Kenilworth Castle: a huge stunning ruin

Kenilworth Castle is ruinous and stunning to visit: it challenges the imagination to recreate it as it was and overwhelms you with its grandeur. Firstly you have to see it in your mind's eye as encompassed by a massive 111 acre artificial sheet of water, exceeding that of Caerphilly and vastly bigger than that at Bodiam. Then you can envisage it when it was refashioned by John of Gaunt and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. You can add mentally - if you are sufficiently gifted - the masques and revelry that the latter, a side-kick of Queen Elizabeth I, (literally as they did many dangerously jaunty dances together) organised in her honour.
   Warwickshire is not rich in castles as is the Marches area of Wales but Kenilworth is a star. On a windy sunny day it is unforgettable. Plus, walking round it leaves you hungry for CAKE, always a good thing.

Early history
   Between 1122 and 1129, Geoffrey de Clinton built a castle here, probably a motte and bailey structure where the present inner ward is now. The mighty keep, called Clinton's tower, is later and its impressiveness as a Norman structure is affected by the enlarging of its windows by Dudley. The kings Henry II, John and Henry III (he was probably the one who added the lake) spent vast sums in making the castle a strong fortress with 5 mural towers: Mortimer's; the Water Tower; the Warden's Tower; the Swan Tower and Lunn's Tower. John of Gaunt's Great Hall was the architectural masterpiece of the castle and was the only part that Dudley left unaltered 200 years later, presumably because it suited the grand and powerful image he wished to project.

2 exciting stories
   When Henry III had finished making the castle virtually impregnable, he unwisely gave it to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and his wife Eleanor in 1254. Ten years later, de Montfort headed the opposition of the barons even though he was a previously unpopular foreigner. He became almost the ruler and held the king's brother, Richard, captive in the castle. Prince Edward escaped, marched his forces back overnight and, because he had reliable intelligence, fell upon the younger Simon de Montfort and his superior troops as they were camping, exhausted and without posting sentinels or sending out scouts. Simon the younger swam the lake in his night shirt to enter the castle. In 1266 the royalists besieged the castle - it was extremely violent, using the latest technology - and finally succeeded in agreeing the Dictum of Kenilworth and the castle was once again royal.
   The Tudors are now a much worked-over family and we all know that Dudley was a "favourite" of Queen Elizabeth who gave him Kenilworth, one of her many indiscretions with this dashing, ostentatious beau. He lavished her bounty on the castle, demilitarising it and building Leicester's Gate-house, which is more of a house over a gate than the usual fortifying structure. He added Leicester's Building and entertained the queen on several occasions, the most noteworthy being a 19-day revelry in 1575 which cost Leicester £1000 a day in maintenance to say nothing of the incredible sum of £100,000 in entertainments which included masques, plays, tilting, sports, Morris Dancing, ceremonies and pageantry. Elizabeth was greeted by the Lady of the Lake, Mars, Apollo, Neptune and Bacchus and later enjoyed (we hope) fireworks, tumblers, Latin orations, bear-baiting and a laugh-a-minute drama about the massacre of the Danes. She never came back here.  You can read an imaginative recreation of all this in Sir Walter Scott's novel, Kenilworth. 

The present
   What you see and ramble round is a ruin which had begun to decline before it was slighted in the Civil War. The castle and manor were given to Colonel Hawkesworth and other officers who "pulled down and demolished the castle, cut down the king's woods, destroyed his park, and divided the land into farms for themselves." The lake was drained at this time by cutting the dam. Our pile is not a monument to democracy although it it represents one of the early stages in our slow progress towards that system.  You can also see John of Gaunt's hall and chamber block and have tea and CAKE in the lovely café in the stable block. There is a path to what was Henry V's Pleasaunce (private pavilion) and a Tudor garden.

