Cardiff Castle
Encyclopedia
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle
and Victorian architecture
Gothic revival mansion
, transformed from a Norman
keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter
of Cardiff
, the capital of Wales
. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.
forts on the site. The first was probably built about AD 55 during the conquest of the Silures
tribe. From the late 2nd to the mid-3rd century, civilian buildings associated with iron working occupied the site (Roman fort).
was built on a high motte
on the site of a Roman castra
, first uncovered during the third Marquess of Bute's building campaign. The Norman keep
, of which the shell remains, was constructed about 1091 by Robert Fitzhamon
, lord of Gloucester and conqueror of Glamorgan
. After the failed attempt of Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror's eldest son, to take England from Henry I
, Robert of Normandy was imprisoned here until his death in 1134. The castle, rebuilt in stone, was an important stronghold of Marcher Lords
, in the de Clare
and le Despenser
dynasties, also the Beauchamps Earls of Warwick
, Richard of York through his marriage into the Neville
family, and the Herbert
family, Earls of Pembroke. In the 18th century the castle became the property of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
, who became through his Herbert wife a major landowner in the area, and whose heirs developed the docks that transformed Cardiff from a fishing village to a major coal exporting port during the 19th century.
by Henry Holland
. But its transformation began in 1868 when John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute
commissioned William Burges
to undertake a massive rebuilding which turned the castle into a medieval palace. Bute's and Burges's shared interest in medieval gothic revivalism, combined with Bute's almost limitless financial resources as the richest man in Britain, meant that Burges could build on the grandest scale. His imagination, his scholarship, his architectural and decorative talents, his inventiveness and his sheer high spirits combined to make Cardiff Castle the "most successful of all the fantasy castles of the nineteenth century."
It was necessary for Burges to incorporate the existing structure of the castle within his work. This "over-laying" can clearly be seen, either from the park or from the courtyard, with the silhouette showing Burges' capping of the Georgian towers by gothic steeples. However, the Clock Tower, which was begun on Bute's coming of age in 1869, is entirely Burges' own. The first part of the re-building, it formed a suite of bachelor's rooms, the Marquess not marrying until 1872, comprising a bedroom, a servant's room and the Summer and Winter smoking rooms. The rooms are sumptuously decorated with gildings, carvings and cartoons, many allegorical in style, depicting the seasons, myths and fables. Work continued along Holland's Georgian range including the construction of the Guest Tower, the Arab Room, the Chaucer Room, the Nursery, the Library, the Banqueting Hall and bedrooms for both Lord and Lady Bute. Almost the entire of Burges's usual team were involved, including Chapple, Frame and Lonsdale. Following Burges' death in 1881, further areas of the castle were developed along the lines he had set, culminating in the Animal Wall
, which was not completed until the 1920s by the third Marquess' son, the fourth Marquess. The Swiss bridge that originally crossed the moat to the pre-Raphaelite garden which the Animal Wall
encompassed, was demolished in the nineteen thirties. Also gone is the Grand Staircase. It was long thought that the staircase, shown in a watercolour perspective prepared by Axel Haig
, had never actually been built but very recent research has shown that the staircase was in fact constructed, and then torn out in the 1930s.
William Burges was able to create a richness and fantasy in his interiors that has rarely been equalled. Although “he executed few buildings as his rich fantastic gothic required equally rich patrons (..) his finished works are outstanding monuments to nineteenth century gothic. As such Cardiff castle was the last great masterpiece of the gothic revival, its interiors some of the most magnificent that the gothic revival ever achieved.
From the park, all five towers appear in enfilade to produce a wonderfully crowded variegated and romantic Victorian skyline. It has been suggested that Burges' work is overpowering. Mordaunt Crook responds that, whilst at Cardiff "the lily suffers from a surfeit of gilding.. (the) suffocating richness was the aim. (The rooms) are fantasy capsules, three dimensional passports to fairy kingdoms and realms of gold. In Cardiff Castle we enter a land of dreams".
Cardiff Castle is extraordinary but is it unique? Mordaunt Crook contends that there is nothing in Victorian Britain to match its obsessive exoticism. "Alton castle, Eaton Hall, Carlton Towers, Alnwick, Peckforton, none approaches the Burgesian Sublime. And none has comparable interiors. Cardiff is incomparable. Its silhouette has become the skyline of the capital of Wales. The dream of one great patron and one great architect has almost become the symbol of a whole nation."
in addition to the ruins
of the old castle and the Victorian
reconstruction. It sits in the expansive grounds of Bute Park
.
The castle has hosted a number of rock concerts and performances and has the capacity to accommodate over 10,000 people. Notable concerts include the Stereophonics
's Live at Cardiff Castle
in June 1998 and Green Day
in 2002. Tom Jones
performed here before a large crowd in 2001; it is on DVD, Tom Jones: Live at Cardiff Castle. In 1948 a crowd of 16,000, a record for a British baseball
game, watched Wales
defeat England in Cardiff Castle grounds. During the 1960s and 1970s the castle was the setting for a military tattoo
to rival that of Edinburgh, the floodlit keep providing a spectacular backdrop.
