User:Hchc2009/HchcKJPCollaboration

Cardiff Castle (

In the mid-18th century, Cardiff Castle passed into the hands of the Marquesses of Bute. John Stuart, the first Marquess, employed Capability Brown and Henry Holland to renovate the main range, turning it into a Georgian mansion, and to landscape the castle grounds, demolishing many of the older medieval buildings and walls. During the first half of the 19th century the family became extremely wealthy as a result of the growth of the coal industry in Glamorgan. The third Marquess, John Crichton-Stuart, used this wealth to back an extensive programme of renovations under William Burges. Burges remodelled the castle in a Gothic revival style, lavishing money and attention on the main range. The resulting interior designs are considered to be amongst "the most magnificent that the gothic revival ever achieved". The grounds were re-landscaped and, following the discovery of the old Roman remains, reconstructed walls and a gatehouse in a Roman style were incorporated into the castle design. Extensive landscaped parks were built around the outside of the castle.

In the early 20th century the

The future site of Cardiff Castle was first used by the Romans as a defensive location for many years.^[2] The first fort was probably built about AD 55 and occupied until AD 80.^[3] It was a rectangular structure much larger than the current site, and formed part of the southern Roman border in Wales during the conquest of the Silures.^[3][4] When the border advanced, defences became less important and the fort was replaced with a sequence of two, much smaller, fortifications on the north side of the current site.^[5]

A fourth fort was built in the middle of the 3rd century in order to combat the pirate threat along the coast, and forms the basis of the Roman remains seen on the castle site.^[6][7] The fort was almost square in design, approximately 635 feet (194 m) by 603 feet (184 m) large, constructed from limestone brought by sea from Penarth.^[8] The fort's irregular shape was determined by the River Taff that flowed along the west side of the walls.^[9] The sea would have come much closer to the site than is the case in the 21st century, and the fort would have directly overlooked the harbour.^[8] This Roman fort was probably occupied at least until the end of the 4th century, but it is unclear when it was finally abandoned.^[10] There is no evidence for the re-occupation of the site until the 11th century.^[10]

11th century

The Normans began to make incursions into South Wales from the late 1060s onwards, pushing westwards from their bases in recently occupied England.^[11] Their advance was marked by the construction of castles, frequently on old Roman sites, and the creation of regional lordships.^[12][11] The reuse of Roman sites produced considerable savings in the manpower required to construct large earth fortifications.^[13]

Cardiff Castle was built during this period. There are two possible dates for the construction: William the Conqueror may have built a castle at Cardiff as early as 1081 on his return from his pilgrimage to St Davids.^[14] Alternatively, the first Norman fortification may have been constructed around 1091 by Robert Fitzhamon, the lord of Gloucester.^[15] Fitzhamon invaded the region in 1090, and used the castle as a base for the occupation of the rest of southern Glamorgan over the next few years.^[16][17] The site was close to the sea and could be easily supplied by ship, was well protected by the Rivers Taff and Rhymney and also controlled the old Roman road running along the coast.^[18][19][20]

Cardiff Castle was a

FitzHamon was fatally injured at the

Upon Isabel's death in 1217 the castle passed through her sister to

Richard's grandson, Gilbert de Clare, the last male de Clare, died at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and the castle was given to Hugh Despenser the Younger, the controversial favourite of Edward II.^[29] Poor harvests and harsh governance by the Despenser family encouraged a Welsh rebellion under Llywelyn Bren in 1316; this was crushed and Llywelyn was hanged, drawn and quartered in Cardiff Castle in 1318 on Hugh's orders.^[43][44] The execution attracted much criticism from across both the English and Welsh communities, and in 1321 Hugh arrested Sir William Fleminge as a scapegoat for the incident, first detaining him in the Black Tower and then executing him in the castle grounds.^[44][45] Conflict between the Despensers and the other Marcher Lords broke out soon after, leading to the castle being sacked in 1321 during the Despenser War.^[29] The Despensers recovered the castle and retained it for the rest of the century, despite the execution of Hugh Despenser for treason in 1326.^[29][46] Under a 1340 charter granted by the Despensers, the castle's constable was made the de facto mayor of Cardiff, controlling the local courts.^[47][48]

15th–16th centuries

By the 15th century, the Despensers were increasingly using Caerphilly Castle as their main residence in the region rather than Cardiff.

