Cardiff Castle
 Castles |
 |
"Browse the latest classified ads Cardiff via Gumtree" |
Cardiff Castle is unique. It has Roman walls, a Norman keep and lavish 19 th century state apartments. It started off as a Roman fort. It evolved into a medieval castle and then was transformed into a mansion by the 3 rd Earl of Bute. Originally a Roman fort built in AD76, it was one of a chain constructed by the invaders across South Wales on a strategic river site intended to supress the fiercely independent Welsh tribes, such as the Silures. In the 3 rd century 10ft-thick walls were added to the fortress to guard the harbour and coastal regions against marauding Irish pirates.
A 270ft portion of Roman wall remains in the castle grounds to the present day. When the Romans left Britain in the mid 5 th century, their fortress fell into decline. It was not until a few centuries late that another wave of invaders took control of the country. In 1093, the Normans, under the supervision of Robert Fitzhamon, rebuilt and enlarged the former Roman fort. A motte was raised, topped by a wooden fort which was one of the earliest and finest Norman motte castles in South Wales. In the 12 th century a twelve-sided stone keep was added, which still dominates the castle grounds. The Roman stonework is separated from the Norman by a band of red stones.
The elderst son of the Norman King, William the Conqueror, Robert Curt-Hose, was imprisoned in Cardiff Castle for 28-years by his younger brother Henry I, and died there in 1134. In 1158, a Welshman, Ivor, attacked the castle and town and held Fitzhamon's grandson, the Earl of Gloucester, to ransom, in order to obtain more favourable terms for the Welsh. In 1183, the fortress was damaged during a ferocious Welsh uprising. Over the years the castle has had many powerful owners. The de Clares family took possession of it in the 13 th century. The last to hold the title Earl de Clare was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn, and the castle was taken over by the Despencer family. In 1404 Owain Glyndwr took it over, but by 1449 it became the property of Richard Neville, ‘Warwick the Kingmaker'. After he was killed in battle it came to Richard III for two short years. When his successor and founder of the Tudor dynasty Henry VII defeated him at the Battle of Bosworth, the last battle in the Wars of the Roses, and became King of England in 1485, Cardiff Castle became the property of the monarchy.
Cardiff was a royalist stronghold during the British Civil War, 1642-9, but eventually fell to the Parliamentarians. In the following century the castle was taken over by John Stuart, Earl of Bute, in 1766 and remained in his family into the next century. Between 1867 and 1881, John Stuart's grandson, the 3 rd Marquess of Bute, together with the Herbert family restored it under the guidance of William Burgess, who was commissioned to create an ornate mansion on the site.
Burgess was a very talented and imaginative Victorian architect who specialised in Tiling. He created lavishly decorative interiors, combining Gothic, Arab and Classical Greek styles. The Entrance Hall has a Welsh oak table and statues of English monarchs who have possessed the castle. An Arab Room, in mock-Moorish style, represents a harem and has a glittering gilded ceiling that are complemented by a chimneypiece of white alabaster inset with lapis lazuli. The largest room in the castle is the Banqueting Hall. It has a gold-embellished timber vaulted ceiling with brightly coloured shields and walls painted with murals that show scenes from the Civil War. The Chaucer Room has stained-glass windows showing scenes from the Canterbury Tales. The castle's clock tower has a Winter Smoking Room whose walls have ornate tiles and murals. In short the castle is a great palace in the style of a medieval castle.
The Welsh Regimental Museum and the 1 st The Queens Dragoon Guards Museum is also housed in the Castle. In 1948 Cardiff Castle was presented in trust to the city. It's grounds are now a public park that covers an area of 400 acres. It is the centrepiece of the Welsh capital.
For further information see - http://www.cardiffcastle.com/content.asp