See the Iron of conquest’

and the shaky revolution in England would form the backdrop for the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr, who would conquer and control the “iron ring” castles of Aberystwyth and Harlech in 1404, holding a Welsh parliament at Harlech in 1405 and making it his military headquarters for the next four years. Throughout the rebellion, Owain would do everything in his power not just to assert control over Wales, but to destabilise the new English monarchy. This included, in 1405, making his tripartite alliance with two factions of rebellious English barons, and even hosting an invading French army which spent the summer campaigning with the Welsh.

Even beyond the Middle Ages – skipping over such crucial characters as the “Welsh” Henry VII – one could go on to point out how the “English Civil War” was fought in Wales around the castles of the “iron ring”, such as Flint, which were generally manned by conservative Welsh royalists, in opposition to Cromwell’s overwhelmingly English parliamentarian forces. In fact, Flint and Aberystwyth, cornerstones of Edward’s 1277 “iron ring”, are in the ruinous state we see them in today because Cromwell ordered them destroyed after capture to prevent Welsh royalists again occupying them. By the 17th century the “iron ring” was thoroughly Welsh.

Against this complex backdrop of the rich historical and cultural inheritance of Wales, it is sadly short-sighted to see the “iron ring” as simply a marker of Edward I’s conquest. It is not inappropriate to put this installation of an off-kilter ring, representing a destabilised crown, next to Flint Castle. Flint, and the rest of the iron ring, in the fullness of history, do not represent centuries of steady oppression, but the resilience of the Welsh, who have punched above their weight in directly or indirectly destabilising the English monarchy and government over the centuries.

The “iron ring” is woven into the tapestry of Welsh history in a thousand ways, and the off-kilter ring as proposed, to be lined with engravings celebrating local perspectives on the site, would require some creative negativity dismissive of much of the history of north Wales to be seen strictly as a symbol of English oppression today.

Dr Stevens is senior lecturer in medieval history at Swansea University and fellow of the Royal Historical Society.