Denbigh Castle is all about drama. Waiting for you across the drawbridge, is the triple-towered gatehouse, keep your ears open as you’ll hear the portcullis thundering down, the rattling of chains and the din of horses and marching soldiers. No, you haven’t gone back in time, it’s all down to sensors and the wonders of modern technology. However it’s a powerful reminder that this great fortress above the Vale of Clwyd played a vital role in the wars that shaped Wales as we know it today. Once the royal residence of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, whose attack on Hawarden Castle provoked the King Edward I to mount a full-scale invasion. Denbigh fell into the hands of the king’s commander Henry de Lacy by 1282.