BattlefieldsLlywelyn ap Gruffudd Besieges Dolforwyn Castle 1277
Medieval

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Besieges Dolforwyn Castle 1277

1277
Montgomeryshire, Wales
Also known as: English take Dolforwyn from Welsh 1277
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Siege
Location
Montgomeryshire, Wales
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Wales (Llywelyn ap Gruffudd)
Forces
Llywelyn c.1,500–2,000; castle siege.
VS
Victor
England (Roger Mortimer)
Forces
Roger Mortimer c.2,000–3,000
Outcome
Dolforwyn Castle falls to English after eleven-day siege; Llywelyn built it without English permission
The Battle

History & Significance

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd built Dolforwyn Castle near Montgomery without royal licence as an assertion of Welsh authority in the middle March. Roger Mortimer besieged and took it in eleven days at the start of the First Welsh War 1277. The castle's fall symbolised the crumbling of Llywelyn's power in the March. Archaeological excavation of Dolforwyn in the 1990s recovered valuable evidence of the siege and the castle's brief Welsh use.

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