Mold Castle ( cy, Castell yr Wyddgrug), also known as Bailey Hill in the town of

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, north-east

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 ...

, is a

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

erected around 1072, probably by the Norman Robert de Montalt under instructions from

Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

. Little remains except the mound on which the motte was built. It stands close to the 15th-century parish church, St Mary's Church near the centre of the town.

History

Mold Castle was built upon an existing earthwork. A

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

was erected c. 1072 - possibly by Robert de Montalt, a descendant of Eustace De Monte Alto, a Norman warrior in the service of

Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

. This family originated in

Monthault Monthault (; br, Brennaod; Gallo: ''Montaut'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Monthault are called ''Monthaltais'' in French. Notable people Eustace de Montaut, ...

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

, in the

Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, not then part of France, but it has been proposed that they took their name from 'mont haut', meaning 'high hill', and associated it with this earthwork. This name may have become corrupted, down the years, until it became 'Mold'. So Bailey Hill may have given the town its name. In 1146 it was captured by

Owain Gwynedd Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...

. It switched hands on several occasions before a long period under Welsh control during the reign of

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually " Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and d ...

. It remained a defensive structure up until the 13th century. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, Mold was captured by the Parliamentarians, recovered by the Royalists and fell again to Cromwell's forces.

The site

The site came into the possession of the Mostyn family and in 1790 they surrounded it with a stone wall, planted trees and converted it into a garden. In 1890 it was sold to Mold Council. They have created a memorial garden to honour the soldiers of Mold who fell in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and this incorporates the castle site. What is visible nowadays is a conical mound, which once supported the motte, enclosed in a rectangular bailey. The site became a town park in 1920, with a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

in the

inner bailey The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer w ...

and tennis courts in the

outer bailey An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

. After the park fell into disrepair, it was restored over several years, including building ramps, creating a performance space in the inner bailey, and building an interpretation centre; the site is scheduled to reopen in April 2022. In the course of the work, in 2020 excavations by the

Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth Archeolegol Clwyd-Powys (YACP)) is an educational charity which was established in 1975. Its objective is ‘to advance the education of the public in archaeology’. CPAT is one of ...

revealed the remains of a large masonry wall on the edge of the inner bailey, which could have been part of the fortifications or an internal building and suggested the original castle may have been timber.

References

External links

* {{Flintshire, state=collapsed Castles in Flintshire Castle ruins in Wales Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Motte-and-bailey castles Mold, Flintshire