Monday 19 October 2015

Castell Coch (part 1, I cannot get all the photos in one post)

 I had glimpses of this fabulous fairy tale castle from the M4 motorway when we were going to Cardiff. Link to a little information of Castell Coch. And another to William Burges the architect, but perhaps even more importantly, the interiors.
It was nigh on impossible to get a photo when travelling at 70mph. I managed this last year. I looked it up and found it has many school trips visiting. I wanted to avoid hoards of screaming kids so we waited for a rainy weekend day (to keep most other visitors away as well). These photos are of just one room. Luckily the camera picked up more detail than I could see in person.










 This ceiling reminded me of something, but it wasn't until I got home and did a little research into Burges that I discovered why. My daughter went to All Saints School in Fleet connected to All Saints Church of our Parish. It had a similar ceiling. I say had, as a 17 year old boy is awaiting his fate after burning the place down. You can see the similarity here. (it has a before and after photo of the fire).

Sadly a lot of the walls are suffering from damp. It might not have the history of most of the many castles round here but it has to be the most delightful.
More posts of our visit will follow.

7 comments:

  1. beautiful tiles! thanks for sharing the photos. I knew several Americans living in the U.K. who kept lists of all the castles with plans to visit all of them!

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    1. Lols, they are not tiles. it is all paintwork. click on the photos to enlarge and you will see.

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  2. There are around 400 castles in Wales alone, so very good luck visiting them all!

    You get an excellent view of this one from Asda's car park, that's on the M4 Junction 32.

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  3. We are so lucky to live near the borders of our countries/

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  4. I was lucky enough to visit Tongwnlais on a regular basis as that is where my late in-laws lived. I love that castle. Been used in several films too.

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  5. What a treat to see the suprising and very beautiful interior! thanks for the links - all very interesting :)

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