Richard did not acquire Caerphilly Castle as part of the marriage settlement, so he set about redeveloping Cardiff instead.[52] He built a new tower alongside the Black Tower in 1430, restoring the gateway, and extended the motte defences.^[53][52] He also constructed a substantial new domestic range in the south-west of the site between 1425 and 1439.^{[54][52] [55]} A flower garden was built to the south of the range, with private access to Richard's chambers.^[56][57] Richard also rebuilt the town's wider defences, including a new stone bridge over the River Taff guarded by the West Gate, finishing the work by 1451.^[58]

Cardiff Castle remained in the hands of Richard's son,

In 1610 the

With the Royalist military position across the country worsening, King Charles himself came to Cardiff Castle that July to meet with local Welsh leaders.[72] Relations between his commander in the region, Sir Charles Gerard, and the people of Glamorgan had deteriorated badly and when Charles left the castle, he was confronted by a small army of angry locals, demanding to be given control of the castle.^[72] These clubmen then declared themselves the "Peaceable Army" and increased their demands to include near independence for the region.^[73] After negotiations, a compromise was found in which the royal garrison would quit the castle, to be replaced by a local Glamorgan force, commanded by Sir Richard Beaupré; in return, £800 and a force of a thousand men were promised to Charles.^[72] In September, Charles returned to South Wales and reneged on the agreement, disbanding the Peaceable Army, but his military position in the region was collapsing.^[74] The Peaceable Army's leaders switched sides and forced the surrender of Cardiff and the castle to Parliament in mid-September.^[74]

The main range in 1785 (l) and the south gateway (r), showing the internal bailey wall destroyed by Capability Brown

With the outbreak of fresh fighting in 1648, a Royalist army of 8,000 fresh recruits was mustered under the command of General Rowland Laugharne and Sir Edward Stradling, with the intent of retaking Cardiff.^[75] Parliamentary forces in Brecon under the command of Colonel Thomas Horton moved quickly to reinforce the castle, although with only 3,000 men they were content to wait until a larger army under Oliver Cromwell could arrive from Gloucester.^[75] With time against them, the Royalist army attacked, leading to the battle of St Fagans just to the west of Cardiff, and a heavy Royalist defeat.^[76]

After the war, Cardiff Castle escaped the

Lady Charlotte Herbert was the last of the family to control Cardiff Castle.^[78] She married twice, latterly to Thomas, Viscount Windsor and on her death in 1733 the castle passed to their son, Herbert.^[78] Herbert's daughter, Charlotte Jane Windsor, married John Stuart, who rose to become the Marquess of Bute, beginning a family line that would control the castle for the next century.^[78]

In 1776 the Marquess began to renovate the property with the intention of turning it into a residence for his son, John.^[79] The grounds were radically altered under a programme of work that involved Capability Brown and his son-in-law, Henry Holland.^[80][81] The stone wall that separated the inner and outer baileys was destroyed using gunpowder, the Shire Hall and the knights' houses in the outer bailey were destroyed and the remaining ground partially flattened; the whole of the area was laid with turf.^[80][79] Considerable work was carried out on the main lodgings, demolishing the Herbert additions, building two new wings and removing many of the older features to produce a more contemporary, 18th century appearance.^[82] The keep and motte was stripped of the ivy and trees that had grown up them, and a spiral path was laid down around the motte.^[83] The motte's moat was filled in as part of the landscaping.^[84] A summer house was built in the south-east corner of the castle.^[83] Further work was planned on the property, including a reported proposal to roof the keep in copper, insert new windows and turn it into an assembly room for dances, but these projects were cut short by the death of the Marquess's son in 1794.^[82]

