Raglan Revisted Again

I like visiting the castles in the UK and I am lucky in that I live close to the old March lands that span the English and Welsh border where many ruined castles still stand. Raglan Castle is somewhere I have visited a few times. Nestled in the Welsh countryside just outside the Brecon Beacons it was once an important stronghold. It started as a Motte and Bailey castle (an earthen mound with a simple wooden and then stone tower on top) as part of the Norman advance into Wales under William I of England who established the Marcher Lordships to hold the land.


Although Raglan Castle started as a small stronghold in the 12th century, it was expanded over the centuries by successive Lords to become a huge fortress from where the Lord would manage and control his land and the people that inhabited it. Now all that is left of this and other once fine structures are cold stone ruins, a shell of the former mighty bustling centres of life they once were. As I walk round these ruins I often wonder about the people that lived there and what their lives were like.


The ruins visible today date from the 15th and 16th century when the castle was in it's glory days and had become a great base of power and splendour as the fortress of the great family of Herbert. Its ruination came at the end of one of the longest sieges of the English Civil War when the castle was slighted by Cromwell's troops to prevent it from being inhabited and used as a stronghold again. I have posted about the castle's history previously here.


I can only imagine what the castle looked like in it's peak, but there are clues in the ruins. In one of the photo's above you can see the remains of a large bay window which looks out across an inner courtyard and would have flooded the hall with light and sunshine. This would have been one of the later additions, and it could afford to be large, being within the inner curtain wall. The windows on the outside of the castle would have been much smaller to protect those within. In the photo above you can see three floors. Of course the wooden floors are long gone, along with the hammer beam ceiling of the great hall, with all it's fine carving. There would have been wood panelling too and as you can see in the photo, the walls were plastered and painted and would have been covered in fine tapestries and paintings.

You can also make out the remains of the doorways and the large fireplaces that were needed to heat the rooms. Living in a stone structure would have been very cold and damp (trust me, we know rain in the UK!) and so keeping the fires burning was an important job.

Walking round the now empty courtyards, it is hard to imagine the hustle and bustle which would have been a feature of everyday castle life as servants went about their business. The castle would also have housed many timber structures, also long gone, including stables. There would have been a smith, armourer, vintner, cooks and other kitchen staff, chamberlain, porters and maids. The castle would also have been home to a garrison of soldiers who would have guarded the castle and also defended the Lord's land. All of them would have played an essential part in castle life. It must have been very noisy with a myriad smells to assault the nostrils.


As I stood in the castle grounds on a cold winters day, there is very little sign that anyone was there at all. Just a few clues to what has been and my imagination.

Raglan Castle Revisited

I have been quite unwell the past week or so with a chest infection. The worse part of it is that I am having difficulty breathing which gets worse at night. As a result I have been working from home as going out makes me far worse. I did get out and about a bit over Christmas and the New Year though and one of the places I visited was Raglan Castle. I have been here a couple of times before and posted about it here and here. Being winter in the UK, the weather was not on it's best behaviour and was grey and cold and promised rain, a promise which it eventually kept. But not before I took a few photo's and the ones in this post were taken from the top of the Great Tower or keep where the views over the Monmouthshire countryside are beautiful, even on a cold grey day.

The photo above is looking across the fountain court of the castle with the Welsh hills in the distance and the one below is of the towers of the main gatehouse and the ruins of some of the living quarters including the kitchen, dining hall and library, which stand to the right of the fountain court in this view. If you enlarge the photo then you can see some of the ornate stonework that remains above one of the upper windows.

This next photo is not for the faint hearted as it is a view looking directly down from the top of the tower. With all the wooden floors and ceilings long gone after the tower was slighted during the civil war you can see right down to the cobbled ground floor. To the left of the photo you can see how thick the towers walls were as they were designed to withstand a siege and the mortars Cromwell's forces fired at the tower had little effect. After taking the castle, Cromwell ordered the tower to be slighted and this was done by undermining as it took too long to take apart by hand! In the top left of the photo you can even make out one of the castle latrines and the openings in the remaining walls are doorways, windows and large fireplaces. Seeing the castle as it is now it is difficult to imagine people actually lived here. Now pigeons seem to be the only residents.


