This stipulation appears to have been violated, for in 1281 the Welsh
rebelled, and under David and Llewelyn (who then made up their quarrel),
an attack was made by night upon the Castle, then styled Castrum Regis,
which was successful. Roger de Clifford, Justiciary of Chester, was
taken prisoner, and the Castle with much bloodshed and cruelty stormed
and partly burnt on Palm Sunday. The outrage was repeated in the next
year (Nov. 6th, 1282), when the Justice's elder son, also Roger Clifford,
was slain. Soon after this Llewelyn died, Wales was entirely subjugated,
and David executed as a traitor.
To this period may most probably be assigned the present structure. A
Keep, such as that now standing is not likely to have been successfully
assaulted in two successive years; nor does internal evidence favour the
idea that it was the actual work taken by the Welsh. Robert, the last of
the Montalts, was a wealthy man, and in all probability it was during his
Lordship, between 1297 and 1329, that the Castle, as we now see it, was
built. Though the unusual thickness of the walls of the Keep might be
thought more in keeping with the Norman period, the general details, as
already stated, the polygonal mural gallery and interior, and the
entrance, evidently parts of the original work, are very decidedly
Edwardian.
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