HISTORY enthusiasts can now view a castle ruin in its medieval splendour, thanks to a hi-tech project.

Richard Turner, a former CADW ancient monuments inspector, and artist Chris Jones-Jenkins collaborated on a digital recreation of how Holt Castle would have looked based on historical sources and data gleaned from a conservation project.

Richard said an inventory from 1495 featured in a book on Tudor aristocrat Sir William Stanley, who held the castle, formed a basis to map the castle’s layout.

The inventory was taken when Sir William was arrested for treason against King Henry VII.

“They visited Holt Castle and made a complete inventory of everything he owned, and it described each of the rooms,” he said.

Richard added Holt Historical Society member Paul Hinchliffe had researched the inventory and had also found a plan of the castle, which had not previously been attributed to the castle at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The castle was completed in about 1308 and consisted of inner and outer wards, each with their own defences and gates. The inner ward was pentagonal in shape with a high round tower at each of the corners.

Richard said there were no major changes to the castle’s design after about 1399. It was abandoned after the Civil War and today very little of the castle survives above ground, apart from the central courtyard.

Wrexham Council, with funding from CADW and the Welsh Government, has finished a four-year conservation project.

Richard and Chris Jones-Jenkins, with funding from the Castle Studies Trust (CST), have worked on a computer rendering of the site since late 2013.

Once the design was complete, Cardiff-based company Mint Motion produced an animation, which the CST has posted on its YouTube account.