The castle was quite moody and eerie the day we visited as we were practically the only people there. Most others I suspect being of much sounder mind than me, had stayed at home in the warm, or being of less sound mind than me were rushing around crowded shops in the sales. I know where I would rather be; after all, what's a little bit of rain?

Raglan Castle - The Great Tower (Part 2)

When I visited Raglan Castle in April, I took so many photo's that I thought I might share some more with you, this time more focused on the Great Keep. The view of it in the photo above was taken while I walked around the castle from a grassy embankment. You can get some idea of the scale of this structure as there is a person to the left of the keep who is dwarfed by it somewhat.

As I explained in my last post, the castle was begun by Sir William ap Thomas, a veteran of the French wars, who grew wealthy through exploiting his position as a local agent of the Duke of York in south-east Wales. He began building the Great Tower in 1435 but he was never to see it completed, as ap Thomas died in 1445. The building work was continued by his son, William, who took the surname Herbert, and it subsequently became known as the Yellow Tower of Gwent. You may not be able to tell in these photos but the tower is constructed from sandstone that has a yellow tinge, hence the name. The keep is an unusual hexagonal plan which is clearly shown in the footprint of the floor as shown in the photo above. It is also surrounded by a water-filled moat as seen in the next photo.

The tower has it's own apron wall with small towers, the tops of which have been destroyed. I was intrigued however, to find a doorway in one of these towers leading down to the water (last and next photos). This was patently used to gain access to the moat, and could have been used for a number of reasons, the most mundane of which would be maintenance.

This massive tower was designed as a place of last resort in the first half of the 15th century and its gradual additions made it virtually impregnable. Much more of the original tower would be visible today were it not for the "slighting" by the parliamentarian forces after the siege of Raglan Castle in 1646. When Raglan was surrendered near the end of the Civil War, a decision was made to demolish the Tower completely. Men were set to work with pickaxes in an attempt to destroy it from the top. This failed, however and two sides were undermined until these partially collapsed. The impressive remains still stand - testimony to the great building skills of the day. The photo below really illustrates how thick the tower walls are, and shows where gap where the undermined walls once stood.

Interestingly, the castle started as a late medieval social statement, and ended as one of the strongest Royalist castles of the Civil War. It was not built specifically as a defence as the other great castles of Wales had been. Instead, it was designed mainly as a statement of wealth and influence. Within the Great Tower, there was a single large room to each floor, and the entire structure echoed the power and influence of its builder.

The floors and internal structure of the castle are now gone of course, but the main staircase still remains and visitors can climb the spiral to the top of the keep and are rewarded with a magnificent view of the rest of the castle and the Welsh countryside. The photo above shows the towers of the main gatehouse while the next photo shows the Fountain Court.

I had a really great time exploring the castle. As I was there in the morning there were very few other people around and the air seemed heavy with the passing of time and history. I would have loved to have seen it in it's full spendour - the walls would have been plastered, there would have been oak floors, ceilings and panelling, glazed windows, opulent furnishings (the castle even had it's own library which was destroyed in the seige - the loss of the books is recorded as a great historic loss), curtains, paintings and wall hangings. Today, you get a hint of it's past from the ruins. Raglan is one of my favourite castles and I really do recommend seeing it for yourself if you ever get the chance.

Raglan Castle (Part 1)

I am lucky to live in a part of the UK where I have access to many beautiful places. If I zip over the Severn bridge then I am soon in South Wales where there are many castles that were built by the Normans, and later the English to hold the lands called the Marches which border England and Wales. Without a shadow of a doubt though the most magnificent castle built in this region, is Raglan Castle. The weather has been unusually dry and sunny for the past few weeks in the UK so I recently packed a picnic and the lesser half (men have better halves, so it follows that women must have lesser halves) and I headed west.

Raglan is a village in Monmouthshire and the castle is situated nearby. As you leave the car park and head towards the castle you are greated by the view of the castle in the first photo which shows the magnificent main entance and gatehouse. The photo below is a closer shot of the hexagonal gatehouse towers and the detailed stonework at their tops.


