Overview
Dolbadarn Castle was built by Llywelyn the Great in the early thirteenth century to guard the Llanberis Pass and display the power of Gwynedd. Its great round tower later held Prince Owain Goch for about twenty-two years and remains the site's commanding feature.
Who built and held it
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Llywelyn the Great, built Dolbadarn as a native stone castle of Gwynedd. His grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd later controlled it. Edward I's forces took the stronghold during the conquest of 1282–83.
Attack, change and use
The castle guarded the northern entrance to a mountain pass, but its most famous use was as a princely prison. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd confined his elder brother and rival Owain Goch here for about twenty-two years. After conquest, useful timber was removed for Edward's work at Caernarfon.
What survives
The roughly 50-foot round tower survives to full height, with its entrance, narrow openings and upper chamber. Fragments of curtain wall and other buildings stand around it on the rocky knoll above Llyn Padarn.
Why it mattered
Dolbadarn controlled a route through Eryri and made Llywelyn's authority visible in stone. Owain Goch's imprisonment shows that native castles controlled rival family members as well as resisting outside enemies.
History checked 2026-08-15 against the named sources below.
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