sleeping beauty's castle
Jul. 19th, 2010 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaOver the weekend, Small and I decided to branch out from our usual Saturday routine and caught a bus up to Tongwynlais to visit Castell Coch, a gorgeous Victorian folly built on the remains of a medieval fort.
Here's a view of the castle from down in the village, nestled among the trees up on the hillside, with St Michael's Church in the foreground.
A closer shot of the castle, again taken from down in the village. When Small was younger, she was convinced that this really was Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and whenever we visited we always had to come up with stories for why Sleeping Beauty wasn't there to greet her! That fairytale quality was very deliberately built into the castle, and it remains absolutely enchanting.
The downside of travelling by bus is that it's a bit of a hike from the village to the castle itself - a good 10-15 minutes, all uphill, and a steep hill at that. Small was not amused. At the end of that hike, though, you hit this rather imposing view.
And once inside, there are plenty of nooks and crannies wherein the weary traveller may sit and rest a bit!
Okay, history time. The original 13th century castle was slighted and abandoned to ruin within a couple of centuries, so that by the 1870s the castle looked like this:
In the 18th/19th century, however, the ruined fortress came into the possession of the Bute family. The 3rd Marquess of Bute, in his day one of the wealthiest men in the world, teamed up with the architect William Burges to rebuild the castle, and those two avid medievalists were a match made in architectural heaven! I mean, these quotes say it all:
William Burges: "Money is only a secondary concern in the production of first rate works."
Marquess of Bute: "Why should I hurry over what is my chief pleasure? I have comparatively little interest in a thing once it is finished."
Together these two men rebuilt both Castell Coch and Cardiff Castle, neither one the slightest bit constrained either by time or finance - both projects were sheer indulgence. Castell Coch was never even intended for occupation, but rather for occasional use only as a summer house for picnics whenever the Bute family were staying at nearby Cardiff Castle! The ultimate folly, in fact.
The exterior was rebuilt as a functional, yet aesthetically-pleasing medieval-style fortress. From the outside, it looks pretty imposing as you circle around the back. Those massive spurred bases of the Keep Tower and Kitchen Tower are a feature of several 13th century castles in Wales and the March - these are 3m thick at the base. It's just a shame that they were reconstructed in limestone rather than the original local red sandstone that gave the castle its name.
The drawbridge, portcullis and projecting wooden bretache over the entrance are authentic, and the drawbridge remains in working order to this day - this is the winch room.
The Italian sculptor Ceccardo Fucigna designed the statue of the Virgin and Child that sit above the entrance - the 3rd Marquess of Bute was a devout Catholic convert
These exotic turrets were apparently always a source of some controversy, from the point of view of historical accuracy. Burges, however, argued that they were authentic, citing manuscript sources, continental examples...and the lack of any evidence to the contrary!
The foundations of the original castle and the first few feet of some of the walls were still standing when reconstruction work began, so that the groundplan is quite authentic. The servant's hall, directly below the banqueting hall, is one of the surviving elements from that original medieval castle - but is now a gift shop! These steps leading up from the Kitchen Tower Basement are part of the least altered part of the castle.
The interior was where strict authenticity was left by the wayside, as those dreamers William Burges and the 3rd Marquess of Bute allowed their imaginations to run wild. The interior of the castle is pure Victorian fantasy - extravagent and exuberant in its wild mix of styles.
Check out this ceiling dome
The bedrooms are rather grand, too - I do like that dinky little triangular stool at the dresser in Lord Bute's room, and the sink in Lady Bute's room is a wonder to behold!
North-facing windows don't offer much of a view, only the side of the hill and the surrounding woodland. The south (okay, south-south-west) view, though, is pretty decent - from the banqueting hall window here you can see right across Cardiff (yes, that is a city you see there, trees and all) to Penarth Head and the Bristol Channel, with Flatholm Island just visible on the horizon.
All in all, not a bad day out. Sorry about going into lecture mode a bit there, though! My inner historian does tend to get a bit carried away at times...
It was on the way home from this little outing that we spotted that Dalek trundling through the streets of Whitchurch!
Here's a view of the castle from down in the village, nestled among the trees up on the hillside, with St Michael's Church in the foreground.
A closer shot of the castle, again taken from down in the village. When Small was younger, she was convinced that this really was Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and whenever we visited we always had to come up with stories for why Sleeping Beauty wasn't there to greet her! That fairytale quality was very deliberately built into the castle, and it remains absolutely enchanting.
The downside of travelling by bus is that it's a bit of a hike from the village to the castle itself - a good 10-15 minutes, all uphill, and a steep hill at that. Small was not amused. At the end of that hike, though, you hit this rather imposing view.
