Prior to the arrival of the Normans, Twthill was a court of the kings of Gwynedd. What we see today, however, are the remains of a ‘motte and bailey’ castle erected by Robert of Rhuddlan in 1073. A kinsman of Hugh d’Avranches, the Earl of Chester, Robert attempted to consolidate Norman advances in north Wales after the conquest of William the Conquerer. Twthill was Robert’s base, and from it he subdued much of Gwynedd until his death in 1193. The area around Rhuddlan Castle was reunited with Gwynedd as part of the campaign of Owain’s father, Gruffydd, that cost the life of Owain’s elder brother, Cadwallon in 1132. Cadwallon killed some of his own uncles in order to achieve this. Owain’s marriage to Cristina reconciled these two sides of the family. The campaigns of 1136/37, which brought Ceredigion into the fold, expanded Gruffydd’s (and Read more…