The first castle at Raglan was a Norman motte and bailey which survived until the early 15th century when it came into the hands of Sir William ap Thomas, a Welsh knight who had fought at Agincourt (1415). About 1435 he began building the Great Tower, an unusual hexagonal keep, surrounded by its own moat which I will post more about next time.

Sir William's son, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, carried on the work and added a great gatehouse and lavish accommodation. Successive generations added to the castle and the last major period of building was carried out by William Somerset, Earl of Worcester (1548-89), who was responsible for improvements to the Great Hall.

Built regardless of cost and sumptuously embellished with carving, the castle became still more splendid under Herbert's Elizabethian descendants, who added a lordly banqueting hall and other fashionable apartments befitting of royalty. Indeed, Raglan Castle was the boyhood home of Henry Tudor, later to become King Henry VII. Hints of this splendor can be seen in the windows, the moulded roof corbels and huge fireplaces which are still evident and an example of this is shown in the photo above. Other notable features of the castle include the Fountain Court, the Pitched Stone Court (photo below), a buttery, pantry, Kitchen Tower, Closet Tower, office wing, South Gate, Chapel and State Apartments.

During the Civil War the castle was held for the king, and in June 1646 came under attack from the Parliamentary forces led by Sir Thomas Fairfax. After suffering heavy bombardment for thirteen weeks, in one of the longest sieges of the war, the castle finally surrendered. The castle was slighted by the victorious Parliamentarians, and after considerable effort they managed to topple two sides of the Great Tower through undermining it. Further damage was caused when the Duke of Beaufort ransacked the castle for fittings for his new home at Badminton, leaving Raglan a derelict ruin with it's sheer size, intricate and lavish design, and the odd remaining embellishment, such as that in the photo below, giving us clues to it's splendid and rich past.

Raglan is a wonderful castle to visit as nearly all of it is open to the public, with just a few parts, such as ruined staircases leading to long since gone upper floors being inaccessible. You can also walk around the outside of the castle to the South Gate and it is from here that you really get a good idea of how formidable a structure it was, with earthen embankments and an outer wall, leading up to the castle itself. The west and south side of the castle is shown in the photo below. Trust me that grassy slope is quite steep!

This last photo was taken from the south side where we stopped for our picnic on a flat lawned area called the Bowling Green. However, in times of attack this would have been used as an artillery park. With the elevated poition of the castle this would have been extremely effective. However, today the mighty guns are gone and all was still, quiet and warm as we ate our lunch. In the photo you can see the moat which completely surrounds the great tower with the arched bridge that was used to access it. I will write more about the great tower in my next post.

Pembroke Castle (Part 2) The Keep

I am fascinated by history. We are very lucky in the UK to have such a rich history and to have monuments and relics as tangible links to the past. Being an island much of our history is based on being invaded or fighting off invasion. Think of the Romans, the Viking raids, the Spanish Armada, countless wars with the French, including the Battle of Hastings where William the Conquerer lead the Norman Conquest against King Harold who was killed by an arrow in his eye, through to the Nazi threat of the Second World War. Even within the indiginous peoples - the Celts, Picts, Saxons etc., there were wars and border disputes. Castles are monuments to those turbulent times in the past and were built as defensible strongholds from which a Lord could govern and control the surrounding area.


Pembroke Castle was originally a Norman Castle and was used as a strategic base by them to launch their campaigns against Ireland. Originally a wooden structure, in 1189 the castle came into the hands of William Marshall who transformed the earth-and-timber castle into a mighty stone fortification.

First to be built was the inner ward with its magnificent round keep which is shown in the photo above. It has a height of over 22m and a remarkable domed roof. The original entrance was on the first floor seen on the right of the keep in this pic) and was approached by an external stair Later on, the present ground-floor entrance was inserted as is seen in the middle of this picture at the base of the keep.

Inside, the keep had four floors, connected by a spiral stair which also led to the battlements. The keep is open to visitors and you still climb the original spiral staircase that was used by the inhabitants of the castle over the centuries. The photo above shows the inside of the keep today. Of course the timber that was made up the floors has long since gone but you can see the holes in the walls where the timber joists slotted into the walls to hold the wooden planking. You can also see the domed roof in this picture and some of the deep windows that show how thick the wall of the keep is.

