Caerphilly Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Caerfilly; Caerffili; Castell Caerfilli-Crynodeb

In the community of Caerphilly. In the historic county of Glamorgan (Modern authority of Caerphilly, preserved county of Mid Glamorgan).

Extensive stone castle centring on a rectangular walled and towered enclosure, c.60m by 48m, with outworks, set within moats and lakes, extending for c.320m E-W by 350m N-S. Castle constructed from c.1268-70 through to the early C14, thought to have been largely derelict by C15 and slighted c.1646-8. Much reconstruction carried out 1920-39, with the lakes having been recently reinstated. Caerphilly castle is the largest medieval castle in Wales. It uses concentric fortifications, with the rectangular inner and middle wards surrounded by a moat, dams, lakes, and outer defences. The battlemented walls are mostly constructed of locally sourced pennant sandstone, with some red sandstone and blue lias limestone. The 3-storey E gatehouse features projecting round towers with arrow slits at five levels, a central pointed arched entrance, and two windows on the second floor. The 2-storey W gatehouse, though smaller, is of similar style. The strongly defended E gatehouse is the main entrance to the inner ward, which forms an open courtyard with a centrally positioned well. The highly embellished great hall and the irregularly shaped chambers are to the S. The NW and SW angle-towers of the inner ward stand at full height, although these were restored in the early C20. The NE and SE angle-towers are ruinous. The lower curtain wall to the middle ward features bastions with a wall-walk in place of angle-towers. The E and W gatehouses to the middle ward are smaller but of similar style to those of the inner ward. The 2-storey outer main gatehouse, the interior of which was used for accommodation, was reconstructed during the C20 and features twin polygonal towers.
Renn considers probably built on site of welsh llys and was centre of a comote.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST15538706

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Monuments Record number; 94497 County Sites and Monuments Record number; 01061m

• Web site links
  • http://www.thislandwales.com/caerphillycastle.htm
    http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/default.asp?id=6&PlaceID=39
    http://www.castlewales.com/caerphil.html
    http://www.greatcastlesofwales.co.uk/caerphilly.htm
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_wales/171/caerphillycastle.htm
    http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/castle/cap_main.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/caerphilly.html
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p623
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p82-7
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p39-42
    Salter, Mike, 1991, The Castles of Gwent, Glamorgan and Gower (Malvern) p39-42
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p161-2
    Davis, Paul R., 1983, Castles of Glamorgan (Alun Books) p25-7
    Renn, D.F., 1981, ‘Tonbridge and some other gatehouses' in Detsicas, A. (ed), Collectanea Historica: Essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold, (Kent Archaeological Society) p93-103
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p330-3
    Hague, D.B., 1971, in Pugh, T.B. (ed), Glamorgan County History Vol3 The Middle Ages (Cardiff) p423-6 and plate XIV-XVII
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p176-9
    Randall, Henry John, 1961, The Vale of Glamorgan, Studies in Landscape and History (Newport: R.H.Johns Ltd) p76-7
    Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p164-7
    Toy, Sidney, 1939, Castles: A short History of Fortifications from 1600 BC to AD 1600 (London) p153-5
    Thompson, A. Hamilton, 1912, Military architecture in England during the Middle Ages (OUP) p270-4
    Evans, Herbert A., 1912, Castles of England and Wales (London) p336-41
    Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval military architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol1 p259-64 [p315-35]
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol3 (London) p464-5
    Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47806#s11
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p397
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol7 p65-71
• Journal Articles
  • Owen, J., 2000, 'Caerphilly Castle: its construction and defences' Postern Vol11 p13-21
    Robinson, D., 1989, ‘The mystery of the “leaning tower” ’ Welsh Style 17 p34–5
    Spurgeon, Jack, 1987, 'The Castles of Glamorgan' Chateau Gaillard Vol13 p214
    King, D.J.C., 1983, 'Caerphilly Castle’, 130th annual meeting, Vale of Glamorgan, 1983; programme, CAA, p22
    Spurgeon, C.J. and Thomas, H.J., 1980, 'Caerphilly Castle' Archaeology in Wales Vol20 p81
    Guy, J.R., 1977, 'Medieval Chapels of the Town and Castle' Caerphilly Vol4 p22-4
    Knight, J.K.., 1977, 'Archaeological Notes: Caerphilly Castle' Morgannwg Vol21 p96-7
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Lewis, J.M., 1966, 'The Roman Fort and Civil War Earthwork at Caerphilly Castle, Glamorgan' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol115 p67-87
    Faulkner, P.A., 1964, 'Castle Planning in the 14th Century' Archaeological Journal Vol120 p218-9 [on domestic arranements]
    1957, South Wales and Monmouthshire Record Society Vol4 p36-41 [records]
    Taylor, 1950-2, Bulletin Board of Celtic Studies Vol14 p299-300 [history]
    1933, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol88 p377-82
    Corbett, J.S., 1919, 'Caerphilly: minister's account, 1428-9' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol74 p30-2 [account of 1428-9]
    1913, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol68 p122-8
    Corbett, J.S., 1908, ' Caerphilly Castle' Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol31 p261-269 http://www.glos.ac.uk/bgas/tbgas/v031/bg031261.pdf
    1901, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol56 p74 [plan]
    R.W.B[anks], 1886, 'Caerphilly' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol41 p161-74
    Clark, G.T., 1850, 'Contribution towards an Account of Caerphilly Castle.' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol5 p251-304
• Guidebooks
  • Renn, Derek F., 1997, Caerphilly Castle (CADW)
    Renn, Derek F., 1989, Caerphilly Castle (CADW)
    Anon, 1988, Caerphilly Castle (CADW)
    Johns, C.N., 1978, Caerphilly Castle, Mid Glamorgan (HMSO)
    Anon, 1958, Caerphilly Castle (HMSO) [Based on Ress]
    Rees, W., 1937, Caerphilly Castle: A history and description (Cardiff) [King writes 'A large and unusually profound guide-book]
    Lewis, 1928, Caerphilly Castle (Cardiff)
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents. This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p203-4
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/glameng.html#glam3]
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p18