base of the Eglwyseg Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
is a very small outcrop of dark olive-grey mudstone with abundant remains of the brachiopod ''Dayia navicula'' (J. de C. Sowerby, 1839).[SOWERBY, J. de C. ''In'' MURCHISON, R. I. 1839. The Silurian System. London. 768 pp., 37 pls. p. 621] This exposure is unconformably
An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval o ...
overlain by fossiliferous Lower Carboniferous Limestone of the Clwyd Limestone Group (deposited between 363 and 325 million years ago) that forms the impressive escarpment, but once again the actual junction is obscured by a combination of scree, regolith and common gorse
''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...
('' Ulex europaeus''). Silurian fossils can also be observed in scree and rubble below the castle on the steep northern slope and in the deep rock-cut ditches partially surrounding the ruin, which served the dual purpose of both defense and quarrying stone to build Dinas Brân. Orthocone
An orthocone is an unusually long straight shell of a nautiloid cephalopod.; During the 18th and 19th centuries, all shells of this type were named ''Orthoceras'', creating a wastebasket taxon, but it is now known that many groups of nautiloids d ...
straight-shelled Nautiloids (Molluscan Class Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...
a), various brachiopod species and rare Trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...
remains may also be found.
See also
* List of hillforts in Wales
* List of castles in Wales
Notes
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
;Further reading
*
*
External links
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust
megalithic.co.uk
3D model of the standing remains
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castell Dinas Bran
Llangollen
Dinas Bran
Dinas may refer to:
Places England
* Dinas, an area of Padstow, Cornwall
* Castle an Dinas, St Columb Major, an Iron Age hillfort at the summit of Castle Downs, Cornwall
* Treryn Dinas, a headland near Treen, on the Penwith peninsula, Cornwa ...
Hillforts in Denbighshire
Geology of Wales