And once inside, there are plenty of nooks and crannies wherein the weary traveller may sit and rest a bit!
Okay, history time. The original 13th century castle was slighted and abandoned to ruin within a couple of centuries, so that by the 1870s the castle looked like this:
In the 18th/19th century, however, the ruined fortress came into the possession of the Bute family. The 3rd Marquess of Bute, in his day one of the wealthiest men in the world, teamed up with the architect William Burges to rebuild the castle, and those two avid medievalists were a match made in architectural heaven! I mean, these quotes say it all:
William Burges: "Money is only a secondary concern in the production of first rate works."
Marquess of Bute: "Why should I hurry over what is my chief pleasure? I have comparatively little interest in a thing once it is finished."
Together these two men rebuilt both Castell Coch and Cardiff Castle, neither one the slightest bit constrained either by time or finance - both projects were sheer indulgence. Castell Coch was never even intended for occupation, but rather for occasional use only as a summer house for picnics whenever the Bute family were staying at nearby Cardiff Castle! The ultimate folly, in fact.
The exterior was rebuilt as a functional, yet aesthetically-pleasing medieval-style fortress. From the outside, it looks pretty imposing as you circle around the back. Those massive spurred bases of the Keep Tower and Kitchen Tower are a feature of several 13th century castles in Wales and the March - these are 3m thick at the base. It's just a shame that they were reconstructed in limestone rather than the original local red sandstone that gave the castle its name.
The drawbridge, portcullis and projecting wooden bretache over the entrance are authentic, and the drawbridge remains in working order to this day - this is the winch room.
The Italian sculptor Ceccardo Fucigna designed the statue of the Virgin and Child that sit above the entrance - the 3rd Marquess of Bute was a devout Catholic convert
These exotic turrets were apparently always a source of some controversy, from the point of view of historical accuracy. Burges, however, argued that they were authentic, citing manuscript sources, continental examples...and the lack of any evidence to the contrary!
The foundations of the original castle and the first few feet of some of the walls were still standing when reconstruction work began, so that the groundplan is quite authentic. The servant's hall, directly below the banqueting hall, is one of the surviving elements from that original medieval castle - but is now a gift shop! These steps leading up from the Kitchen Tower Basement are part of the least altered part of the castle.
The interior was where strict authenticity was left by the wayside, as those dreamers William Burges and the 3rd Marquess of Bute allowed their imaginations to run wild. The interior of the castle is pure Victorian fantasy - extravagent and exuberant in its wild mix of styles.
Check out this ceiling dome
The bedrooms are rather grand, too - I do like that dinky little triangular stool at the dresser in Lord Bute's room, and the sink in Lady Bute's room is a wonder to behold!
North-facing windows don't offer much of a view, only the side of the hill and the surrounding woodland. The south (okay, south-south-west) view, though, is pretty decent - from the banqueting hall window here you can see right across Cardiff (yes, that is a city you see there, trees and all) to Penarth Head and the Bristol Channel, with Flatholm Island just visible on the horizon.
All in all, not a bad day out. Sorry about going into lecture mode a bit there, though! My inner historian does tend to get a bit carried away at times...
It was on the way home from this little outing that we spotted that Dalek trundling through the streets of Whitchurch!
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Date: 2010-07-19 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 03:00 pm (UTC)I read about your dalek the other day too, but I don't think I commented - pretending I'm at that post - heeeee! *g*
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Date: 2010-07-19 03:19 pm (UTC)How amazing to have the money to indulge your imagination to the full and not even care if the project is ever finished, because the creative process is what you enjoy, rather than the pay off.
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Date: 2010-07-19 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 06:49 pm (UTC)Lovely pics and history, Jo. :-)
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Date: 2010-07-19 08:48 pm (UTC)Rachel
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Date: 2010-07-19 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-07-21 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-07-21 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 01:23 pm (UTC)History lesson needs no apologies - I don't think I've seen the photos of the original castle before. I've often wondered what it would be like to wake up in the morning in one of the bedrooms of Castell Coch or Cardiff Castle. Would it be terrifying, or would it be wonderful? I suppose it might depend on how much alcohol or rich food had been consumed the previous night..!
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Date: 2010-07-22 02:14 pm (UTC)Ah, of course - it's all becoming clear now. The handler sauntering along behind was clearly a beard. *G*
The photos of the original castle I pinched - photographed some of the noticeboards they had up describing the history of the castle, and edited the pictures out of those!
Lord Bute's bedroom in Cardiff Castle would be the worst to wake up in, I think - all those mirrors on the ceiling!
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Date: 2010-07-22 02:16 pm (UTC)