PRESTATYN.--This castle defended the coast road from Chester to Rhuddlan. Henry II. granted it to Robert Banaster for his services in 1165.[884] It was destroyed by Owen Gwynedd in 1167, and does not appear to have been rebuilt. A low motte with a half-moon bailey, and a larger square enclosure, still remain. [B. T. S.]
Mr Davis has remarked that John was more successful in extending his authority over the British Isles than in anything else.[885] In 1211 he led an expedition into the heart of Wales, and reduced his son-in-law Llywelyn ap Jorwerth to complete submission. As usual, the expedition was marked by the building or repair of castles. The Earl of Chester restored Deganwy, which shows that the English frontier was again advanced to the Conway; he also repaired the castle of Holywell, which the _Pipe Roll_ shows to have been recovered from the Welsh about this time.[886] These _Rolls_ also show that in 1212-1213 John was paying for works at the castles of Carreghova, Ruthin, and Chirk, as well as at the following castles, which have not been mentioned before.
MATHRAVAL, Madrael in the _Pipe Rolls_ (Fig. 40), near Meifod in Montgomeryshire, defending the valley of the Vyrnwy.--Here was the chief royal residence of Powys;[887] but the castle was built in John's reign by Roger de Vipont. It occupied 2-1/4 acres, and the motte is in one corner of the area, which is square,[888] and surrounded only by banks; though ruined foundations are found in parts of the castle. John himself burned the castle in 1211, when the Welsh were besieging it,[889] but the _Pipe Roll_ (1212-1213) shows that he afterwards repaired it. [D. H. M.]
EGLOE, or Eulo, called by Leland Castle Yollo.--On the Chester and Holywell road, about 8 miles from Holywell. The mention in the _Pipe Roll_ of pikes and ammunition provided for this castle in 1212-1213 is the first ancient allusion to it with which we are acquainted. It is a motte-and-bailey castle, with additions in masonry which are probably of the reign of Henry III. The keep is of the "thimble" plan, a rare instance.[890] [B. T. S.]
*YALE.--The _Brut_ tells us that in 1148 (read 1150) Owen Gwynedd built a castle in Yale. Powell identified this with Tomen y Rhodwydd, a motte and bailey on the road between Llangollen and Ruthin. Yale, however, is the name of a district, and there can be little doubt that the castle of Yale was the motte and bailey at Llanarmon, which for a long period was the _caput_ of Yale.[891] Yale undoubtedly belonged to the Normans when Domesday Book was compiled,[892] and it is therefore not unlikely that these earthworks were first thrown up by the Earl of Chester. The castle was burnt by Jorwerth Goch in 1158, but restored by John in 1212. One of the expenses entered for that year is "for iron mallets for breaking the rocks in the ditch of the castle of Yale."[893] This ditch cut in the rock still remains, as well as some foundations on the motte,[894] which is known as Tomen y Vardra, or the Mount of the demesne.[895]