Image Credit: Natural Resources Wales
Images
Perfect location for a hill fort. Castle, too.
Looking from Cregiau Eglywyseg....... that'll be Llangollen beyond.
Oh. There's an Iron Age hillfort rising above... if you can manage to divert your eyes from such a wondrous scene of motherhood.
Striking natural monolith a little to the northeast of the fort, at the foot of the hill.
Guess the setting of this excellent hillfort-cum-castle usually takes precendent over the rather fine surviving Iron Age defences. But then the former is absolutely first class... looking toward the Cregiau Eglwyseg.
From near the top of Cryn y Brain
Looking from Trevor rocks (He certainly does)
What I assume to be yer actual Iron Age earthworks, on the ENE side of the hill, outside the medieval site.
The medieval castle is surrounded by an enormous rock-cut ditch, which even the earlier Iron Age ditch-builders would have struggled with.
The interior of the fort, with crumbling medieval masonry. Views not guaranteed...
Iron Age rampart at the northwestern corner of the site.
The approach from Llangollen.
Medieval walls surmount the Iron Age defences, looking towards the cairn crowned Creigiau Eglwyseg.
Some landscape perspective from Moel Morfydd, Llantysilo Mountain. The hillfort-cum-castle is arrowed.
Going walkabout beneath Creigiau Eglwyseg.....as you do.
An unfeasibly bright Dinas Bran... see, it happens. Sometimes.
Near Trefor Rocks, early morning mist slowly rising from the Vale............
Creigiau Eglwyseg from the hillfort/castle...
Dinas Bran (centre) perfectly sited to watch over the whole valley
Iron age fortifications...(Probably)
The view North. On the hill to the right is Eglwyseg menhir and barrows plus Offa's Dyke
From Eglwyseg rocking stone looking South
The Western entrance to the original hillfort
The view Westward up the Dee Valley (Dyffryn Dyfrdwy) from Castell Dinas Bran.
Articles
“It will be intriguing to know whether any remains of the 2,500 year hillfort are evident or did the castle obliterate it all? We think there must have been more buildings within the castle walls but we’ll have to wait and see whether there are any hints of their remains."
dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/underground-castle-archaeological-search-underway-12790723
Saturday dawns dry but very foggy. We finished our last walk in thick mist that enveloped the cliffs of Creigiau Eglwyseg and completely hid Castell Dinas Bran from view. Sadly, it looks like we will be picking up where we left off in almost identical conditions.
The top of the hill is invisible ahead, which may be something of a blessing; as others have mentioned, it’s a steep walk up here from the town, especially the last climb up to the fort itself. As a place to assault, I think I’d be favouring the “starve ‘em out” option, rather than the direct approach.
Due to the restricted visibility, we come upon the medieval ruins before really seeing anything much in the way of prehistoric ramparts. It’s an atmospheric spot, enshrouded in thick mist, where chunks of masonry loom out of the murk and just as quickly fade away again. We are missing out on the spectacular views though.
There are earthworks to be “seen”, especially at the northeast of the hilltop, outside the medieval ruins. There is also a daunting rock-cut ditch, but this probably belongs to the castle, rather than the fort. Even for Iron Age builders of great fortifications, I think that would have been a challenge too far, perhaps.
For all the atmosphere conjured by the mist, the lack of views makes the visit rather less than it could be. One to come back to on a clear day, with blue skies and a warm summer breeze. We make our way off the hilltop utilising the path heading northeast, and once off the top of the hill, fort, castle and all are immediately swallowed back into the pervasive gloom.
Visited Spring 2009.
Dominating the surrounding area of Llangollen, this is a site that can be seen for miles around. There are well sign posted footpaths from the town to the top BUT it is a long, steep walk. I have walked up quite a few hillforts but this was perhaps the toughest – I was knackered when I got to the top! How on earth they managed to build a castle up here and carry all that stone up I don't know! The views are wonderful and there are reasonable remains of the castle although I can't say I noticed anything of any previous Iron Age defences? There is a very good small (free)museum in Llangollen which gives an account of the site over the years with the usual finds etc. Well worth a visit.
