Historic Places in Glamorgan

Fear of a Welsh prince inspired the mightiest medieval castle in Wales Llywelyn ap Gruffudd didn’t build Caerphilly Castle. In fact he twice tried to knock it down before it was finished. But he was certainly its inspiration. The rise of the powerful Prince of Wales persuaded Marcher lord Gilbert de Clare that he needed a fortress in double-quick time. And it had better be truly formidable. So from 1268 de Clare constructed the biggest castle in Wales — second only to Windsor in the whole of Britain. Massive walls, towers and gatehouses were combined with sprawling water defences to cover a total of 30 acres. That’s three times the size of Wales’s modern-day stronghold and home of Welsh rugby, the Principality Stadium. On the death of Llywelyn this frontline fortress was transformed into a palatial home with a hunting park and northern lake. It passed into the hands of Edward II’s ruthless and greedy favourite Hugh Despenser, who revamped the great hall in ornate style. By then Caerphilly must have appeared like some mythical castle floating in an enchanted lake. An effect oddly enhanced by the Civil War gunpowder that left the south-east tower at a precarious angle. In fact Wales’s very own Leaning Tower — even wonkier than that of Pisa — is probably the castle’s best-loved feature.

Cardiff Castle stands at the heart of the Welsh capital, a complex of buildings on a site of continuous fortification and habitation spanning nearly two thousand years that encompasses a Roman fort, a Norman keep on its earthen motte, a medieval and post-medieval castle and the extraordinary Victorian Gothic apartments created by the third Marquess of Bute and the architect William Burges in the 1860s and 1870s. The combination of this extraordinary historical depth with the Victorian fantasy interiors of the Clock Tower and the main apartments makes Cardiff Castle one of the most fascinating and unusual historic buildings in Wales. The Roman connection is fundamental to the site's history. The castle grounds occupy the northwest corner of a Roman fort established in the first century AD to control the crossing of the River Taff and the approaches to the Bristol Channel, and the massive Roman walls that once enclosed the fort have been extensively restored and can be walked today. The Norman keep on its motte, built in the twelfth century within the area of the Roman fort, and the later medieval buildings of the inner ward represent successive phases of the site's continuous military importance. The Victorian Gothic transformation of the castle by the Marquess of Bute, at the time the richest man in Britain from the proceeds of the Cardiff coal trade, and the architect William Burges created interiors of staggering opulence and inventive eclecticism. Burges, a medievalist of passionate conviction and extraordinary imagination, designed rooms in which every surface was covered with painted decoration, gilded carving and elaborate stonework, creating a total environment of Gothic fantasy that represented his vision of the Middle Ages at its most exuberant. The Arab Room, the Banqueting Hall, the Winter Smoking Room and the Lord Bute's Study are among the most remarkable Victorian interiors in Britain. The castle is in the care of Cardiff City Council and is surrounded by Bute Park, a large riverside park donated to the city by the Bute family.

Fairy-tale castle was a plaything for the rich and powerful What happens when a patron of unlimited wealth meets an architect of boundless imagination? Here’s your answer. Castell Coch, or the ‘Red Castle’, rises up from the ancient beech woods of Fforest Fawr like a vision from a fairy tale. Yet these great towers with their unmistakable conical roofs only hint at the splendour within. Given free rein by the third Marquess of Bute, architect William Burges didn’t hold back. The highly decorated interiors and rich furnishings of Castell Coch make it a dazzling masterpiece of the High Victorian era. But it’s no exotic folly. Underneath the mock-medieval trappings you can still trace the impressive remains of a 13th-century castle, once used as a hunting lodge by the ruthless Marcher lord Gilbert de Clare. Castell Coch has been a plaything of the rich and powerful for over 700 years. Having lavished huge sums on it neither Gilbert de Clare nor the Marquess of Bute spent much time here. But it remains a magnificent vision of an imaginary medieval world – regularly voted by the public as their favourite building in Wales.

Romantic ruined castle, a storyboard in stone Originally founded in the early 12th century, Coety’s remains are a centuries-spanning jumble of architectural styles that reflect its lengthy occupation. Begun as an earthwork castle around AD 1100, the stone keep and curtain wall were late 12th-century additions. Major rebuilding took place in the 14th century and again in the 15th, after Owain Glyndŵr laid siege to the castle during his uprising against English rule. Further modifications were made in the early 16th century, including the addition of a third floor. Though the castle is now a ruin, remaining features from each era shed light on its long and storied life.

A site of power – both religious and industrial Along with Llanthony Priory and Tintern Abbey, the ruins of Neath Abbey are the most important and impressive monastic remains in south Wales. Founded in 1130 by Norman knight Sir Richard de Granville, by the late 13th century it had become one of Wales’s wealthiest abbeys. Around 50 monks lived here, alongside an even larger number of lay brothers who worked at the abbey’s estates on tasks which probably included mining coal for domestic use. Much later, the heavy hand of the Industrial Revolution was almost its downfall, the abbey becoming a copper smelting plant with furnaces, workshops and workers’ dwellings, and having an ironworks as its next-door neighbour. Thankfully it survived this ignominious episode. Virtually the entire layout of the abbey and its buildings can still be seen today, confirming the sheer scale of this prosperous religious settlement.

A castle in name only but hugely impressive Appearances can be deceptive. Castell Oxwich, towering splendidly above the wide sweep of Oxwich Bay, isn’t really a castle at all. It’s a magnificent Tudor manor house built by an ambitious father and son whose mock-military flourishes are all about social climbing rather than defence. From the moment you walk through the imposing gateway emblazoned with the arms of Sir Rice Mansel, it’s clear this was the home of a gentry family looking to be movers and shakers in the prosperous years of the 16th century. Sir Rice’s relatively humble south range, used as a farmhouse for about 200 years until 1954, is still intact. But his son Edward’s extravagant east range, with its two-storey hall and elegant long gallery with stupendous sea views, now lies in ruins. Outside the courtyard are the remains of an immense dovecote with 300 nests. This was partly to provide the castle with year-round fresh meat – and partly just to show off. Remarkably Oxwich is still owned by descendants of the Mansel family.

Urban remnants of a once-mighty fortress Though what little remains of Swansea Castle is now hemmed in by the modern-day city centre, this was once a fortress of great strategic importance. Nowadays, it’s difficult to envisage its original location on a clifftop above where the River Tawe used to flow, controlling a harbour and important east–west route along southern Wales. Though there has been a castle here since at least the early 12th century, the remains that stand today date from the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The most striking feature is the distinctive arcaded parapet on the south block, remarkably similar that of the bishops’ palaces at St Davids and Lamphey. Local lad Dylan Thomas worked as a young reporter at newspaper offices (now demolished) on the castle site.

High-society home with its very own watchtower Your abiding memory of Weobley will be its dramatic location on the windswept coast of the Gower peninsula – overlooking marshes and mudflats with the wild Llwchwr estuary beyond. This epic view must be the same today as it was 700 years ago when this fortified manor house was raised in stages by the wealthy de la Bere family, stewards to the lords of Gower. Mostly they wanted to create an elegant family home in which to entertain high society guests. The grand hall, guest chambers with indoor latrines and the lord’s solar, or private withdrawing room, all suggest considerable splendour. But the watchtower, military-style crenellated wall-tops and a south-west tower raised to battlement height show that these were still dangerous times. Luxury and defence had to go hand in hand. Nevertheless it was a century later before Weobley suffered serious damage during the uprising of Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century.