Currently, Cardiff Castle plays host to Cardiff University
's Summer Ball each year, and is the site of Wales's largest Mardi Gras
held every August.
Architectural
historian
Dan Cruickshank
selected the Castle as one of his eight choices for the 2002
BBC
book The Story of Britain's Best Buildings.
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
and Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
Gothic revival mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
, transformed from a Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter
Castle Quarter
Castle Quarter is a commercial area in the north of the city centre of Cardiff, Wales.The Castle Quarter includes some of Cardiff's Victorian and Edwardian arcades: Castle Arcade, High Street Arcade and Duke Street Arcade, and principal shopping streets: St Mary Street, High Street, Castle Street...
of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, the capital of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.
The Roman fort
There may have been at least two previous RomanRoman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
forts on the site. The first was probably built about AD 55 during the conquest of the Silures
Silures
The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire of present day South Wales; and possibly Gloucestershire and Herefordshire of present day England...
tribe. From the late 2nd to the mid-3rd century, civilian buildings associated with iron working occupied the site (Roman fort).
The Norman castle
The Norman keepKeep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
was built on a high motte
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
on the site of a Roman castra
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
, first uncovered during the third Marquess of Bute's building campaign. The Norman keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
, of which the shell remains, was constructed about 1091 by Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon , or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales...
, lord of Gloucester and conqueror of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
. After the failed attempt of Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror's eldest son, to take England from Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, Robert of Normandy was imprisoned here until his death in 1134. The castle, rebuilt in stone, was an important stronghold of Marcher Lords
Marcher Lords
A Marcher Lord was a strong and trusted noble appointed by the King of England to guard the border between England and Wales.A Marcher Lord is the English equivalent of a margrave...
, in the de Clare
De Clare
The de Clare family of Norman lords were associated with the Welsh Marches, Suffolk, Surrey, Kent and Ireland. They were descended from Richard fitz Gilbert, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England during the Norman conquest of England.-Origins:The Clare family descends from Gilbert...
and le Despenser
Baron le Despencer
The title Baron le Despencer has been created several times by writ in the Peerage of England.-Creation:The first creation was in 1295, when Hugh the elder Despenser was summoned to the Model Parliament. He was the eldest son of the sometime Justiciar Hugh le Despenser , who was summoned in 1264 to...
dynasties, also the Beauchamps Earls of Warwick
Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick is a title that has been created four times in British history and is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the British Isles.-1088 creation:...
, Richard of York through his marriage into the Neville
House of Neville
The House of Neville is a noble house of early medieval origin, which was a leading force in English politics in the later middle ages...
family, and the Herbert
Herbert
Herbert may refer to:*a Germanic name, see Herbert *a surname, see Herbert Places* Herbert, California* Herbert, California, former name of Knowles Junction, California* Herbert, New Zealand* Herbert, Saskatchewan...
family, Earls of Pembroke. In the 18th century the castle became the property of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...
, who became through his Herbert wife a major landowner in the area, and whose heirs developed the docks that transformed Cardiff from a fishing village to a major coal exporting port during the 19th century.
The Victorian mansion
In the early 19th century the castle was enlarged and refashioned in an early Gothic Revival style for John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of ButeJohn Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute
John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, KT, FRS was the son of John, Lord Mount Stuart and the former Lady Elizabeth McDouall-Crichton...
by Henry Holland
Henry Holland (architect)
Henry Holland was an architect to the English nobility. Born in Fulham, London, his father also Henry ran a building firm and he built several of Capability Brown's buildings, although Henry would have learnt a lot from his father about the practicalities of construction it was under Brown that he...
. But its transformation began in 1868 when John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute
John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute KT, KSG, KGCHS was a landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist and architectural patron.-Early life:...
commissioned William Burges
William Burges (architect)
William Burges was an English architect and designer. Amongst the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, Burges sought in his work an escape from 19th century industrialisation and a return to the values, architectural and social, of an imagined mediaeval England...
to undertake a massive rebuilding which turned the castle into a medieval palace. Bute's and Burges's shared interest in medieval gothic revivalism, combined with Bute's almost limitless financial resources as the richest man in Britain, meant that Burges could build on the grandest scale. His imagination, his scholarship, his architectural and decorative talents, his inventiveness and his sheer high spirits combined to make Cardiff Castle the "most successful of all the fantasy castles of the nineteenth century."
It was necessary for Burges to incorporate the existing structure of the castle within his work. This "over-laying" can clearly be seen, either from the park or from the courtyard, with the silhouette showing Burges' capping of the Georgian towers by gothic steeples. However, the Clock Tower, which was begun on Bute's coming of age in 1869, is entirely Burges' own. The first part of the re-building, it formed a suite of bachelor's rooms, the Marquess not marrying until 1872, comprising a bedroom, a servant's room and the Summer and Winter smoking rooms. The rooms are sumptuously decorated with gildings, carvings and cartoons, many allegorical in style, depicting the seasons, myths and fables. Work continued along Holland's Georgian range including the construction of the Guest Tower, the Arab Room, the Chaucer Room, the Nursery, the Library, the Banqueting Hall and bedrooms for both Lord and Lady Bute. Almost the entire of Burges's usual team were involved, including Chapple, Frame and Lonsdale. Following Burges' death in 1881, further areas of the castle were developed along the lines he had set, culminating in the Animal Wall
Animal Wall
The Animal Wall is a sculptured wall depicting 15 animals in the Castle Quarter of the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is a Grade I listed structure.-History:...
