Prestatyn Castle facts for kids
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Prestatyn Castle was a special type of castle called a motte and bailey castle. It was built a long time ago in 1157. An important Norman lord named Robert Banastre got the land from King Henry II of England to build it. The castle was built on flat land near the coast, so it had a great view all around. Today, you can only see a big mound of earth and a few small parts of an old path where the castle once stood.
History of Prestatyn Castle
King Henry II of England gave the area of Prestatyn to a powerful man named Robert Banastre in 1165. He was a Norman lord, meaning he came from Normandy (a region in France) and was part of the ruling class in England after the Norman Conquest.
Just two years later, in 1167, the castle was destroyed. The Welsh people, led by their strong leader Owain Gwynedd, attacked and took it down. It seems the castle was never built again after that. The Banastre family then moved to Lancashire, where Robert built a new home. This new home was on the land where a building called Bank Hall stands today.
By 1279, the English were back in control of this area. However, old records from that time only talk about a manor house, which is a large country house, and not about the fort or castle.
What Remains of the Castle Site Today
You can still see an earth mound in the fields south of the Prestatyn railway station, near Nant Hall. This mound shows where the early wooden motte and bailey castle once stood. Even though Prestatyn Castle was built on low ground, it still had a good view across the flat coastal plain. This position helped it guard the important coast road between Rhuddlan and Chester.
The only parts left of the castle are a raised mound about 20 meters (66 feet) wide. This mound is surrounded by a ditch. The bailey, which is the outer courtyard of the castle, actually enclosed the whole mound. This was an unusual way to build a castle. A slightly raised path extends to the south, but we don't know how people entered the castle or what kind of building was on top of the mound.
Around 1913, people did some digging at the site. These excavations showed that the bailey was surrounded by a strong stone wall. This wall was about 1.2 meters (4 feet) thick.