I visited Kenilworth the day after Warwick Castle and much preferred the ruin. The staff are particularly friendly, it is not in any way commercialised and there were groups of well-behaved school children with clip-boards and learned faces. There is a bus connecting the 2 and so both come under my heading of History on the Buses - although Monmouthshire has many more castles. Tee hee!

I have written about Caerphilly Castle and its great lake as well as Bodiam set in its ravishing waters. There is also a post about nearby Warwick Castle. To read about medieval siege engines click here. For opening hours of Kenilworth, click here.

Monmouth Castle: a fascinating ruin

What there was and what is left
    Monmouth Castle is a ruin as distinct from being ruinous. By this I mean that, unlike many partly decayed castles where the main outline is still visible, the visitor has to use a good deal of imagination to realise its original extent.
   What have completely vanished are: the curtain wall, the gatehouse and great round keep (which, until the Civil War, was where the Great Castle House now stands) whereas what remains are the ruins of the Great Tower and Hall. The whole extent once took in a roughly circular area reaching as far as Agincourt Square.
   In some ways it adds to the interest to try to visualise the imposing structure as it was - and had to be - in order to control a strategically important part of the Welsh Marches.

Its position and importance
     Castell Trefynwy has a commanding situation on a steep bluff at the confluence of the rivers Wye and Monnow in a part of the country that gave trouble to the new conquerors. Early in 1067 William fitzOsbern, a staunch ally of William 1 and one who was a strongly positive voice in discussions of the proposed invasion, was created Earl of Hereford and constructed a line of forts along the Dore-Monnow-Wye line from Clifford in the north to Chepstow in the south. By 1100 the castle was effectively the caput or chief centre of an independent Marcher lordship; at the time of the Domesday survey William fitzBaderon held the custody of the castle.
   On a few occasions during the Middle Ages, the castle and town were involved in events of more than local importance. During the reign of Henry III, Wales was torn in the conflict between the Crown and baronage and the castle was taken in 1233 by Richard Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, who defeated John of Monmouth, the king's lieutenant, in a pitched battle near the town. In 1264, when it was in the hands of Prince Edward, it was captured by Simon de Montfort who was in Monmouth with King Henry on 28th June. During Owain Glyn Dwr's rebellion, the Welsh slaughtered the opposition force in 1404, killing "the more part of the English" and pursuing the remnant to the town gates. The Civil War saw its profile raised again (see below.)

The construction

   What you see now are two ruined rectangular buildings, interlocking obliquely with each other and built entirely of Old Red Sandstone. The larger lower building, the Great Hall, retains, at its north-east entrance doorway, a late 13th century moulded shaft-base which confirms that it was built soon after 1267 for Edmund Crouchback, who held the lordship from then onwards. (We have noted elsewhere that it did not do in the Middle Ages to have a physical deficiency such as a red face or short legs if you did not want those little flaws noted for posterity in an unkind nick-name). It was single-storey, open to the roof, with one large room used for holding the courts.
   This building links with the Great Tower, a 2-storeyed rectangular 12th century keep, part of the original masonry castle and a smaller version of that at Chepstow with flat pilaster buttresses and round-headed windows. When remodelled in the mid-14th century it had a splendid first floor room and one can still see the long 2-light east window with remains of a traceried head and embrasure seats. It was almost certainly here that Prince Henry of Monmouth was born on 16th September 1387.
   It is helpful to envisage this area and its relationship with the upper town as resembling a motte and its bailey.

The Civil War
    Between the Middle Ages and the 17th century, Monmouth was an administrative centre and venue for the assizes. As early as 1443, the accounts record the cleaning of the rooms and towers of the castle in preparation for the coming to Monmouth of the Justices Itinerant of the duchy.
    In the Civil War, Monmouthshire, through the influence of Raglan Castle, was a major contributor of men and money to the Crown. When it was captured by the Roundheads (I like nick-names too!) in September 1644, it was a significant event. It changed hands 3 times but the Royalist garrison finally yielded in October 1645 to an army 3000 strong: it had been mined and was found to contain 7 guns, 4 sling pieces, 300 muskets, 600 pikes and ample ammunition and provisions. With the surrender of Raglan Castle, all of South Wales and the Marches fell under Parliamentary control.

