In 1277, Edward I of England granted the land to Dafydd ap Gruffydd in gratitude for his assistance during the invasion of North Wales.
[1] Between 1579 and 1580, the Castle was used for the imprisonment and torture of Welsh poet, recusant schoolmaster Richard Gwyn, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Wrexham on 15 October 1584.
[3] At the start of the English Civil War the castle was in a state of disrepair and the necessary works were hastily performed to make it defensible.
It withstood an eleven-week siege by parliamentary troops in 1646 before surrendering when the attackers announced that they intended to lay mines under the walls.
[1] In 1923 the castle became Britain's first private hospital for the investigation and treatment of obscure internal diseases,[citation needed] but this was closed in about 1950.