Historic Places in Cardiff

Barry Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales is one of the lesser-known medieval fortifications of the Welsh coastal lowlands, a site that speaks to the Anglo-Norman settlement of this fertile and strategically important area south of the Glamorgan uplands. The castle was associated with the Barry family, who took their name from the locality and were among the lesser Anglo-Norman lords who established themselves in South Wales following the conquest of Glamorgan in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. Though smaller and less well-preserved than the great Edwardian castles of north Wales, Barry Castle represents the local tier of Norman defensive architecture that made the conquest of Wales a reality on the ground. The Vale of Glamorgan is one of the most anglicised parts of Wales, its fertile limestone farmland having attracted dense Norman settlement from the earliest period of the conquest. A network of manor houses, small castles and fortified churches created a landscape of controlled agricultural territory extending from Cardiff to the coast, and Barry Castle was one node in that network. Its coastal position gave it some significance in relation to the Bristol Channel crossings and the maritime connections that were important to the Norman lords of Glamorgan throughout the medieval period. The castle's remains are fragmentary but the site retains enough to give a sense of its original form and the position it occupied within the medieval settlement pattern of the Vale. Barry has grown considerably as a town and resort since the Victorian period, when the development of Barry Docks as one of the principal coal exporting ports in the world transformed a small village into a major industrial settlement. The castle predates that transformation by many centuries and represents the much older history of this part of Glamorgan. Barry Island and the adjacent coastline provide good opportunities for combining a visit to the castle with the beaches, rock pools and coastal scenery that make Barry a popular destination from Cardiff and the surrounding valleys. The Vale of Glamorgan also contains the well-preserved Norman castle of Ogmore and the picturesque ruins of Ewenny Priory within easy reach.

Old Beaupre Castle is far from an easy castle to get to, so don't expect your SatNav to take you to this fabulous fortified manor. Access to this fortified manor house is from a poorly signposted public footpath across a field where there is limited parking for no more than 3 cars by the side of the road. As you walk across the field down the gentle valley of the river Thaw, this rustic medieval and then Tudor manor house, comes into view. The medieval part dates from about 1300, consisted of a group of buildings loosely arranged around the southernmost, or inner court. In the 16th century an extensive program of rebuilding was undertaken, started by Sir Rice Mansel, continued by William Bassett and finished by his son Richard. These are remarkably well preserved, despite the ruinous state of most of the buildings around them. They demonstrate the Bassetts' wealth and pretensions to grandeur, as was doubtless their intention at the time. The heraldic panels and inscriptions on each leave no doubt as to who built them. You will enter over a stile in the walled outer court and pass through a great wooden door in the gatehouse. Once inside there is plenty to explore with some fabulous noteworthy features, especially on the decorative porch, its fireplaces and windows. A terrific castle well worth the short walk.

The name Candleston is probably derived from the de Cantelupe family who built a fortified manor house here in the later 14th century. Surrounded by the huge sand dune system of Merthyr Mawr, over time the lands of the manor later became covered with dunes and thus valueless. Candleston Castle was built upon a promontory of land overlooking the Merthyr Mawr sand dunes and it is probable that there was originally a small harbour near the site. It consisted of a D-shaped courtyard enclosed by a substantial curtain wall. A two storey hall range occupied the eastern side. A tower, consisting of a vault on the ground floor and a solar on the level above, were added shortly after on the southern end of the hall. This is a fabulous little castle, one of my favourite ruins in all of South Wales to explore. A walk round the interior discovering its fire places, kitchen area, windows and solar, you get a real sense this was a luxurious fortified home. It's very easy to imagine the hustle and bustle of a busy kitchen as the lords in their finery return home. Access to the castle is very easy as its located next to a pay and display car park, for walks in the woods and enormous sands dunes.

Castell Morgriag is an unfinished castle ruin lost beneath undergrowth and hidden away from view,to all but the most determined castle-finder. Access to the castle is via a track that runs from a car park behind a public house where with consideration you can park your car. Unfortunately the once tendered grounds are now overgrown with brambles and thick undergrowth, making exploration very difficult to make out the castle walls and towers. I've therefore included a map to help the discovery of this ruin.