19th century

In 1814 Lord Bute's grandson, John, inherited his title and the castle. In 1825 the new Marquess began a sequence of investments in the Cardiff Docks, an expensive programme of work that would enable Cardiff to become a major coal exporting port.^[85] Although the docks were not particularly profitable, they transformed the value of the Butes' mining and land interests, making the family immensely wealthy.^[85][86] By 1900, the family estate owned 22,000 acres (8,900 ha) of land in Glamorgan.^[87]

The second Marquess preferred to live on the

The third Marquess of Bute, again called John, inherited the title and castle in 1848.^[93] He was then less than a year old, and as he grew up he came to despise the existing castle, believing that it represented a mediocre, half-hearted example of the Gothic style.^[94] In 1865, Bute met William Burges.^[95] This may have resulted from Burges's father, Alfred Burges, having worked for Bute's father on the East Bute Docks in Cardiff. Together, their joint interests in the medieval world, supported by Bute's money and Burges's skill, transformed the castle into a "Gothic feudal extravaganza".^[96] In plan, the new building broadly follows the arrangement of a standard Victorian country house. The 150-foot (46 m) high Clock Tower forms a suite of bachelor's rooms. To the north, the Guest Tower contains accommodation for visitors.^[97] The main block comprises the principal reception rooms, the library and the banqueting hall. The Herbert Tower houses the Arab Room, on which Burges was working when he fell ill and died in 1881.^[98] The Beauchamp Tower, crowned with a flèche, holds an oratory, built on the spot where Bute's father died. The Bute Tower held family bedrooms.^[99] The interiors of the castle are unique;^[100] as significant was its role as a training ground for British arts and crafts. Led by Burges, who took overall responsibility for every aspect of his interiors,^[101] developments in the manufacture of stained glass, in carving in wood and stone, in tiling, metalwork, textiles design and painting at the castle, saw a generation of craftsmen grow up "in the Burgesian mould".^[102]

Clock Tower

The Clock Tower was Burges's first contribution to the castle; conceived in 1866, and planned by 1868, it was built between 1869 and 1873.^[103] The design draws on Burges's failed entry for the Royal Courts of Justice.^[104] Originally designed as a suite of bachelor rooms, the tower comprises six or seven storeys; a gardener's room cum-storeroom on the ground floor, the Winter smoking room, entered from the wall walk, Bute's Bachelor bedroom, a servant's room with clock mechanism room above that, and finally the double-height Summer smoking room. The curtain wall which connects the tower with the Black Tower was heightened by Burges, the battlements being given timber covers and a bretache.^[105] This defensive feature, which can be seen in early photographs, was subsequently removed. Internally, the rooms were sumptuously decorated with gildings, carvings and cartoons, many allegorical in style, depicting the seasons, myths and fables.^[106] The overarching decorative theme is Time.^[107] In his A History of The Gothic Revival, written as the tower was being built, Charles Locke Eastlake wrote of Burges's "peculiar talents (and) luxuriant fancy."^[108] The tower was complete by September 1873.^[109]

Burges planned the tower to be "a handsome object at the present entrance to the town".

Much of the furniture and furnishings made for the castle were removed in 1947; Cardiff City Council continues to work for their return where possible.