One for the fit and enegetic only!!
The magnificent ruins of this 13th century Castle, sit high above the Town of Llangollen, overlooking the river Dee. The castle was built on the site of an Iron Age hill fort.
With Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection, the period of abstinence and self-denial is brought to an end. The interrupted pleasures of life are taken up once more, this time in the pleasant setting of spring. On Easter Day itself, the celebrations of the ordinary people began at (or before) sunrise, when in many districts crowds climbed to the summit of a nearby mountain to see the sun 'dancing' in honour of the Resurrection of Christ.p84 in 'Welsh Folk Customs' by T.M. Owen (1959).
The Rev. John Williams, Glanmor (1811-91) remembered the inhabitants of Llangollen, Denbighshire, ascending Dinas Bran on Easter Day to greet the rising sun with three somersaults, a peculiar variation on this custom {From Bye-gones, 11th December 1895}. In other districts it was usual to take a basin of water in order to see the reflection of the sun dancing on the horizon. It is almost certain that behind this observance was the widespread belief that Christ rose from the dead at dawn on Easter Day; while, further removed from medieval practice, there lurks the hint of an earlier, pagan rite. The custom is also recorded in many English counties and in the Isle of Man and Ireland.
Gone, gone are thy gates, Dinas Bran on the height!
Thy warders are blood-crows and ravens, I trow:
Now no one will wend from the field of the fight
To the fortress on high, save the raven and crow
Roger Cyffyn (17th Century, arr Borrow)
More fairies at Castell Dinas Bran: Llandyn Hall is on the south-east slope of the hill.
Fairies under Trees.-- One of our readers has forwarded us an old document, dated Nov. 30th, 1817, containing a quaint description of a walnut tree of extraordinary dimensions. It grew on a rock of limestone at Llanddyn Farm, near Llangollen; its height was about twenty-five yards, and its boughs covered a space of ground about thirty yards diameter. According to a story in the neighbourhood, this tree was very old. A man 95 years of age said that he remembered a bough of it being broken by the snow when he was a child, and that his grandfather used to tell the family that, in olden times, fairies used in the dead of night to celebrate their marriages under this walnut tree. ---Shrewsbury Chronicle, 3 Nov. 1882. From
Notes and Queries
The Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3. (Mar., 1883), pp. 90-93.
A story from Wirk Sikes' book 'British Goblins' (1881).
The scene of this tale is a hollow near Llangollen, on the mountain side half-way up to the ruins of Dinas Bran Castle, which hollow is to this day called Nant yr Ellyllon [hollow of the goblins]. It obtained its name, according to tradition, in this wise:
A young man, called Tudur ap Einion Gloff, used in old times to pasture his master's sheep in that hollow. One summer's night, when Tudur was preparing to return to the lowlands with his woolly charge, there suddenly appeared, perched upon a stone near him, 'a little man in moss breeches with a fiddle under his arm. He was the tiniest wee specimen of humanity imaginable. His coat was made of birch leaves, and he wore upon his head a helmet which consisted of a gorse flower, while his feet were encased in pumps made of beetle's wings. He ran his fingers over his instrument, and the music made Tudur's hair stand on end. " Nos da'ch', nos da'ch'," said the little man, which means "Good-night, good-night to you," in English. " Ac i chwithau," replied Tudur; which again, in English, means " The same to you." Then continued the little man, " You are fond of dancing, Tudur; and if you but tarry awhile you shall behold some of the best dancers in Wales, and I am the musician." Quoth Tudur, "Then where is your harp? A Welshman even cannot dance without a harp." " Oh," said the little man, "I can discourse better dance music upon my fiddle." "Is it a fiddle you call that stringed wooden spoon in your hand?" asked Tudur, for he had never seen such an instrument before.
