Castell Coch, Wales

Castell Coch (Red Castle) is a Victorian ideal of what a medieval castle might look like. Sited just north of Cardiff near the river Taff, it was originally built by Gilbert de Clare (Red Gilbert) in the thirteenth century. Through various power struggles in south Wales, Castell Coch was soon abandoned as other nearby castles were strengthened and it fell into disrepair. In 1850, the ruin was first surveyed by the engineer G.T.Clark and a report published. Later in 1871 the third Marquess of Bute commissioned the excavation of the site and employed the architect William Burges to examine the history and appearance of the original castle.

Lord Bute was descended from the Scottish royal Stuarts and gained extensive Welsh lands with the marriage in 1766, of Lord Mountstuart (later the first Marquis of Bute) to Charlotte Windsor - who was herself descended from the earls of Pembroke. Further land was gained in marriage by the second Marquis, and his enthusiasm for great industrial projects engaged him in the development of the material wealth of South Wales. He created the city of Cardiff through his extensive domestic, industrial and dock building programmes, and at his death in 1848, the Bute family were one of the wealthiest in the whole of the British Isles.

The third Marquess of Bute inherited his vast land holdings and wealth when just an infant. His guardians sent him to be educated in Scotland and at Christ Church College, Oxford. At the age of 21, he converted to Roman Catholicism and later became generous in his support of Catholic causes. In 1872, he married Gwendoline Fitzalan-Howard, the granddaughter of the Duke of Norfolk - the pre-eminent Catholic family in Britain. Lord Bute's interest in Scottish history and antiquities caused him to purchase several important buildings in Scotland in an act of preservation. He met William Burges in 1865 and through their interests in history, the interior and exterior of Cardiff Castle was redesigned in a neo-medieval, neo-gothic style.

After submitting designs and plans for the redevelpoment of Castell Coch into a medieval fantasy, work began in 1875 and continued through to completion in 1895. William Burges died in 1881, but left such detailed drawings that his decorative scheme could be carried out with few alterations. Burges travelled widely in Europe to obtain historical design references and was particularly fascinated by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française - a ten volume work. Without financial restrictions, Burges was able to realise his ideas in Castell Coch during his lifetime and although some alterations were made after 1881, the castle remains a monument to his artistic style.




Images of a Victorian idealised vision of a Medieval castle in Wales

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