The Herbert Tower is of brown

The central part of the castle, the Beauchamp range, shows the extent of Holland's construction most clearly. The turrets visible from the courtyard are his work, except for the most southern, which was installed as part of the reconstruction of the grand staircase in 1927.^[105] The origins are late-medieval. The range comprises the library on the ground floor with the two-storey banqueting hall above it.^[131] Both rooms are enormous. The decoration of these rooms is less impressive than elsewhere in the castle, much of it being completed after Burges's death by Lonsdale, a painter “required to cover areas rather greater than his talents deserved”.^[132]

In the Banqueting hall, the

A pair of double doors led from the hall to the grand staircase, recorded in a watercolour perspective prepared by Axel Haig.^{[135] [111]} Long believed not to have been built, recent investigation has confirmed that it was constructed during Burges's time, but removed in its entirety in the 1930s,^[97] reputedly after the third Marchioness had "once slipped on its polished surface."^[136] The staircase was not universally praised in the contemporary press; the Building News writing that the design was "one of the least happy we have seen from Mr Burges's pencil...the contrasts of colour are more startling than pleasing."^[137]

The library, under the Banqueting hall, is extremely large, "to encompass all the interests of its polymath owner".^[138] Construction began in 1873, and concluded just after Burges's death.^[127] The chimneypiece has carved figures referring to the purpose of the room and to the Marquess, a noted linguist. Four represent the ancient Greek, Assyrian, Hebrew and Egyptian alphabets while the fifth figure is believed to represent Bute himself, clad as a Celtic monk.^[138] Desks, constructed from walnut, incorporate early radiators, decorated with heraldic motifs.^[139] Carvings in the library, as elsewhere, illustrate Burges's sense of humour, as well as his alertness to contemporary controversy. Four monkeys cavorting around the Tree of Knowledge, one stealing an apple, two wrestling over the Book of Truth, and one poring over the book in puzzlement, are his comment on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.^[140]

Beauchamp Tower

The Beauchamp, or Octagon, Tower was constructed from 1876–1881.^[138] Its origin is medieval, of lias limestone, which Burges restored.^[103] The flèche which crowns the tower is of timber, covered in lead.^[103] An octagonal staircase leads to an oratory, commemorating Bute's father. The sculpture is by Fucigna.^[138] A marble bust records "On this spot John Marquess of Bute fell asleep and woke in eternity 1848".^[138] The oratory is located in a turret to the south side of the tower.^[103] In the main tower is the Chaucer Room, designed as a sitting room for Lady Bute. A double-height room, decorated with scenes from The Canterbury Tales, Newman suggests Burges used a library at the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome as a source, which he had visited in 1877.^[141] Its elaborately carved ceiling is cited by Mark Girouard as "a superb ... example of Burges's genius in the construction of roofs."^[132] Lady Bute involved herself closely in the designs for the room, William Frame writing to one of the stained glass manufacturers; "the whole must be most carefully done as it is Lady Bute's Room. I think the best way will be to execute a panel; as Lord and Lady Bute will be here in Sept(ember) they will be able to see at once if they like it or not".^[142] The inspiration for the flèche comes from Amiens Cathedral, and recalls details from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.^[143]

Bute Tower

The foundation stone of the Bute tower was laid on 24 April 1873. Its origin is again Holland's work, extended upwards by Burges.^[105] It includes the family's private apartments and culminates in the roof garden, with a sculpture of the Madonna by Ceccardo Fucigna. The drawing room is plain, and decorated in a simple classical style.^[144] Reputedly, Bute insisted on the walls being undecorated as it was the only room in the castle in which he could hang his collection of family portraits.^[145] The dining room, in contrast, has a full Burgesian decorative scheme, illustrating the life of Abraham.^[145] The design was another re-using of an earlier, rejected, work; in this case for Trinity College in the United States.^[146] The decoration of this room was carried out by Charles Campbell, of Campbell, Smith & Co., a company formed largely as a result of Burges's encouragement.^[146] Lord Bute's bedroom contains extensive religious iconography, a mirrored ceiling and an en-suite bathroom. The windows of the bathroom are glazed with transparent alabaster.^[147] The Marquess's name, John, is repeated in Greek, ΙΩΑИΣ, along the ceiling beams.^[148] Lady Bute's bedroom is to a simpler design.^[141] The roof garden, at the top of the tower, draws inspiration from "southern Italy, not South Wales".^[148] A sunken courtyard, it contains a sculpture of the Madonna and child by Ceccardo Fucigna. The murals depict Hebraic scenes; the Marquess was learning Hebrew at the time of the garden's construction in the mid 1870s.^[148]

