id: sig-20260722-report-fl003
site_id: gb-flint-fflint
attribute: designation_report
value: 'Reference Number

  FL003

  Name

  Castell y Fflint

  Date of Designation

  Status

  Designated

  Unitary Authority

  Flintshire

  Community

  Flint

  Easting

  324694

  Northing

  373286

  Broad Class

  Defence

  Site Type

  Castle

  Period

  Medieval

  The following provides a description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

  This monument comprises the remains of a medieval castle begun in 1277 by King Edward I.
  The castle is located on the foreshore of the Dee estuary, dominating the river and the
  route along the coastal plain.

  The castle consists of a square ward with a round tower at each corner. Notably, the south-eastern
  tower (Great Tower) is much bigger and offset from the main courtyard by a moat which probably
  contained sea water at high tide, and was crossed by a drawbridge. This highly sophisticated
  separate tower or donjon has a strong barrel-vaulted circular gallery at basement level,
  surrounding a central space and supporting a ring of small interconnecting rooms on the
  floor above. It probably contained all the facilities necessary to withstand a siege (storerooms,
  well, residential accommodation, chapel) many of them duplicated in the courtyard, and was
  effectively a castle within the castle. Notably, this unique tower design has no known exact
  parallel in Britain or the Continent.

  The North-East Tower is the best preserved of the three towers around the inner ward. It
  comprised a basement with three floors above, some of which appear to have been residential.
  The North-West Tower contains arrowslit embrasures in the basement, though the upper rooms
  may have been residential. A large fireplace survives on one floor. The South-West Tower
  contained a circular basement with three circular storeys above.

  To the south of the castle lies a moated outer ward, although it does not totally surround
  the castle. Here the outer gatehouse was located. Details of a turning bridge, which spanned
  a section of the ditch, have been recovered by archaeological excavation. Little survives
  of the curtain walls; only the southern wall and a section at the north-west still remain
  on the original scale. The rest, together with the three corner towers were robbed to varying
  extents during later reuse of the castle. Within the curtain wall, close to the Great Tower,
  sits the inner gatehouse. This was protected by a turning gate, set of doors at the end
  of the entrance passage and portcullis.

  The castle changed hands several times during the Civil War, before finally falling to Parliament
  in 1646; shortly afterwards it was substantially destroyed. Subsequent use of the site saw
  a new county gaol built in the outer ward of the castle in 1784-85, a structure which survived
  until 1962.

  This monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of medieval
  social, domestic and political life and warfare. The scheduled area comprises the remains
  described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.'
source_url: http://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/sam/FullReport?lang=en&id=3806
source_title: Scheduled Monument Full Report — Castell y Fflint
publisher: Cadw
observed_date: '2026-07-22'
collected_by: scripts/build_assessment_batch.py
confidence: high
notes: The designation text. Assess the six bands against THIS evidence only; omit any band
  it does not speak to.