Built on a site probably occupied since the Iron Age, and developed as a Norman motte and bailey fortification, the castle now stands in the grounds of the Hawarden Estate. The castle played an important role during the Welsh struggle for independence in the 13th century. At Easter 1282, Dafydd ap Gruffudd attacked Hawarden Castle, thereby starting the final Welsh conflict with Norman England, in the course of which Welsh independence was lost. King Edward I's sense of outrage was such that he designed a punishment for Dafydd harsher than any previous form of capital punishment; Dafydd was hanged, drawn, and quartered in Shrewsbury in October 1283. In 1294 the castle was captured during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn. The castle was slighted on Cromwell's orders durinng the Civil War with the ruins being incorporated into the New Hawarden Castle, ancestral home of the Glynne family.