Wales · 13th century
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.
Text adapted from “Castell Dinas Brân” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castell Dinas Brân ranks #1,728 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #23 of the 107 mapped in Wales. Founded c. 1265, it is older than 66% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,551 times in the last 60 days, more than 81% of the atlas. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Wrexham, 13 km away. It is one of the 27 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of North Wales. See how Wales compares in the castle statistics.
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