Landscape

Until the 1850s, Bute Park, laid out on the site of five farms and known as Cooper's Fields, was open to the public. In 1858, Bute's mother gave

Burges's interiors at Cardiff Castle have been widely praised. The historian Megan Aldrich contended that Burges's interiors at Cardiff have "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".^[157] J. Mordaunt Crook, Burges's biographer, described the principal rooms as "three dimensional passports to fairy kingdoms and realms of gold. In Cardiff Castle we enter a land of dreams".^[102] The architectural historian John Newman considered Cardiff, and Castell Coch, as "most successful of all the fantasy castles of the nineteenth century".^[158] The architectural writer Michael Hall described the interiors of the Clock Tower as, "some of the most magnificent that the Gothic Revival ever achieved".^[159] Charles Handley-Read, the first serious student of Burges, wrote of his work at Cardiff and Castell Coch; "I have yet to see any High Victorian interiors from the hand, very largely, of one designer, to equal either in homogeneity or completeness, in quality of execution or originality of conception the best of the interiors of the Welsh castles. For sheer power of intoxication, Burges stand[s] unrivalled".^[160]

The exterior of the castle has received a more mixed reception from critics. John Grant, who worked on the castle in the 1920s, considered the towers to present a "picturesque if not happy combination" of varying historical styles, and Adrian Pettifer criticised them as "incongruous" and excessively Gothic in style.^[4][161] Crook disagreed; describing the castle's silhouette, he wrote; "it performs a national function; it 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".^[100]

20th and 21st centuries

John, the fourth Marquess, acquired the castle in 1900 on the death of his father, and the family estates and investments around the castle began to rapidly reduce in size.^[162]

Cardiff had grown hugely in the previous century, its population increasing from 1,870 in 1800 to around 250,000 in 1900, but the coal trade began to diminish after 1918 and industry suffered during the depression of the 1920s.^[163][164] John only inherited a part of the Butes' Glamorgan estates, and in the first decades of the 20th century he sold off much of the remaining assets around Cardiff, including the coal mines, docks and railway companies, with the bulk of the land interests being finally sold off or nationalised in 1938.^[162]

The reconstruction of the Roman walls and gateway, and the castellated walls, continued well into the 20th century.

Cardiff Castle is now run as a tourist attraction, and is one of the most popular sites in the city.[178] The castle is not fully furnished, as the furniture and fittings in the castle were removed by the Marquess in 1947 and subsequently disposed of; an extensive restoration has been carried out, however, of the fittings originally designed for the Clock Tower by Burges.^[179][180]

The

A new interpretation centre, which opened in 2008, was built alongside the South Gate at a cost of £6.5 million, and the castle also contains "Firing Line", the joint regimental museum of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards and the Royal Welsh.^{[183][184][185]}

The castle has been used for a range of cultural and social events. The castle has seen various musical performances, including by Tom Jones, Green Day and the Stereophonics, with a capacity to accommodate over 10,000 people. During the 1960s and 1970s the castle was the setting for a sequence of military tattoos.^[186]

360° panorama of the grounds of Cardiff Castle, showing (l to r) the interpretation centre, the barbican and South Gate, the Black Tower, the Clock Tower and the main range, the reconstructed Roman Wall, the shell keep on the motte, and the Norman banked earth defences

See also

• List of castles in Wales
• Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
• Grade I listed buildings in Cardiff
• List of tallest buildings in Cardiff

Notes

References

Media related to Cardiff Castle at Wikimedia Commons

• Cardiff Castle's official website
• Film footage of the 1947 handover ceremony
• 360 degree image of the Arab room