For more information and
photos, please visit these sites
CLICK HERE ----- Castles
of Wales - Home page
CLICK HERE ----- Castles
of Wales - Caerphilly Castle
CLICK HERE
----- Email
sent to Mr Thomas - and his reply
Several factors give it this pre-eminence -
------its
immense size (1.2h), making it the largest in Britain after Windsor,
------its
large-scale use of water for defence
------and
the fact that it is the first truly concentric castle in Britain.
Of the time of its building in the late 13th century, it was a
revolutionary masterpiece of military planning.
One of Henry III's most powerful and ambitious barons, Gilbert
de Clare, lord of Glamorgan, built this castle.
His purpose was to secure the area and prevent lowland south Wales
from falling into the hands of the Welsh leader Llywelyn the Last,
who controlled most of mid and north Wales.
De Clare built other castles on the northern fringes of his territory
for the same purpose, such as Castell Coch.
He had seized the upland district of Senghenydd, in which Caerphilly
lies, from the Welsh in 1266 to act as a buffer against Llywelyn's
southward ambitions.
Llywelyn realised the threat and tried but failed to prevent the
castle from being built.
It was begun on 11 April 1268, was attacked by Llywelyn in 1270,
and was begun again in 1271.
This time it was completed without hindrance.
Its message was not lost on Llywelyn, who retreated northwards.
Apart from the remodelling of the great hall and other domestic
works in 1322-6 for Hugh le Despenser, no more alterations were
carried out, making it a very pure example of late 13th-century
military architecture.
Caerphilly is unusual in being a late castle built on a virgin
site.
This allowed a unity of conception rare in medieval castles.
It is a double-skinned parallelogram surrounded by large-scale
water defences.
The concentric arrangement was more flexible than earlier plans.
It gave rapid access to any part of the castle by mural passages
and wall-walks - towers and gatehouses could be independently
held - attackers could be well covered - and there was no possibility
of mounting siege engines against the inner walls.
The castle’s cellular structure and strength is indicated
by the presence of numerous portcullises.
the Castle
view of Caerphilly Castle from across the western island
southern view of the Castle showing Caerphilly's postern gate
(center) and the leaning south-east tower (right)
general view of Caerphilly's inner ward showing the inner west
gatehouse (left) and the north-west tower (right)
the outer east gatehouse at Caerphilly, the main entrance to the
Castle
the inner east gatehouse at Caerphilly
inside Caerphilly's Great Hall
working siege engines on display at Caerphilly Castle
view from the east gatehouse across to the south dam and siege
engines