Cardiff Castle
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223978126
2008-07-06T20:07:19Z
78.145.132.152
[[Image:Cardiff Castle keep.jpg|thumb|right|The Norman keep]]
'''Cardiff Castle''' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]: ''Castell Caerdydd'') is a medieval [[castle]] and Victorian revival [[mansion]], transformed from a [[Norman architecture|Norman]] keep erected over a Roman fort in [[Cardiff]], the [[capital]] of [[Wales]]
==History==
===The Roman fort===
[[Image:Cardiff Castle (Roman wall).jpg|thumb|right|The lower wall is from the original Roman fort]]
{{main|Cardiff Roman Fort}}
There may have been at least two previous [[Roman Britain|Roman]] 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 timber buildings associated with iron working occupied the site.
===The Norman castle===
[[Image:Cardiff Castle in 1775.jpg|thumb|left|Cardiff Castle in 1775, given a picturesque setting by Charles Knight]]
The Norman [[keep]] 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, the Conqueror's eldest son, to take England from [[Henry I of England|Henry I]], Robert of Normandy was imprisoned here until his death in 1134.<ref>''Brewer's Britain & Ireland'' (2005), ''s.v.'' "Cardiff"; John Davies, ''Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute''.</ref> The castle, rebuilt in stone, was an important stronghold of [[Marcher Lords]], in the Clare and Despenser families, the Beauchamps earls of Warwick, [[Richard of York]] through his marriage into the [[Neville family]], and the [[Herbert]] family, [[Earls of Pembroke]]. In the eighteenth 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 port during the nineteenth century.
===The Victorian mansion===
[[Image:Cardiff Castle clock tower.jpg|thumb|The Clock Tower]]
In the early 19th century the castle was enlarged and refashioned in an early Gothic Revival style for [[John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute]] by [[Henry Holland]]. But its transformation began in 1868 when [[John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute|'''3rd Marquess''' of Bute]] commissioned [[William Burges (architect)|William Burges]] to undertake a massive rebuilding which turned the castle into a 19th century fantasy of a medieval palace, with a series of rooms that, perhaps, constitute the highest achievement of later Victorian Gothic Revival design. The coming together of the Marquess, enormously rich, early Catholic convert and steeped in a romantic vision of the mediaeval world and Burges, pre-eminent art-architect, committed Goth and hugely-talented designer forged one of the great patron/architect relationships and led to a succession of dazzling architectural triumphs of which Cardiff Castle is the greatest of all.
[[Image:Design for the Summer Smoking Room at Cardiff Castle.jpg|thumb|left|Burges's summer smoking room]]
Rebuilding began with the Clock Tower, planned 1866–1868 and begun in 1869. The towers continue westward, the Tank Tower, the Guest Tower, the Herbert Tower and the Beauchamp Tower, part Burges, part Holland, part 15th and 16th century, creating a skyline, best observed from Bute Park, that echoes Burges' unbuilt design for the Law Courts and presents a visually-stunning image of a mediaeval city.
Within the Castle, the succession of sumptuous apartments; the Winter and Summer Smoking Rooms, the Chaucer Room, the Arab Room, Lord Bute's Bedroom, the Roof Garden, repeatedly illustrates Burges' supreme skill as an art-architect. Taking complete control of the designing, the building, the decoration and the furnishing of the apartments, and using his favoured team of Nicholls, Crace, Lonsdale, Burges created a suite of rooms in a unique Gothic Revival style that is unrivalled.
[[Image:Cardiff Castle.JPG|thumb|left|Cardiff Castle]]
===Access and events===
[[Image:Cardiff castle wall 01.jpg|right|thumb|Cardiff Castle's North Gate]]
The castle was later sold to the city of [[Cardiff]] by the Bute family in 1947 for £1. It is now a popular [[tourist]] attraction, and houses a [[regimental museum]] in addition to the [[ruins]] of the old castle and the [[Victorian era|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]] [[Live at Cardiff Castle]] in June 1998 and [[Green Day]] in 2000. In 1948 a crowd of 16,000, a record for [[British Baseball]] game, watched [[Wales]] defeat [[England]] in Cardiff Castle grounds. Cardiff Castle plays host to [[Cardiff University]]'s Summer Ball each year. It is also the site of Wales' largest [[Mardi Gras]] held every August.
Also, [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]] performed before a large crowd in 2001. It is on DVD, Tom Jones: Live at Cardiff Castle.
[[architecture|Architectural]] [[history|historian]] [[Dan Cruickshank]] selected the Castle as one of his eight choices for the [[2002 in literature|2002]] [[BBC]] book ''[[The Story of Britain's Best Buildings]]''.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/programme_archive/best_buildings_01.shtml | title=Choosing Britain's Best Buildings | accessdate=June 3 | accessyear=2008 | author= | last=Cruickshank | first=Dan | authorlink= | coauthors= | date= | year= | month= | format= | work= | publisher=BBC History | pages= | language=English | doi= | archiveurl= | archivedate= | quote= }}</ref>
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== References ==
*Crook, J. Mordaunt, ''The Strange Genius of William Burges'' (1981) National Museum of Wales
*Crook, J. Mordaunt, ''William Burges and the High Victorian Dream'' (1981) John Murray
*[[Mark Girouard|Girouard, Mark]], ''The Victorian Country House'' (1979) Yale University Press
*Newman, John, ''The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan'' (1995) Penguin
== External links ==
{{Commonscat|Cardiff Castle}}
*[http://www.cardiffcastle.com/ Cardiff Castle Official Website]
*[http://www.castlewales.com/cardiff.html (Castles of Wales) Lise Hull, "Cardiff Castle"]
*[http://www.greatcastlesofwales.co.uk/cardiff.htm greatcastlesofwales.co.uk: Cardiff]
{{coor title dms|51|28|56.47|N|03|10|52.39|W|type:landmark}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Cardiff]]
[[Category:Castles in Wales]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Glamorgan]]
[[Category:Mock castles in Wales]]
[[Category:History of Cardiff|Castle]]
[[Category:Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Wales]]
[[Category:Visitor attractions in Wales]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Wales]]
[[cy:Castell Caerdydd]]
[[es:Castillo de Cardiff]]
[[nl:Cardiff Castle]]
[[no:Cardiff Castle]]
[[pt:Castelo de Cardiff]]
[[ru:Замок Кардифф]]
[[th:ปราสาทคาร์ดิฟฟ์]]