  In 1647, the ruin of the castle, which had been reported as decaying 100 years earlier, was deliberately accelerated. A local diarist recorded that Colonel Kyrle arrived and gave orders for its slighting and "the townsmen and soldiers began to pull down the Round Tower of the Castle and to demolish the 'Works.' He tells us also that on December 22, 1647, "about 12 o'clock, the Tower in the Castle of Monmouth fell down, upon one side, whilst we were at sermon." I wonder if anyone listened to the end of the homily! The subsidence was probably due to the undermining tunnels having collapsed.


Most famous for ...
   ... being the birthplace of Henry of Monmouth, the future victorious King Henry V, of whom more - much more - in a later blog article and whose slightly disproportionate statue can be seen in a high niche in the Shire Hall. The shape of the front of this building is determined by the outer reaches of the bailey and I am told that remnants of the surrounding ditch can be found in the back gardens behind, though I was apprehended as I tried to climb a few walls to check this out for you.  Monmouth has plenty of CAKE opportunities as you walk down to its unique fortified river bridge - again, more on this later as on Great Castle House. From the garden in the Priory, quite near the castle, you can see the attractive window where Geoffrey of Monmouth possibly wrote his imaginative history, popularising King Arthur for all times. You will probably want to combine your visit to the castle with a look around at these other sites, the Shire Hall and the church, or a walk up the River Wye.

Buses leave from the lower end of Monnow Street to Raglan Castle, Usk Castle, Caerleon Roman remains, Newport, Ross-on-Wye, Chepstow Castle, Tintern Abbey, Trellech hidden city and standing stones etc.
I have taken a brief look at Henry V already as well having written short biographies of William fitzOsbern and Owain Glyn Dwr.

Caerphilly Castle: huge and imposing

Overall
  If the surrounding lakes are taken into account, Caerphilly Castle is the largest in Wales, second largest in Britain, and is stunning in its grandeur. Although guidebooks make much of its not being situated on a crag, it is sufficiently elevated from the town side to have overwhelmed me as I stepped off my bus.
   It was not built by or for a king but by "Red" Gilbert de Clare, a man of enormous wealth and fiery hair, hence the nickname (in the Middle Ages it did not do to have physical oddities or else you were liable to be called Curthose - short-arse - or Wry-neck.) It rose with amazing speed between 11th April 1268 and 1271 to counteract the political and military threat posed by Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd to the Marcher lords of South-East Wales, although its function as a fortress was relatively short-lived. The concentric design preceded and inspired that of the castles built by Edward I in North Wales. Although Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, was only 25 when the castle was started, it was a huge and visionary undertaking. It was both the result and cause of strife in Glamorgan.

Design
   This concentricity was a development from earlier castles which had relied on a strong keep for their defence: attack strategies had caught up with that and, from the 12th century onwards, builders trusted instead to double circuits of high walls with even taller round towers thrusting outwards so that arrows could be shot right down to their base. These walls would have crenellations, arrow loops and, at Caerphilly, the main gatehouse is as large as a traditional keep. The idea of having 2 gatehouses was modern, the overhead space being used for the guard and for accommodation.
   The surrounding artificial lakes, which are much wider than a moat, were defensive because they made the castle very difficult to storm directly as it was impossible to bring siege engines close or to undermine the walls. The waters prevented a blind spot at the foot of the walls where attackers could remain hidden. It is thought that de Clare had noted the water defences at Kenilworth and applied similar here.