The large square holes on the top of the outside (which you can see in the first photo) were to hold a timber hoard, or fighting platform. When the castle was attacked, the hoard could be erected as an extra defence, outside the battlements but way above the heads of the attackers.


The last photo was taken from the top of the keep and is of the outer ward. From this you can see the curtain or outer wall with it's towers and the large fortified gatehouse with the town of Pembroke outside the walls. I love visiting these places and you get a real feel for the history while you are there that you wouldn't otherwise get from reading a book. I hope my last two posts have helped to bring Pembroke Castle to you and if you find yourself in the UK (or live here) I can highly recommend it.

Pembroke Castle (Part 1)

I love days out. I think it might be because I work in an office and my view consists of the building opposite. If I lean forward then I can make out a small patch of sky and I can tell if it's a nice day from the colour of this and if the sun is blinding me by reflecting off the windows opposite me. So if there is a lovely day then I just want to get out and about in the sun and see things. This time I went to Pembroke Castle and I took my camera with me as usual to try out things, and as promised I thought I'd share some of my photo's with you. The first pic is of the castle as seen from the other side of the river which surrounds one side of the castle. The river was once tidal and went up to the castle walls. The castle itself is built over a large natural cavern called Wogan's Cavern which used to flood and boats could land supplies under the castle.

Pembroke Castle is the largest privately owned castle in Wales and is situated in South West Wales in the centre of the town of Pembroke (see a theme there?). It was first established in 1093 by Roger of Montgomery, when the Norman Conquest of Wales was far from complete and stood firm against Welsh counter-attacks. Pembroke's strategic importance soon increased, as it was from here that the Normans embarked upon their Irish campaigns. In 1189 the castle came into the hands of William Marshal, who transformed the earth-and-timber castle into a mighty stone fortification. First to be built was the inner ward with its round keep which is shown in the photo above.

The photo above is of the main gatehouse which is still the entrance to the castle. As you walk through it you can still get a feel for how hard the castle would have been to attack. You can still clearly see evidence of two portcullises, stout doors, three machicolations, or murder holes, in the vaulting and a series of arrowslits. The gatehouse is now home to exhibitions detailing some of the history of the castle. During the 13th century the castle was expanded and defences were added to the outer ward.

The photos above and below were taken from one of the towers in the outer wall. I could see for miles around me so it was obviously an advantage for spotting enemy forces approaching. In the pic below you can see another of the towers and part of the wall walk. In 1405 Francis Court was hastily given munitions to hold the castle against Owain Glyndwr's uprising and the castle later passed into the hands of Jasper Tewdwr, Earl of Pembroke, and was apparently the birthplace of his nephew Henry, later King Henry VII.

As ever, I explored everywhere I could. I walked along the walls, climbed the towers and looked into every nook and cranny I could find. One place I had to see, but wouldn't have wanted to spend too much time was the Dungeon Tower which is in the photo below. Inside it was dank, cold and dark and I got that impression that this wasn't just because the castle had fallen into ruin as the main hall and living quarters would have been quite sumptuous with warm fires, tapestries and furnishings.

I learnt that Pembroke Castle became ruined during the Civil War. Pembroke declared its support for Parliament at the beginning of the Civil War, but in 1648 the town's mayor, John Poyer disgruntled at his lack of reward, joined a disaffected group of Roundheads unwilling to be demobilized. Apparently Cromwell himself came to besiege the castle which only fell after seven weeks when the water supply was cut off and a train of siege cannon arrived to start a bombardment. After this defiance, Cromwell blew up the barbican and the fronts of all the towers to prevent the castle ever again being used militarily. The castle fell into ruin and much restoration work was done in the 19th and 20th centuries and now the castle is run by a private charitable trust.

This last photo was taken from the top of the keep. In the foreground you can see the inner ward with Pembroke and the river in the background. Standing on top of the keep I wondered about all that this ancient building had witnessed over the centuries - the people that had lived there, the battles that had been fought adn the changes to Pembroke town outside it's walls. If only stone could speak...