And now Tudur beheld through the dusk hundreds of pretty little sprites converging towards the spot where they stood, from all parts of the mountain. Some were dressed in white, and some in blue, and some in pink, and some carried glow-worms in their hands for torches. And so lightly did they tread that not a blade nor a flower was crushed beneath their weight, and every one made a curtsey or a bow to Tudur as they passed, and Tudur doffed his cap and moved to them in return. Presently the little minstrel drew his bow across the strings of his instrument, and the music produced was so enchanting that Tudur stood transfixed to the spot.' At the sound of the sweet melody, the Tylwyth Teg ranged themselves in groups, and began to dance. Now of all the dancing Tudur had ever seen, none was to be compared to that he saw at this moment going on. He could not help keeping time with his hands and feet to the merry music, but he dared not join in the dance, 'for he thought within himself that to dance on a mountain at night in strange company, to perhaps the devil's fiddle, might not be the most direct route to heaven.' But at last he found there was no resisting this bewitching strain, joined to the sight of the capering Ellyllon.
'" Now for it, then," screamed Tudur, as he pitched his cap into the air under the excitement of delight. "Play away, old devil; brimstone and water, if you like!" No sooner were the words uttered than everything underwent a change. The gorse-blossom cap vanished from the minstrel's head, and a pair of goat's horns branched out instead. His face turned as black as soot; a long tail grew Out of his leafy coat, while cloven feet replaced the beetle-wing pumps. Tudur's heart was heavy, but his heels were light. Horror was in his bosom, but the impetus of motion was in his feet. The fairies changed into a variety of forms. Some became goats, and some became dogs, some assumed the shape of foxes, and others that of cats. It was the strangest crew that ever surrounded a human being.
The dance became at last so furious that Tudur could not distinctly make out the forms of the dancers. They reeled around him with such rapidity that they almost resembled a wheel of fire. Still Tudur danced on. He could not stop, the devil's fiddle was too much for him, as the figure with the goat's horns kept pouring it out with unceasing vigour, and Tudur kept reeling around in spite of himself.
Next day Tudur's master ascended the mountain in search of the lost shepherd and his sheep. He found the sheep all right at the foot of the Fron, but fancy his astonishment when, ascending higher. he saw Tudur spinning like mad in the middle of the basin now known as Nant yr Ellyllon.' Some pious words of the master broke the charm, and restored Tudur to his home in Llangollen, where he told his adventures with great gusto for many years afterwards. [Rev. T. R. Lloyd (Estyn), in 'The Principality.']
As Earthstepper says, Dinas Bran has been suggested as the resting place of the holy grail – but this hill of the fairies is also connected with another treasure. Gold – maybe a golden harp, specifically – will be found by a boy who is led to it by his white dog with a silver eye. Dogs like that can see the wind, you know. Susan Cooper uses the theme in her book 'The Grey King'.
It's also possible that the St Collen story now associated with Glastonbury Tor ( themodernantiquarian.com/post/26342 ) was originally intended to be set somewhere round here (after all, St Collen spent plenty of time here and the town below, Llangollen, is named after him).
