HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Castell Dinas Brân is a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
, built by the Princes of Powys Fadog, which occupies a prominent hilltop site above the town of
Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community (Wales), community, situated on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Val ...
in
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. 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 historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
. ''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 Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is ...
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 that relates la ...
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 Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch, previously the English monarch. The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created i ...
, while another suggests Brân could be named for King Brân Fendigaid (the Blessed) also called Bendigeidfran, a British King of probable historicity whose exaggerated biography appears in The Mabinogion. 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 (16 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. As a naturalist he had ...
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's edition of William Camden's ''
Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...
''. 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 A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
was built on the summit of what was to become Dinas Brân by a Celtic tribe named the
Ordovices The Ordovīcēs (Common Brittonic: *''Ordowīces'') 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 ...
. An earthen rampart - probably with a wooden
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...
- 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 in the
Berwyn Range The Berwyn range (Welsh (language), Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala, Gw ...
and Dinas Emrys near
Beddgelert Beddgelert () is a village and community (Wales), community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census was 460 (rounded to the nearest 10). This includes Nan ...
in Gwynedd. In the east are Castell Dinas Brân itself, Caer Drewyn, Caer Euni and Moel y Gaer near the Horseshoe Pass. The inhabitants of Old Oswestry hillfort were either from the tribes of the Ordovices or Cornovii and Iron Age hillforts in the Clwydian Range to the north (including Foel Fenlli and Moel Arthur) were occupied by the neighbouring
Deceangli The Deceangli or Deceangi (Welsh: Tegeingl) were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain, prior to the Roman invasion of the island. The tribe lived in the region near the modern city of Chester but it is uncertain whether their territory c ...
. 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 Do ...
and south-west by the
Demetae The Demetae were a Celtic people of Iron Age and Roman period, who inhabited modern Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales. The tribe also gave their name to the medieval Kingdom of Dyfed, the modern area and county of Dyfed and ...
. In 1879 the pioneering English geologist
Charles Lapworth Charles Lapworth Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Fellow of the Geological Society, FGS (20 September 1842 – 13 March 1920) was a headteacher and an English geologist who pioneered faunal analysis using index fossils and identified the Ordov ...
named the
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...
geological period The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the geologic record, rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating stratum, strata ...
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 first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...
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 Kingdom of Powys, Powys in eastern Wales, son of Gwylog ap Beli. Little has been preserved in the historical records about Elisedd, who was a descendant of Brochwel Ysgithrog. ...
during the 8th century. Elisedd, who was a Romano British ruler during the
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain The settlement of Great Britain by Germanic peoples from continental Europe led to the development of an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon cultural identity and a shared Germanic language—Old English—whose closest known relative is Old Frisian, s ...
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 Kingdom of Powys, Powys in honour o ...
and is considered one of the founders of the
Kingdom of Powys The Kingdom of Powys (; ) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Pow ...
, 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 The Kingdom of Powys (; ) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Pow ...
. When its last Prince,
Gruffydd Maelor Gruffydd Maelor (died 1191) was a Prince of Powys Fadog in Wales. He married a daughter of King Owain Gwynedd, first Prince of Wales, and was a brother of Prince Owain Brogyntyn, ancestor of the Barons of Cymmer-yn-Edeirnion. Lineage Maelor ...
, died in 1191, his kingdom was divided into Powys Fadog in the north and
Powys Wenwynwyn Powys Wenwynwyn or Powys Cyfeiliog was a Welsh kingdom which existed during the high Middle Ages. The realm was the southern portion of the former princely state of Kingdom of Powys, Powys which split following the death of Madog ap Maredudd of P ...
in the south. His son, Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, the lord of Powys Fadog, who founded Valle Crucis Abbey at Llantysilio 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 Gruffydd Maelor II (died 1269) was a Prince of Powys Fadog. He reigned for thirty-three years and married into the House of Stanley. Following the Anglo-Welsh Treaty of Montgomery, he submitted to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. Lineage ...
