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Nice Pictures of Caerphilly Castle
By peace | June 26, 2007
Caerphilly castle is one of the most impressive and great medieval castles of Western Europe, in Great Britain. Construction of the castle commenced in 1272 under the orders of Marcher Lord, Baron Gilbert de Clare. De Clare built the castle to prevent his powerful rival Llewelyn ap Gruffyd from invading the area. Caerphilly castle is sited at a highly strategic location. Built on the orders of a Norman Lord in the 13th Century to keep back the native Welsh , it made large scale use of water for defence and was the first truly concentric castle in Britain.
Throughout the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, the Castle continued to be the focus of Welsh attacks. In 1316 Llywelyn Bren a noble of Senghenydd, raised an army of ten thousand men and attacked the Castle. The attackers failed to breach its defences, although much of the town of Caerphilly was destroyed. By the mid-fourteenth century relative calm had fallen upon Caerphilly and parts of the Castle were probably abandoned. However, its upkeep continued throughout the fifteenth century, when the Beauchamp family spent a considerable sum of money improving its domestic accommodation. At the end of the century the Castle was leased to the Lewis family. They ‘robbed’ its stone to improve their own home at Van Mansion.
Caerphilly Castle survived a Welsh revolt in 1295 (the town was burnt), and was later beseiged for several months (winter 1326-March 1327) in the war between King Edward II and Queen Isabella.
The castle today
From this time on the castle’s role as a fortress and as the domestic residence of a lord declined, with its various owners preferring the more comfortable surroundings of other properties. Today the castle is under the care of CADW and is open to the public.
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