Harlech Castle (Castell Harlech), located on the west coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea, was built by England's King Edward I during his invasion of Wales in AD 1282-1289. It is one of four castles built by Edward, which are inscribed as the 'Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd' UNESCO World Heritage Site. The others are Conwy, Caernarfon, and Beaumaris - all in North Wales. The castles are considered among "the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe."
Construction of Harlech Castle was completed from ground to battlements in just seven years. Its design is similar to Edward's other castles in northern Wales (of which he built a total of seven), and its design is credited to architect James of Saint George, who oversaw their construction. The castle's classic ‘walls within walls’ design high on a coastal bluff made it a most daunting of natural defences.
The sea originally came much closer to the bluff than it does today, and a water-gate and a long flight of steps leading down from the castle allowed the castle to be resupplied by sea during sieges. It was besieged and conquered multiple times, during conflicts between Welsh Princes and the kings of England who vied for control of North Wales in the 13th to 15th centuries, and again during the War of the Roses (1461-1468) and English Civil War (1642-1647).
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