, 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 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ( – 11 December 1282), also known as Llywelyn II and Llywelyn the Last (), was List of rulers of Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 128 ...
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 in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
and
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Dinas Brân was one of several castles being built following the signing of the
Treaty of Montgomery The Treaty of Montgomery was an Anglo- Welsh treaty signed on 29 September 1267 in Montgomeryshire by which Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was acknowledged as Prince of Wales by King Henry III of England (r. 1216–1272). It was the only time an English ...
which had secured Wales for Llywelyn, free from English interference. The castle at
Dolforwyn Castle Dolforwyn Castle () 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 commanding excellent ...
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 (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
did not last long. In 1277 Edward launched the Conquest of North Wales from
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
. 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 Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln (c. 1251February 1311), Baron of Pontefract, Lord of Bowland, Baron of Halton and hereditary Constable of Chester, was an Kingdom of England, English nobleman and confidant of King Edward I of England, Edward I. He ...
was sent with forces from
Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...
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 The Treaty of Aberconwy was signed on the 10th of November 1277, and was made between King Edward I of England and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. It followed Edward's invasion of Llywelyn's territories earlier that year. The treaty re-e ...
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 on the
Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...
-
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
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 turbu ...
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 such as curtain walls with t ...
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 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 castles that were fortified residen ...
, which looks out onto a relatively easy approach to the castle from the River Dee. The two-storey structure 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 most ...
, 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. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...
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 (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
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, 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' 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). Regarded as the leading female poet of her day, Hemans was immensely popular during her lifetime in both England and the Unit ...
's poem 'Howel's Song', set to music by John Parry in his 'Welsh Melodies' (1822). The castle's first literary appearance is in a 13th-century romance 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 ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...
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 ...
. 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 23.5 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 third and shortest period of t ...
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 (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...
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.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...
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 expo ...
(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 Stage, the upper of two chronostratigraphic subdivisions within the
Ludlow epoch In the geological timescale, the Ludlow Epoch (from 427.4 ± 0.5 million years ago to 423.0 ± 2.3 million years ago) occurred during the Silurian Period, after the end of the Homerian Age. It is named for the town of Ludlow in Shropshire, Engl ...
(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. Although its permeabil ...
s extend from the type exposures around Dinas Brân to the Pontcysyllte 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 superimposed ...
and, although the basal junction is not seen, it overlies the Vivod Group (or '' Monograptus 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. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...
is a very small
outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...
of dark olive-grey mudstone with abundant remains of the
brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...
''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 According to the Old Series One-Inch Geological Map, published 1895, this exposure is faulted against
fossiliferous A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved i ...
Lower Carboniferous Limestone of the Clwyd Limestone Group, deposited between 363 and 325 million years ago and forming the impressive escarpment, but once again the actual junction is obscured by a combination of
scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...
,
regolith Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestria ...
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 na ...
(''
Ulex europaeus ''Ulex europaeus'', commonly known as gorse, common gorse, furze or whin, is a species of flowering plant native to Western Europe. Description Growing to tall, it is an evergreen shrub. The young stems are green, with the shoots and leaves ...
''). However, The Clwyd Limestone Group also rests locally upon so-called 'Basement Beds' and elsewhere with marked
Unconformity 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 ...
on deformed Silurian and older rocks. 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 the long, cone-shaped Exoskeleton, shell belonging to several species of ancient nautiloid cephalopod—the prehistoric ancestors of today's marine cephalopod Mollusca, mollusks, including the cuttlefishes, nautiluses, octopuses an ...
straight-shelled
Nautiloid Nautiloids are a group of cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and ''Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and species rich, with over 2,500 recorded species. Th ...
s (Molluscan Class
Cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...
a), various brachiopod species and rare
Trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...
remains may 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 Hillforts in Denbighshire Geology of Wales