About
Denbigh Castle, Castell Dinbych, is a mighty hilltop fortress above the Vale of Clwyd. It was once the royal residence of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, whose attack on Hawarden Castle provoked Edward I into a full-scale invasion, and by 1282 Denbigh was in the hands of the king's commander Henry de Lacy, who built a huge stone fortress with town walls on top of Dafydd's stronghold. When the Welsh captured the half-finished castle in 1294, the English changed the blueprint: much higher curtain walls, the imposing three-towered gatehouse and an ingenious sally port, a secure secret doorway. Owain Glyndwr attacked it in 1400, Robert Dudley repaired it, and Parliament slighted it in 1660. Loud sound effects of castle life greet you in the gatehouse, and stairs climb to the wall walks for outstanding views. Reviewers single out the gatehouse, the information boards and the stone carvings to find, and borrow the key from the castle to walk the free town walls. Dogs on short leads may explore the ground level.
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- Denbigh Castle10:00 – 17:00last admission 16:30
Opening times may change at short notice.
30 March to 1 November 10am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 2 November to 29 March 10am to 4pm, Friday to Sunday only (closed Monday to Thursday). Last admission 30 minutes before closing. Closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. Cadw may close monuments at short notice in extreme weather. The key to the town wall walks is lent at the castle for a returnable cash deposit, with last admission to the walls at 3pm.
Terrain level 1, accessible: in across a wide wooden bridge and a flat gravelled area through the gatehouse without steps, where loud sound effects of medieval castle life play; the visitor centre inside the monument has a low desk, automatic doors and flat surfaces; the large grassy inner ward has no internal paths, the wall walks are up a long, steep, uneven staircase with handrails and are moderately uneven on top, and the postern gate and green chambers have uneven downward steps and gravel. Gravel and cobbles can defeat some mobility scooters. Accessible toilets and baby changing in the visitor centre; a small patio with picnic tables and chairs outside it; portable induction loop, defibrillator, dog bowl, exhibition, gift shop with guidebooks, free Wi-Fi; no cafe or audio guide. Drones are not permitted.
Dogs: Dogs on short leads are welcome all year on the ground-floor levels; the wall-walk stairs and upper levels are for assistance dogs only. Cadw's Denbigh Town Walls, a free site whose wall walks are opened with a key borrowed at the castle, list dogs as welcome.
Photo: Denbigh Castle's ruined walls and towers on the hilltop above the town, with the Clwydian Range behind. Errol Edwards, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denbigh_Castle_1.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Walking routes1 route
Denbigh Town Walls wall walk (Cadw)(opens the full route on the National Trust site)
WalkmoderateDog friendly
