was Harlech an Edwardian castle built on a barren site as is being claimed? Welsh tradition, which has been ignored, maintains that Harlech had early Welsh origins, and a history stretching back over 2000 years to the time of Branwen, the daughter of Ll r, with whom the fortification on the rock has long been associated.
To try to establish the truth, historian Paul Martin Remfry has put tremendous effort into examining the surviving documents, transcribing and translating them from the original Latin and Norman French and, together with Kathryn Pritchard Gibson, painstakingly analising the facts and figures they contain. In addition they have studied the castle structure in minute detail.
The results are published this week in ‘Harlech Castle and its True Origins’. The book provides conclusive evidence that Harlech began life as an early Welsh royal home that progressed through the centuries to be a major castle of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd until it was finally modified by the English kings Edward I and his son Edward II. The Welsh castle, praised by the warrior / poet Prince Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1170) can still be clearly made out, entombed within the Edwardian structure. (Press Release by Paul Remfry)

Indeed this is a very thorough examination of Harlech Castle with much to digest although some phased colour modern plans and sections would have helped.