Photos from Cardiff Castle

CARDIFF CASTLE HISTORY

The history of Cardiff Castle goes back almost 2000 years to when the Romans first arrived and built defences here. In the 11th and 12th centuries the Normans built first a wooden and then a stone fortress here. The fortress can still be seen, and at the top there are good views over castle and city. The later stone fortress built by the Normans in the 11th and 12th centuries still stands proudly in the middle of the grounds, affording good views from its upper levels.

THE BUTE FAMILY

By the 18th century Cardiff Castle had come into the hands of the Bute family, from the Scottish Isle of Bute. It was the 3rd Marquess of Bute, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart (1847-1900) who transformed the interiors. The Butes owned vast areas of land in South Wales, and when the Industrial Revolution came along, and with it a great demand for the coal which was here in huge quantities, the Butes had more money than is imaginable.

The 3rd Marquess was an unusual man, quite shy and retiring but with an instatiable appetite for knowledge and beauty. He commissioned the architect William Burges (1827-1881), who shared his love of medievalism, to transform the building and Burges produced rooms of incredible detail and luxury. This was the first house in Wales, and only the third in Britain, to have electricity.