Castell Dinas Brân is a medieval castle, built by the Princes of Powys Fadog, which occupies a prominent hilltop site above the town of Llangollen in Wales.
During the British Iron Age, around 600 BCE, a large hillfort was built on the summit of what was to become Dinas Brân by a Celtic tribe named the Ordovices. The earliest structure that might have been built at Dinas Brân is believed to have belonged to Elisedd ap Gwylog during the 8th century. Elisedd, who was a Romano British ruler during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is named on the Pillar of Eliseg and is considered one of the founders of the Kingdom of Powys, however, no archaeological evidence for any structure from this period has been found.
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. Following the end of the Conquest of North Wales by King of England, 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-Cheshire border. Dinas Brân was left to fall into ruin.
Dinas Brân has rectangular stone defensive walls 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 rock-cut ditch and counterscarp bank.
References:The Beckov castle stands on a steep 50 m tall rock in the village Beckov. The dominance of the rock and impression of invincibility it gaves, challenged our ancestors to make use of these assets. The result is a remarkable harmony between the natural setting and architecture.
The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.
The next owners, the Bánffys who adapted the Gothic castle to the Renaissance residence, improved its fortifications preventing the Turks from conquering it at the end of the 16th century. When Bánffys died out, the castle was owned by several noble families. It fell in decay after fire in 1729.
The history of the castle is the subject of different legends.