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See Kidwelly Castle rising above the river Gwendraeth on a misty morning and prepare to be amazed. This is the medieval fortress of everyone’s dreams. Kidwelly began in the early 12th century as a Norman ‘ringwork’ castle made of wood and protected only by an earthen bank and ditch. Not surprisingly it was under constant attack by Welsh princes including the Lord Rhys, who captured it in 1159. Four decades later the Normans were back in charge. By the 1280s the Chaworth brothers, powerful Marcher lords, had created the stone ‘castle within a castle’ that still stands today.

Os gwelwch Gastell Cydweli yn codi uwchlaw afon Gwendraeth yn niwl y bore, byddwch yn barod i gael eich rhyfeddu. Hwn yw caer ganoloesol breuddwydion pawb.
Dechreuodd Cydweli tua dechrau’r 12fed ganrif yn gastell ‘cylchfur’ Normanaidd wedi’i wneud o bren ac wedi’i amddiffyn gan glawdd pridd a ffos yn unig. Nid yw’n syndod ei fod dan ymosodiad cyson gan dywysogion Cymru gan gynnwys Arglwydd Rhys, a’i cipiodd ym 1159.
Bedwar degawd yn ddiweddarach, roedd y Normaniaid yn ôl wrth y llyw. Erbyn y 1280au, roedd y brodyr Chaworth, arglwyddi grymus y Mers, wedi creu’r ‘castell o fewn castell’ carreg sy’n dal i sefyll heddiw.

* From Kidwelly station take the bus: 100m/110yards, route No X11/X12, Swansea-Carmarthen.