Castell Coch

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Castell Coch.

The Marquess's daughter's bedroom.

Front view.

Opposite front.

Taff side.

Castell Coch (Welsh, literally "Red Castle"), is a castle standing on the hillside above the village of Tongwynlais, north of Cardiff, Wales.

A castle was probably founded on the site in the early thirteenth century by a Welsh chieftain named Ifor Bach. In the late thirteenth century the castle site was claimed by the De Clare family because of its strategic importance, commanding both the plains area and the entrance to the Taff valley. The castle was rebuilt in stone and consisted of a keep, towers, an enclosed courtyard and a gatehouse.

Very little remained above ground of the original Norman castle by the mid-19th century, when John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute conceived a scheme to rebuild it as a medieval-style dwelling for his family. He employed the architect William Burges to design and build it, and the result, though it outwardly appears like a storybook medieval castle, is a complete fantasy. The interior decoration, in similar style to what Burges had already achieved at Cardiff Castle, is equally fantastic. Burges took great care to use as much of the existing castle as possible and the outline of the modern castle, in the main, matches that of the castle built by the De Clares.

The castle was essentially a romantic folly and proved too small and too difficult to access for the family to make great use of it, and was soon abandoned as an alternative residence.

It is now in the care of Cardiff Council and is a popular tourist attraction. It is also frequently used as a film and television location. Its most recent appearances were in the ITV children's programme The Worst Witch and in BBC children's film Tracy Beaker: the movie of me.