Hen Blas, Coleshill Castle, Flintshire

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What is recorded here

Hen Blas began as an earthwork castle between two streams and later became a fortified manor house. Records may place a castle here in 1157 and 1166; excavation showed rebuilding in the early thirteenth century and abandonment in the late fourteenth.

Who built and held it

The people responsible are uncertain. Written references mention a castle built in this area in 1157 and captured in 1166, while another wooden castle was recorded at Coleshill in 1244. The exact connection between those notices and Hen Blas remains debated.

Attack, change and use

Excavation completed in 1957 showed that the first earthwork castle was replaced by a fortified manor house in the early thirteenth century. That change suggests defence and high-status household life shared the same spur before the site was abandoned in the late fourteenth century.

What survives

An inner enclosure about 48 by 50 metres occupies the end of a spur between two streams, protected by a western ditch and steep natural slopes. A larger outer enclosure to the west is also defined by a ditch.

Why it mattered

Hen Blas preserves a rare change from a castle earthwork to a fortified home on one site. Although the named events cannot be tied to it with complete certainty, excavation gives firm evidence that the place remained useful as local power changed form.