A history of the site and access details
Sites within 20km of Castell Dinas Bran
-
Creigiau Eglwyseg
photo 8 description 2 -
Eglwyseg stone
photo 2 description 1 -
Eglwyseg kerb cairns A&B
photo 9 description 1 -
Eglwyseg
photo 8 description 1 -
Creigiau Eglwyseg
photo 5 description 1 -
Eglwyseg
photo 10 description 3 -
Eliseg’s Pillar mound
photo 8 description 5 -
Pen-y-Gaer (Llangollen)
-
Eglwyseg mountain cairns I, II, III
photo 5 link 1 -
Llwynmawr
photo 5 description 1 -
Finnis
photo 6 -
Moel y Gamelin
photo 8 description 2 -
Cefn y cist
photo 3 description 2 -
Cyrn-y-Brain
photo 10 description 2 link 1 -
Graig Wea
photo 6 description 2 -
Cefn y Gader cairn 1
photo 6 description 1 -
Moel y Gaer
photo 10 description 3 link 1 -
Aber Sychnant
photo 5 description 4 -
Sypian Cerrig-y-Cawr
description 2 -
Cefn y Gader
photo 4 description 3 -
Nant y Mawr
photo 3 description 1 -
Tomen y Meirw
photo 3 description 2 -
Pant y Maen
photo 3 description 3 -
Ty Mawr Rhos Ganol
description 1 -
Tomen y Gwyddel
photo 6 description 1 -
Pant
photo 2 description 1 -
Rhoslydan
photo 3 description 2 -
Orsedd Wen
photo 6 description 3 -
Carnedd Rhys Goch
photo 3 description 1 -
Owain Glyndwr’s Mount
photo 12 description 2 -
Selattyn Hill
photo 9 description 3 -
Maes Maelor
photo 8 description 1 -
Carreg y Big (Selattyn)
photo 16 description 3 -
Moel Fferna
photo 13 description 2 -
Cerrig Gwynion
photo 15 description 2 -
Moel y Waun
description 1 -
Pen-Plaenau
photo 8 description 1 -
Cynynion
photo 8 description 2 -
Fairy Oak Round Barrow
description 2 -
Hillbury Round Barrow
description 1 -
Bryn-y-Ffynnon
photo 9 description 1 -
Nant Croes-y-Wernen
photo 6 description 2 -
Moel y Plas
photo 1 -
Caer Drewyn
photo 18 description 4 link 2 -
Old Oswestry
photo 38 forum 2 description 13 link 2 -
Coed-y-Gaer (Oswestry Rural)
description 1 -
Corwen Cross
photo 7 description 1 link 1 -
Carreg y Big yn y Fach Rhewllyd
photo 2 forum 1 description 3 -
Nercwys Mountain
photo 4 description 1 -
Craig Adwy Wynt
photo 14 description 2 -
Mynydd Tarw, Y Berwyn
photo 10 description 2 -
Carreg-y-Llech
photo 11 description 3 link 1 -
Moel Gyw
photo 8 description 2 -
Tyn-y-Cefn Cursus
description 1 -
Pen-y-Gaer (Efenechtyd)
photo 9 description 2 -
Bwrdd Arthur
photo 23 description 3 -
Gwerclas
photo 2 forum 1 description 1 -
Gwernclas Mound
description 1 -
Mynydd-y-Bryn
-
Bwlch Maen Gwynedd
photo 8 description 1 -
Caer Estyn
description 2 -
Trawsnant
photo 6 description 1 -
Hafod
description 1 -
Moel Pearce
photo 3 description 1 -
Moel ty Uchaf
photo 83 forum 5 description 11 link 1 -
Cerrig Bwlch y fedw
photo 11 description 1 -
Tan-y-Coed
photo 17 description 3 -
Foel Fenlli cairn
photo 4 description 2 -
Foel Fenlli
photo 18 description 3 -
Cader Berwyn
photo 8 description 2 -
Maen Huail
photo 2 description 4 -
Cader Berwyn cairn II
photo 18 description 2 link 1 -
Dinas Melin y Wig
photo 6 description 1 -
Garw Fynydd
photo 1 description 1 -
Llwyn Bryn Dinas
photo 10 description 1 -
Moel Sych
photo 14 description 2 -
Ffridd Camen, Y Berwyn
photo 9 -
Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant
photo 1 description 3 -
Llong
description 1 -
Llong Station
-
Pentrehobyn
photo 3 description 2 -
Maen Llwyd (Cloceinog)
photo 2 description 3 -
Tyfos
photo 15 forum 1 description 4 -
Bryn Beddau
photo 14 description 4 -
Pennant cairn
photo 22 description 1 -
Cwm Tywyll
photo 2 description 1 -
Pincyn Llys
photo 1 description 1 -
Cwm Tywyll
photo 26 forum 1 description 2