About
Laugharne Castle, Castell Talacharn, is the brown as owls castle beloved of Dylan Thomas, who wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog in its summerhouse above the Taf estuary. Two giant medieval towers guard the remains of a Tudor mansion set in 19th-century ornamental gardens. Founded by the Normans in the early 12th century, the 13th-century castle was rescued from near ruin by the Elizabethan courtier Sir John Perrot, rumoured to be the queen's half-brother, who added a grand hall whose gaping windows still stare out over the water; he died in the Tower of London awaiting execution for treason. Slighted by Parliament in the Civil War, it was abandoned until the gardens were laid out. Reviewers praise the peaceful benches and the estuary views from the one climbable tower, whose steps are high, and warn that the car park below floods at high tide. Dogs on short leads may explore the ground level, and the Wales Coast Path's Laugharne loop starts there.
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- Laugharne Castle10:00 – 17:00last admission 16:30
Opening times may change at short notice.
Open 28 March to 1 November, 10am to 5pm, closed every Tuesday and Wednesday; closed for the winter from 2 November to 27 March. Last admission 30 minutes before closing. Cadw may close monuments at short notice in extreme weather.
Terrain level 1, accessible: a slight incline from the car park and at the entrance, then easy wheelchair and buggy access through the gatehouse, a small ramp from the visitor centre to a level path round the site and bark-laid paths through the gardens; the one accessible tower is for walkers only, with two sets of high steps to an open viewing point at the top (keep the swing gate closed against pigeons), and there is a low wall at the viewpoint at the rear. Gravel and cobbles can defeat some mobility scooters. No toilets are listed at the castle; there are public toilets in the village. Portable induction loop, water refill station, benches, on-site exhibition and gift shop with guidebooks. Drones are not permitted.
Dogs: Dogs on short leads are welcome on the ground-floor levels only, not up the tower.
Photo: Laugharne Castle's round tower and ruined ranges seen from the green below the castle, with the stone footbridge on the left. Worldfootage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carmarthenshire_-_Laugharne_Castle_-_2025-09-25_06-56-51_001.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Walking routes2 routes
Laugharne loop (Wales Coast Path)(opens the full route on the National Trust site)
WalkDog access not confirmed7 km distance