, which was not completed until the 1920s by the third Marquess' son, the fourth Marquess. The Swiss bridge that originally crossed the moat to the pre-Raphaelite garden which the Animal Wall
Animal Wall
The Animal Wall is a sculptured wall depicting 15 animals in the Castle Quarter of the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is a Grade I listed structure.-History:...
encompassed, was demolished in the nineteen thirties. Also gone is the Grand Staircase. It was long thought that the staircase, shown in a watercolour perspective prepared by Axel Haig
Axel Haig
Axel Haig was a Swedish-born artist and illustrator. His paintings, illustrations and etchings, undertaken for himself and on behalf of many of the foremost architects of the Victorian period made him "the Piranesi of the Gothic Revival."...
, had never actually been built but very recent research has shown that the staircase was in fact constructed, and then torn out in the 1930s.
William Burges was able to create a richness and fantasy in his interiors that has rarely been equalled. Although “he executed few buildings as his rich fantastic gothic required equally rich patrons (..) his finished works are outstanding monuments to nineteenth century gothic. As such Cardiff castle was the last great masterpiece of the gothic revival, its interiors some of the most magnificent that the gothic revival ever achieved.
From the park, all five towers appear in enfilade to produce a wonderfully crowded variegated and romantic Victorian skyline. It has been suggested that Burges' work is overpowering. Mordaunt Crook responds that, whilst at Cardiff "the lily suffers from a surfeit of gilding.. (the) suffocating richness was the aim. (The rooms) are fantasy capsules, three dimensional passports to fairy kingdoms and realms of gold. In Cardiff Castle we enter a land of dreams".
Cardiff Castle is extraordinary but is it unique? Mordaunt Crook contends that there is nothing in Victorian Britain to match its obsessive exoticism. "Alton castle, Eaton Hall, Carlton Towers, Alnwick, Peckforton, none approaches the Burgesian Sublime. And none has comparable interiors. Cardiff is incomparable. Its silhouette has become the skyline of the capital of Wales. The dream of one great patron and one great architect has almost become the symbol of a whole nation."
Access and events
In 1947, the Bute South Wales estates having all been sold, the castle, and surrounding park, was gifted to the City of Cardiff by the fifth Marquis. It is now a popular tourist attraction, and houses a regimental museumRegimental museum
In countries whose armies are organised on a regimental basis, such as the army of the United Kingdom, a regimental museum is a military museum dedicated to the history of a specific army regiment.-England:*Army Medical Services Museum...
in addition to the ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
of the old castle and the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
reconstruction. It sits in the expansive grounds of Bute Park
Bute Park
Bute Park in Cardiff, Wales, is an extensive area of mature parkland easily accessible from the city centre. Flanked by the River Taff, Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields and Cardiff Castle, Bute Park is a very popular 'green lung' full of historic and wildlife interest. Few cities have such a...
.
The castle has hosted a number of rock concerts and performances and has the capacity to accommodate over 10,000 people. Notable concerts include the Stereophonics
Stereophonics
The Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band now living in turners x that formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in Cynon Valley, Wales. The band currently comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist and backing vocalist Richard Jones, drummer Javier Weyler, guitarist and backing...
's Live at Cardiff Castle
Live at Cardiff Castle
Live at Cardiff Castle is a DVD released by Welsh Rock trio, Stereophonics. The DVD features live recordings from a concert at Cardiff Castle on 12 June 1998.-Track listing:# Looks Like Chaplin# Check My Eyelids For Holes# The Bartender and the Thief...
in June 1998 and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
in 2002. Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
performed here before a large crowd in 2001; it is on DVD, Tom Jones: Live at Cardiff Castle. In 1948 a crowd of 16,000, a record for a British baseball
British baseball
British baseball, sometimes called Welsh baseball, or in the areas where it is popular simply baseball, is a bat-and-ball game played primarily in Wales and England. It is closely related to the game of rounders, and indeed emerged as a distinct sport when governing bodies in Wales and England...
game, watched Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
defeat England in Cardiff Castle grounds. During the 1960s and 1970s the castle was the setting for a military tattoo
Military tattoo
The original meaning of military tattoo is a military drum performance, but nowadays it sometimes means army displays more generally.It dates from the 17th century when the British Army was fighting in the Low Countries...
to rival that of Edinburgh, the floodlit keep providing a spectacular backdrop.
Currently, Cardiff Castle plays host to Cardiff University
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
's Summer Ball each year, and is the site of Wales's largest Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
held every August.
Architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
historian
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
Dan Cruickshank
Dan Cruickshank
Dan Cruickshank is an art historian and BBC television presenter.-Early life:As a young child he lived for some years in Poland...
selected the Castle as one of his eight choices for the 2002
2002 in literature
The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
book The Story of Britain's Best Buildings.