Castell Dinas Brân

About

Castell Dinas Brân is a medieval castle, built by the Princes of Powys Fadog, which occupies a prominent hilltop site above the town of Llangollen in Denbighshire, Wales. The presently visible stone castle was probably built in the 1260s by Gruffydd Maelor II, a prince of Powys Fadog, on the site of several earlier structures, including an Iron Age hillfort. Dinas Brân has been variously translated as the "crow's fortress" or "fortress of Brân", with Brân as the name of an individual or of a nearby stream. An English name, "Crow Castle", has also been used since at least the 18th century.

The name Dinas Brân has been debated since at least the 17th century. In modern times it is sometimes incorrectly translated as the City of Crows: the word dinas, "city" in modern Welsh, in Middle Welsh signifies a defended enclosure, while brân is the Welsh for "crow", singular, (plural: brain), suggesting a meaning "the crow's fortress". An alternative theory is that Brân is a personal name. Humphrey Llwyd and William Camden both suggested it came from that of a Gaulish chieftain, "Brennus". There is a legend which says that Brân was a Cornish prince, the son of the Duke of Cornwall,...