Haverfordwest Castle Haverfordwest Castle is a castle located in the town centre at Haverfordwest , Pembrokeshire , south Wales , located in a naturally defensive position at the end of a strong , isolated ridge . The castle was established during Norman times in 1120 but much of the architecture remaining today is dated to 1290 . For centuries the castle was an English stronghold . There are several other notable castles in area ; Wiston Castle lies to the northeast and Pembroke Castle lies to the south . History . Pembrokeshire Records indicate that there was an Iron Age hill fort on the site of the castle although there is no physical evidence to suggest this on the present location . Haverfordwest was believed to have been a Danish settlement prior to the Norman conquest of West Wales in 1093 / 94 . The Flemish settled in the area in 1108 to protect the main Norman stronghold at Pembroke Castle from Welsh raiders from the north . The vast majority of sources indicate that the structure was originally a Norman architecture stone keep and bailey fortress , founded by the Englishman Gilbert de Clare , earl of Pembroke in 1120 . While this date is generally consistent , although some indicate 1110 or 1113 , Pembrokeshire Records insist that the castle was actually originally built by Tancred the Fleming , so the original medieval town and castle would have been Flemish not Norman and they claim that the castle remained in the possession of the Tancred family until 1210 . The original castle is believed to have been first attacked ( unsuccessfully ) by Gruffydd ap Rhys Prince of Deheubarth in 1135 - 1136 . In 1173 the castle had its first royal visit by Henry II of England who passed by the town on coming back from a trip to Ireland . In 1188 Giraldus Cambrensis mentions visiting the castle with Archbishop Baldwin during his progress around Wales preaching for the 3rd Crusade that Richard I the Lion Heart led to the Holy Land . By 1200 , many of the original timber buildings had been replaced with the first stone buildings , including a rectangular north eastern tower to serve as the castle ' s keep . In 1210 King John took the castle from the Tancred family and Robert Fitz Richard , and in 1213 he gave concessions for the extremely wealthy William Marshal , Earl of Pembroke , to run the castle in return for an exorbitant sum of money . Marshal was responsible for replacing most of the original timber walls , towers and gatehouse with stone in the 1210s , and even by 1220 little remained of the original castle . Today all that remains of the 1120 establishment is a large square keep in the north - east corner of the inner ward . This mass reconstruction to strengthen the castle was likely due to the persistent attacks during this period . In 1217 , Llywelyn ap Iorwerth ( Llywelyn the Great ) , Prince of Gwynedd threatened the Marshal and in 1220 he burned the town but failed to take the castle . Following the burning of the town , it was rebuilt greater than before and developed quickly in the 13th century as a commercial centre due to its position at the centre of Pembrokeshire and its naval links . In 1248 , a wealthy noble Humphrey de Bohun II acquired the castle and resisted an attack in 1257 by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd , Prince of Gwynedd ( Llywelyn the Last ) . In 1265 , Haverfordwest castle was taken by William de Valance , Earl of Pembroke , during the Barons War , but in 1274 royalty intervened and granted it back to the de Bohun family , to the next generation , Humphrey de Bohun III . In 1284 King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile visited the castle for the first time during a royal pilgrimage to St Davids . Eleanor was said to be in love with the castle . Four years later she borrowed a huge amount of money in those times to purchase the castle from the de Bohun family and loaned £407 ( an extreme amount in those days ) to fully rebuild the castle and complete its transition fully into stone . A massive scale reconstruction took place , and it was completed a year later in 1290 , shortly before she died , although it long became known as the " Queen ' s Castle at Haverford " . Today much of what remains is dated to Queen Eleanor ' s 1290 version , including the extensive curtain wall . The castle remained in Royal possession after Eleanor ' s death and it was granted out to various wealthy tenants . In the 14th century , the castle was occupied by many owners , amongst them was Edward , the Black Prince , from 1359 - 67 . The castle was owned by the crown from 1381 – 85 , who paid for restoration works of the castle . These works proved important later , as in 1405 the castle was strong enough to fend off an attack during Owain Glyndŵr ' s War of Welsh independence . The town walls around the high ground near the castle also did much to protect the castle from invaders , although nothing remains of these town walls today . Over the centuries the castle was visited by numerous nobles and monarchs such as King Richard II and Oliver Cromwell . By the 16th century , however , the castle had become dilapidated and subsequently was re - fortified during the English Civil War . In 1644 Haverfordwest Castle is documented as being occupied by the Royalists , but they abandoned it on misinterpreting the noises of cows for a Parliamentary army . Although it was recaptured and held for the king for a year , who finally surrendered after the Battle of Colby Moor nearby . Shortly afterwards , in 1648 , one wall of the inner ward was slighted and it was abandoned soon after . Oliver Cromwell sent letters to the castle , ordering it to be destroyed in July 1648 and threatened to imprison the townsfolk unless it was demolished . These letters were only unearthed in 1986 and are currently on display in the town museum . The derelict medieval castle was converted to a prison in 1779 , although Giraldus Cambrensis records that part of the castle was used as a prison as early as 1188 . In 1820 a new prison building was erected within the castle grounds , which today houses the Pembrokeshire Record Office . A cell door , leg irons , the original lock from the castle gate and numerous artifacts are on display . Today the castle is operated by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and is open to the public . In January 2008 an extensive archaeological excavation was conducted at Haverfordwest Castle . Architecture . The original entrance to the castle lay on the west side , guarded by a gatehouse but no trace of this survives . Round towers are located on the north - west and south - west corners , and in the south - east corner there is a square tower with an additional projecting turret . The south - west and south - east towers have three storeys , with the south - east tower possessing a basement and postern gate which could serve as a counter - attack during a siege . A large hall lies the south of the castle with great , high windows and scaling ladders . Little remains of the original medieval defences in the outer ward of the castle , although the extensive curtain wall has been upkept and still remains along with a considerable part of the north side , including a semicircular turret and a square tower to the east .