Chepstow Castle

The weather in the UK has been particularly unpleasant this year so far. Not exactly cold, just grey, wet and miserable with the occassional gale thrown in for good measure. So last weekend I took full advantage of a bright sunny day to get out and about and play with my new dSLR. I decided to visit the nearby town of Chepstow on the border between England and Wales and to take some pictures of the ruined castle there, particularly as Utenzi had requested to see some pics of somewhere near where I live. The photo below was taken from the approach to the castle entrance and you get some idea as to what a large structure it was.


This next photo was taken from within the castle looking accross to the Wye Valley. You can see a ruined tower in this photo and many birds were roosting in the ruins. Chepstow Castle was successively added to over many years and was originally built by the Earl of Hereford, William FitzOsbern who was one of William the Conqueror's trusted officers, and was given the job of helping to maintain order and put down rebellions along the southern border with Wales. FitzOsbern began construction on Chepstow Castle in 1067. It was the first stone castle built in Wales, and its Great Hall is the oldest surviving stone fortification in Britain.

Chepstow Castle was remodeled and expanded several times in its life: it was expanded and fortified in the 12th century; in the 13th century a complex of rooms known as the domestic range was added; and in the 16th and 17th centuries it was further fortified. During and after the Civil Wars in England, it served as a prison. Among its inmates were the Royalist Bishop Jeremy Taylor and the regicide Henry Marten. The tower in which Marten was housed for the last 20 years of his life is now known as Marten's Tower and is the big tower in the first photo.

The photo above shows one of the heavy wooden doors within the castle and below is a shot taken in one of the towers showing a narrow stairway with an arch leading to an external walkway to another tower (this shot was not so easy to get!). There were not many people at the castle when I visited - a symptom I think of the time of year and the fact that shopping seems to be the main past time in the UK now, but it was quiet there and the lack of modern noise meant that you really got a feel for the 'heaviness' of the years and the history of the place.

The photo below was taken inside one of the large halls where you could see the remains of some of the sumptious decorative stonework there. The archwork that held up the long gone roof must have been beautiful. The owners of the castle would also have decorated the plasterwork that once lined the internal walls (most of it long gone but traces were still evident in places) and of sourse there would have been tapestries and large fires to warm the rooms. Many of the large fireplaces were still visible.


This final photograph is looking from within the castle back towards the main entrance, so it really does give you a sense of how big this castle is. The sun was going in at this point as the clouds returned but I wanted to inlude this picture so that you could get a sense of the size and to show you that the castle was built on a cliff right next to the River Wye. Behind the castle you can see some of residential chepstow. Just imagine having this the castle and the river as a view!

The Smallest Castle Ever!

The photo above was taken on a recent day out and is of Nunney Castle. I am a member of a group called 'English Heritage' who maintain many historical sites and structures accross England and so we decided to visit this castle which is one they look after. From the picture in the brochure it looked rather substantial, having a moat and towers and so we set off on the 2 hour drive there. We had to laugh when we got there though as it was only the size of a very large house which came as a bit of a surprise! Well, we walked around it twice in opposite directions and went inside but it didn't take up much time and so we had lunch and went to Glasonbury as well, but I'll save that for another post.

Anyway, as you can see from the photo above it was quite an interesting little castle. Built c1373 by John DeLa Mare, Nunney Castle was designed with a strong French influence, probably obtained from its veteran owners exploits during the Hundred-Year War. Nunney Castle consists of a rectangular Tower House with large drum towers at each corner. The curtain wall between the southwest and northeast towers is so short (approx. 1m) that the towers appear to be virtually joined together.

Nunney Castle is surrounded by a moat, which was restored in the early part of the 20th century. Originally this would have been far more substantial, with water extending to the castle walls. Accommodation was arranged with a kitchen on the ground floor, where remains of a large fire place and side oven are still visible, and storage facilities in the base of the towers with a well at one end. Servants quarters were on the first floor of the tower, with the Great Hall and Lord's Solar occupying the 2nd and 3rd floors respectively. The upper storeys of the towers would have provided additional accommodation, and a Chapel was located at the top of the southwest tower.


