Raglan Castle

It started off quite a pleasant day, with the sun shining. As usual, the rain has now come in.

I managed to get a blip photo in the good weather of Raglan Castle, showing it in its setting. I can see why a castle was built here because of it's strategic location between Wales and Mid England.

Here's a quick non-boring history:

Everything’s great about this place, from its great tower, which evokes memories of earlier fortresses like Caernarfon, to the great gatehouse, which ‘wows’ the visitor just as its owner intended. If, as they say, an Englishman’s home is his castle, then William Herbert’s Raglan is the Welshman’s equivalent.

Built for show rather than with battle in mind, it still held off Oliver Cromwell’s forces for thirteen weeks in one of the last sieges of the Civil War. The castle was eventually taken and was systematically destroyed by parliament. Enough remains to still impress.

Raglan was begun in the 1430s, rather late in the day for castle building. Unfashionably late by some 150 years! Despite this, mod cons such as massive mullioned windows brought the design bang up-to-date, bathing rooms in luxurious light. The oriel window, a bay to end all bay windows, is one of Raglan’s defining features. It lit up the high table at the dais end of the hall. Raglan also boasted a long gallery, the very height of fashionable living in the Tudor period.

The BBC's Merlin was filmed at Raglan Castle.

In the past I have found hundreds of fired musket balls from the seige and some medieval coins.