Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle

As you approach the entrance to Cardiff Castle from the west, the first thing you see is a row of fanciful towers, the Victorian Clock Tower is on the right. The castle was founded as a motte and bailey castle in the 11th century and greatly expanded in the 15th century. In the mid-18th century, Cardiff Castle passed into the hands of the Stuart dynasty, the 1st Marquis of Bute explored Capability Borwn 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. In the 19th 3rd Marquis,employed the architect William Burges to create a Gothic revival castle and this is what you see today.

We walked along to the main entrance beside the Animal Wall, a low castellated wall with animal statues cunningly draped over the upper sections. The wall was designed by BUrges in 1866 but not built until 1890 and was then moved to its current location in 1925.

You enter the castle by the South Gate, with the Black Tower on the left and the Barbican Tower on the right.

Once inside the gatehouse, the first impression is how large the castle is. On the far side is the Norman Keep which dates from the 12th century, with the North Gate on the right.

We decided to focus our attention on Burges's interiors and joined a very good, and amusing, guided tour. As we waited for it to start, we enjoyed this jolly rainwater spout.

The first room was the small but exquisite Smoking Room. This is the entrance way.

And here is the elaborately decorated ceiling. Like all the other rooms we would see, it is a riot of colour and imagery.

This startling figure looms over the door as you leave.

We went next to the two-storey Banqueting Hall with its fan vaults, seemingly in wood rather than stone. A difference in style can be detected and it turns out that this room was decorated after Burges's death in 1881.

Upstairs, Bute's bedroom was quite small, but an absolute riot of colour.

At the very top was the remarkable Roof Garden, with lovely copies of Roman mosaics,

Back on the first floor we saw the Arab Room: it was very small, but with a high ceiling. You can't go on, so this photo was taken from the doorway. The high jelly mould ceiling is almost literally unbelievable, but also magnificent.

Here is the relatively restrained marble floor.

Finally to the ground floor and the large library, whose main interest was again the ceiling.

One thing not apparent from these pictures is the amount of incidental decoration devoted to butterflies and birds. This frieze was in the library. The butterflies seem to be Black-veined Whites, long extinct in the UK.

We emerged into castle grounds somewhat overwhelmed by the riot of colour - but also marveling at Burges's ingenuity and energy. My final picture shows the range of buildings we have been exploring.

Conditions: cool and grey.

Rating: 5 stars. Simply wonderful.