History

  De Clare was apparently headstrong and impetuous as a youth and initially supported Simon de Montfort in his struggle against King Henry III. De Montfort, in turn, was backed by Prince Llwyelyn ap Gruffudd. Gilbert then became disillusioned with that faction as the power of the Welsh Prince posed a threat to his massive interests in the Marches. He went over to Prince Edward, later Edward I, and fought with him at the Battle of Evesham in which de Montfort was defeated and savagely slaughtered. His supporters fled to Kenilworth where de Clare, attacking, encountered the defensive value of waterworks in a siege lasting from Easter to Christmas 1266. Edward, on becoming king, reacted with outrage to the failure of the Welsh Prince to obey 5 summonses to pay homage and drove him out of his possessions: his final defeat and death came in 1282.
   Caerphilly Castle could then become a more peaceful site as a centre of administration for the de Clares although there were further less serious troubles including a fine imposed on Gilbert of £6,666 by the king. A later revolt by Llewellyn Bren led to an attack by 10,000 men but the castle suffered only in having its gate and drawbridge damaged or burnt, although the town and its mills were destroyed. Gilbert's son, Gilbert who inherited, was killed at Bannockburn.
   The next main story is that of Hugh le Despenser the younger, a royal favourite, who married Eleanor, Earl Gilbert the Red's eldest daughter. Hated by almost everyone, he caused the surrendering Llewellyn Bren to be hanged, drawn and quartered, which led to a rebellion by powerful Marcher lords against him. He was banished but returned and used his influence over Edward II to amass huge wealth and power: it was at this time that he spent effort and money on the Great Hall at Caerphilly. Isabella of France, Edward's estranged queen, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, then landed in Suffolk and undermined the position of Hugh le Despenser. The king and Despenser sheltered at Caerphilly and left much of the royal treasure there when they moved on, both to barbarous deaths.
   Isabella's force besieged the castle and an inventory shows how well provided the fortress was: 800 lance shafts; 14 Danish axes; 1,130 crossbow bolts fitted with hedgehog quills; 118 quarters of wheat; 118 quarters of beans; 78 ox carcasses; 280 of mutton; 72 hams; 1,856 stockfish; 6 tuns of red wine and 1 white (though the clerk noted that 10 inches of the white were lacking!) In all £14,000 of treasure was found as well as nearly 600 silver vessels. Amongst the king's personal affairs was a black cap decorated with butterflies and pearls - how such details bring history to life! Later again, the castle fell into disrepair and was described by John Leland in 1539-ish as having "waulles of a wonderful thiknes." It became an attraction for seekers of the picturesque, being then restored to some extent by, most importantly, the 4th Marquis of Bute.

Main Features

   For the modern visitor, the general impression of the castle is one of immense power and grandeur and this extends to the Great Hall. In many castles, one has to imagine this amenity but here it is visible and redolent of the lavish entertainment for which it was built and restored.       We have already admired the lakes created by the damming of the Nant y Gledyr stream and have passed under the gateway where once our arrival would have been observed with suspicion by the guard. There are lots of little doorways and nooks to peer into and potter down, murder holes, arrow slits and portcullis grooves to notice but, before you leave and head for your large slice of CAKE, it is worth pausing to gaze at the leaning tower and inspect the 4 impressive replica Medieval siege weapons which include a trebuchet. This war machine is full-sized and has a 20 foot throwing arm which would hurl a 25 pound missile capable of smashing a wooden building in a bailey or crashing through a lead roof. In Caerphilly the missile would drop into the lake - but what a splash! The tower leans probably because of ground subsidence and has attained an angle of 10 degrees. Almost incredibly its outer face is undamaged and its features are original.

Your visit
  Caerphilly is well served by buses, including the frequent no 50 from Newport, Gwent.
To see opening times, click here.  Other castles of interest in South-East Wales include Chepstow Castle and Raglan Castle, whilst, for a sample of the type of entertainment that might be provided in the Great Hall, you could read my article on Roland le Pettour, the favourite jester of the second Henry. Your dog would love a walk in the parklands surrounding Caldicot Castle and could learn a good deal of useful history as it gambols. A little further afield is the impressive Goodrich Castle with excellent walking nearby.