[1][3] Dolwyddelan was a centre within the Kingdom of Gwynedd in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; it is likely that Prince Llywelyn the Great was born in Tomen Castell, west of the village, in c. 1173.

Llywelyn built Dolwyddelan Castle some time between 1210 and 1240, although after its capture by Edward I of England in 1283, the military importance of the area declined.

[10] Dolwyddelan is surrounded on the north, south, and west by the Moelwynion range, which is within the wider region of Snowdonia (Eryri).

On the side of Garnedd Pen y Bont to the north of Blaenau Dolwyddelan are a pair of huts dating from the Iron Age or Romano-British era.

A boundary bank marks part of the community's border with Beddgelert in the west, across the Bwlch y Rhediad pass between Carnedd y Cribau and Cerrig Cochion.

[14][15][16] The lease on Dolwyddelan was purchased from the Crown by Maredudd ab Ieuan in 1488, and he restored the castle and built the present parish church.

[17] Under Maredudd's descendants, the Wynn family, the Gwydir Estate expanded to over 36,000 acres (150 km2) extending from near Blaenau Ffestiniog in the south to the edge of Conwy in the north.

In 1678 the estate, and therefore Dolwyddelan, passed to the Barons Willoughby de Eresby, based in Lincolnshire, and in 1892 it became the property of Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster.

By the early 19th century the estate largely comprised the parishes of Dolwyddelan, Llanrhychwyn, Trefriw, and Gwydir, totalling some 55 square miles (140 km2).

Between 1848 and 1850 the eastern tower was restored and reconstructed by Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and in 1930 the castle was placed in state care; it is currently managed by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service.

[14][21][22] The castle consists of two towers on the east and west sides of a small knoll, linked by walls to form a roughly circular enclosure.

The western tower may have been constructed in the late thirteenth century by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, or shortly after the English capture of the castle.

A south chapel was added in the sixteenth century by Robert Wynn of Plas Mawr, Conwy, and a north porch shortly before 1850 by Baron Willoughby de Eresby, who also paid to have the church re-roofed.

[28] In the Senedd, the elections for which use an additional-member system, Dolwyddelan is part of the Aberconwy constituency and the North Wales electoral region.