Caerphilly Castle

Caerphilly Castle is the largest castle in Wales and second only to Windsor in all of Britain.

Gilbert de Clare built it in the 13th Century, and it has concentric defence walls and a large amount of moats/lakes around it.

By the late 15th century it has fallen into decline, with much of the stone being taken to make other buildings.

The Marquis of Bute (yes, him again!) acquired it in 1776, and the 3rd and 4th marquesses spent vast amounts of money restoring most of it. In 1950 the grounds and castle were 'given' to the state and the lakes were re-flooded.

They have a well organised route to follow which involves going up and down lots of circular staircases with very narrow steps! Fortunately they all had very secore handrails.





I was warned to keep clear of the swans and geese who had young, but I only saw ducklings.



They had a display of catapults of various sizes and effectiveness.


As the important people travelled between places they took some of their own furniture - bed, table, strong chest, and fire dogs.







The South east tower had been blown apart and leans. Even Lord Bute wasn't able to repair it.


Here is Lord Bute trying to keep it up!


Here is a photo showing some of the repaired sections



This wooden structure on a section of the battlements is called a hourd.




After I finished at the Castle, I popped over the road to a Saturday Craft market and had a Welsh Cake.





Comments

  1. caityo18 May 2026 at 14:36

    Those are Canada geese! Terrible reputation for being aggressive

    ReplyDelete

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