A succession of settlers and invaders over the centuries have taken advantage of this naturally defendable site. Few castles can trace their remains back to Iron-Age, Roman, Dark Age, Saxon and Norman forifications better than Dinas Powys. This multi-purpose site lies at the eastern end of the Vale of Glamorgan, one end of the hill having been fortified in the early Christian period by a bank and ditch dating from the 5th to the 7th century. To find Dinas Powys Castle take the A4055 Cardiff to Barry road towards Dinas Powys. Once at the village find The Lettons Way. The path up to this overgrown and hidden castle can be found on right-hand side. Today the castle is almost completely lost under extensive undergrowth, but all this adds to the sense of discovering something lost. The walls are still quite substantial as is the area it covers, with remains of stone walls traceable with care through the thick undergrowth and woodland. A fascinating ancient place well worth exploring, if you don't mind the thorns and tangled roots.

Kenfig Castle is one of the best discoveries of all the hundreds of castles we have visited across the country. The castle is partially buried under the huge expanse of rolling sand dunes that stretch out in every direction, hidden beneath tangled undergrowth. Finding this castle you will need a map of the Kenfig sands. You can park off the road opposite the public footpaths that cross the sands. As you progress up and over the grassy sand dunes without any firm landmarks it can be easy to lose your way and the paths soon disappear underfoot. With the motorway far to the right of you, the sprawling Port Talbot steel works ahead, look out for the stub of the tower that sits upon a tangled grassy mound. If you come across the railway line as you head towards the steel works, work your way to your left, away from the motorway, and eventually you'll spot the stubby tower ruins. After you have visited the tower and work away from the tangled ruins, you will spot other sections of castle walls that appear from under the undergrowth, indicating there is still much that is hidden from view that still awaits excavation to reveal its secrets. On a hot day such as ours, make sure you take plenty of water for the walk. The Prince of Wales pub once back at the road provides a well earnt drink after a very long but enjoyable walk.

Llandaff Bishop's Palace is a ruined medieval palace in the cathedral close of Llandaff in Cardiff, the remains of the residence of the Bishops of Llandaff built beside one of the oldest cathedral foundations in Wales. The palace ruins stand alongside Llandaff Cathedral, which dates in its present fabric from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries and contains Jacob Epstein's remarkable aluminium Christ in Majesty, installed after the cathedral was severely damaged by a German landmine in 1941. The ruins of the Bishop's Palace, with their substantial gatehouse and walls, provide an atmospheric complement to the cathedral in this compact and historically remarkable precinct. Llandaff is now a suburb of Cardiff but retains the character of a distinct historic village centred on its cathedral and close, providing one of the most complete medieval ecclesiastical landscapes in south Wales within easy reach of the city centre.

A dark, ivy-covered ruined tower is all that is left of one of the more important 13th-century castles of Glamorgan. It was built to hold this hill district of Meisgyn which had been wrestled from its Welsh overlords. The castle's strategic and commanding position, guarding the important route from the upland to the lowland zone, is very apparent. The castle is a small Glamorgan courtyard castle with its commanding panoramic views of the Vale of Glamorgan and the north Devon coastline. It castle stands on a flat-topped blunt spur on the edge of a steep drop to the south. Ditches separate it from the rest of the ridgetop on the east and west sides. The north side of a circular tower, once called the Raven, is the main upstanding stonework of the castle. At the height of its power Llantrisant was rated as 'second only to Cardiff in military importance'. Today the castle is little more than fragments within a public park, surrounded by railings to keep the goats from escaping.

Penmark Castle is a large and very irregular hexagon with a round keep on the West side, to which were attached two other towers and wall. At the Northwest corner is a twin square towered gatehouse with another tower in the interior. The ground falls away steeply on the North, East and South sides where there are various other turrets. The whole structure is rather poorly built and is now in a dangerous condition. The oldest part of the castle dates back to the 12th century whereas the curtain wall and semi-circular towers are 13th century.

St Fagans Castle is a late sixteenth-century Elizabethan manor house within the grounds of the National Museum of Wales St Fagans, the most popular heritage attraction in Wales and one of Europe's finest open-air museums. The manor house with its formal walled garden, recently restored to reflect its original Elizabethan character, stands as the aristocratic centrepiece of a remarkable collection of over forty historic buildings dismantled and re-erected from across Wales, from Celtic roundhouses to Victorian miners' cottages. A recent major redevelopment added new galleries interpreting Welsh history and culture from prehistory to the present. The museum is freely accessible and provides one of the finest immersive experiences of Welsh life across many centuries.