Dryslwyn Castle

A ruined castle of limestone rubble walls. The chief upstanding remains are within the inner ward to the SW, which has a polygonal plan dictated by the shape of the hilltop. To the NE are more scant remains of the middle and outer wards. The original curtain wall of the early C13 inner ward survives at no more than 1m high, while on the E side part of the curtain wall was remodelled in the late C13, and incorporates a garderobe reached up stone steps and with 2 shafts. At the NE corner is the remodelled gatehouse of the C13, in which steps to a wall walk have partially survived. The gatehouse survives at foundation level only, but the portcullis slot remains visible and the passage is cobbled. Attached on the S side of the gatehouse, and E side of the curtain wall, is the round tower, the original keep that occupies the highest ground. It was originally entered at first floor level from external steps built above a broad NW buttress. A doorway with segmental stone head, opening to the undercroft, is a later insertion. On the S side, directly overlooking the Tywi valley, is a projecting chapel on the E side. The chapel was at first-floor level where there are the remains of 3 lancet windows, and was entered below through a postern gate in the original curtain wall. On the W side is the battered wall, with return at the W end, of a former 2-storey apartment block, built outside the line of the original curtain wall. It has 2 pointed windows in the lower storey and the jamb and embrasure of a third, while in the upper storey a single similar opening survives with the jamb and embrasure of a second opening. Within the inner ward are the foundations of the original great hall and of Maredudd's mid C13 hall at right angles on its E side. The original great hall survives at basement level and has a segmental-headed doorway in the N wall, with former narrow window to its L, and in the centre the stone foundation of the hall fireplace. The outline of a small prison is on the N side of the great hall.

Of the middle and outer walls there is only a small amount of masonry visible, mainly associated with the middle and outer gates. In the outer ward masonry of the NE gatehouse includes stone steps to a former wall walk.