Little is known of Nunney Castle's history and it appears to have been largely uneventful. The most notable chapter seems to have been during the Civil War when it was besieged by Cromwell's troops, but capitulated within two days. Never designed to withstand cannon, the north wall was soon breached above the entrance, the hole remaining until 1910 when the bulk of the wall to collapsed. This resulted in the great void that is a prominent feature of Nunney Castle today. After the Civil War, Nunney Castle's roof was removed to render it uninhabitable, and so it has remained ever since.

The Stuff of Legends!

Last weekend I went to Cornwall and had a wonderful time. I visited Tintagel Castle which was built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall and according to Cornish Legend is the birth place of King Arthur and is the place where the Kings of Cornwall held their courts. When the Norman armies reached Tintagel they heard that this headland had been the seat of the Cornish Kings and so the castle was built more for propaganda purposes than for strategic reasons. The picture above was taken from the mainland looking over to the castle which is on a rocky headland joined to the mainland by a narrow neck of rocks. The castle is reached by a wooden bridge and many steps up the side of the cliff face which was quite tiring on a such a hot and sunny day, but it was well worth the climb.

There is not much left of the castle itself as the Atlantic and the elements have pounded it for centuries but above is a close up of an archway that when passed through, leads you along a windy path to the sea and some magnificent views such as the one below.

I spent hours exploring the rocky headland that the castle stands on and the ruins themselves. I also walked along the opposite headland a bit where you can look back at the castle. It is possible to walk all along the coast to Boscastle (the Cornish fishing village that flooded last year) but it was hot and I was feeling too relaxed so I sat down and looked contentedly at the waves and the scenery before me knowing that I would return and walk the coastal path another time.

From the photo below you can see that Tinatgel has a lovely little cove complete with caves, sandy beach and waterfalls! The site is maintained by English Heritage and as ever they have done a good job and it is a great place to visit. I think those of us that live in the UK sometimes forget that we have some of the best places to vist right on our doorstep! I am currently going through a very stressful time in my life for various reasons and it was so nice to be somewhere that I could just 'be'. Despite the other tourists I did not feel harrassed and it was easy to find your own spot amongst the rocks to just sit and relax which was exactly what I needed.

Not quite Camelot but...

Okay, I know I have been tardy with posting to my blog recently but life has been getting in the way of late. Lots happening in Bobkats world! Anyway, with the weather being so nice lately I have been out and about. Now I have always liked castles and recently visited Goodrich Castle which stands on a wooded hill commanding the passage of the River Wye into the valley of Symonds Yat . The castle was begun in the late 11th century, by the English thegn Godric who gave it his name, and successive generations added to it over the centuries.

The well preserved square keep which still forms the core of the castle was added, probably in the time of Richard 'Strongbow' de Clare, Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Goodrich 1148-76 and you can still climb to the top and enjoy a spectacular view of the Wye Valley. In fact, English Heritage have done a great job of making as much of the castle accessible to the public to explore as possible, which I applaud.

Back to the history bit... Under King John, Goodrich was granted with the earldom of Pembroke to William Marshal, a great castle-builder who may have initiated work on the inner ward. Each of the Marshal's four sons inherited the fortress in turn, the last dying childless at Goodrich in 1245.

Thereafter the fortress and earldom passed to Henry III's half-brother, William de Valence, who rebuilt its defences and living quarters. Goodrich still has one of the most complete sets of medieval domestic buildings surviving in any English castle (apparently). During the Civil War, Goodrich was held successively by both sides. Sir Henry Lingen's Royalists eventually surrendered in 1646 under threats of undermining and a deadly Parliamentarian mortar.

So there's a bit of history for you. I had a great time visiting it and was impressed by the way it was maintained and presented. I have also visited many castles in Wales. Good ones to visit are Raglan and Pembroke. Raglan is managed by Cadw and in my oppinion they do not do such a good job as English Heritage or the privately owned Pembroke management. The information at Cadw castles is more sparse and the castles themselves tend to be less accessible and I like to explore. I also want to know a bit about the castles history and not just what the buildings were used for! Pembroke on the other hand is a wonderful castle to visit, well kept with plenty to explore and good information - you can even have a tour guide if you like. It is extremely well maintained and impressive to view. I have a few more castles to visit, but cannot seem to find Castle Aaghhh or Castle Anthrax on any maps! Funny that :o)