Erddig Castle

Erddig Castle by John Northall

After the Norman invasion of England, the lands bordering north east Wales were given by William I to the first Earl of Chester with a mandate to protect the area from attacks from the west. The Earl's main stronghold was built in the remains of the Roman city of Deva (Chester) and the castle at Erddig is thought to have been built by the second Earl of Chester, Hugh D'Avranches, in the late 11th century to protect his southern flank.

The castle is sited on an inland promontory formed by the confluence of the Clywedog river and the Black Brook. The post-Roman linear earthwork of Watts Dyke, built to protect Mercian acquisitions from the dispossessed Welsh, provided an additional protective bank above the Clywedog. A 34 metre wide ditch was excavated across the promontory to protect the castle's bailey and it had a central earthen platform projecting into the ditch, which was presumably the site of the main entrance to the bailey. Traces of what may be a counterscarp bank run along the top of the ditch on the opposite side of the castle.

A motte with a diameter of around 44 metres at its base was built at the promontory's tip and it has the remains of a low bank around its top where a stout wooden palisade would once have stood. The 5.75 metre high motte was only slightly higher than the bailey and provided a circular platform roughly 17 metres in diameter. Although the motte is unusual in not towering high above the bailey, it is protected by having an extra wide ditch 36 metres across. It's likely that access to the top of the motte was via a wooden bridge across the ditch from the bailey and there was probably a two or three storey wooden tower within the palisade.

The oldest written reference to Erddig Castle is in the Sheriff's pipe rolls of 1161-62 AD where it is named as Wristleham Castle. The castle subsequently fell into disuse following Norman expansion into Wales and the border was moved westwards. Erddig House was built nearby in the 1700s and the area around it, including the castle, was landscaped. Paths were made across the earthworks and an avenue of trees was planted in the bailey alongside a new bowling green. An ornamental battlemented round tower that was built on the motte has now completely disappeared.

Although there are now no signs of any castle walls, the powerful earthworks at Erddig are impressive and lie in attractive wooded parkland to the north of Erddig House. To find the castle site, take the path from the car park around the outside of the walls of the house and gardens then head into the woodland beyond. It's marked on Erddig's visitor map.

Below: Conjectural drawing of the castle plan at Erddig, by John Northall

Additional photographs of Erddig Castle

The motte at Erddig viewed from the bailey

Erddig Castle banks looking towards Clywedog River from motte

View of the Bailey ditch with entrance platform

Watts Dyke protected the side of the motte towards Wales

Watts Dyke to the west of the motte above Clywedog River

View of the castle bailey from across the top of the motte

The modern avenue of trees across the castle bailey gives a good idea of its size

View of Erddig Hall

View Mr Northall's other contributions to the Castles of Wales web site