Rhuddlan Castle

Rhuddlan Castle is a Grade I listed structure featuring a concentric plan with inner and outer wards. The outer ward is surrounded by a wide dry moat, which is protected to the south by a river wall and tower. Originally, the moat was crossed at two locations: the Town Gate, which serves as the current entrance from Castle Street, and the Priory Gate to the southeast, which was converted into a turret in 1300. The sides of the moat are revetted in stone, much of which remains intact. Although the outer curtain wall is fragmentary, remnants of turrets with steps leading down to former sallyports in the moat can still be seen. The outer ward slopes down towards the river to the southwest, where the square, four-storeyed Gillot's Tower is located, accompanied by a postern.

The inner ward has a lozenge plan and features a single circular tower at both the north and south corners, along with double-towered gatehouses at the east and west angles. The curtain walls still stand to the level of the wall walks between the towers and include embrasured slits at ground level. While the parapets have mostly disappeared, a fragment of battlement can be found in the northeast wall, and the southwest and southeast walls show traces of central corbelled turrets. The towers were originally four storeys high, with the south tower and the west gatehouse towers surviving nearly to their full height. The east gatehouse contains portcullis grooves and gate chases. The original system of loopholes is preserved in the north guardroom, although it was interrupted to the south by the addition of a fireplace at the beginning of the 14th century. Inside the ward, the domestic buildings were made of timber but have all been lost.