Castell Coch

Castell Coch, on a steeply wooded hillside north of Cardiff is proof that fairy tales do, sometimes, come true. Of course it helped that the client was John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, the spectacularly rich 3rd Marquess of Bute and his architect was eccentric genius William Burges, one of 19th century Britain's most imaginative designers. While working for Lord Bute at Cardiff Castle, William Burges drew up plans for the reconstruction of Castell Coch, a ruined 13th century castle on the Bute estates north-east of Cardiff. Although the plans were drawn up in 1872, due to the scale of the ongoing work at Cardiff Castle, work on Castell Coch did not begin until 1875.

Lord Bute a serious and committed antiquarian and scholar had a passionate interest in archaeology. In 1871 he commissioned  an extensive programme of excavations at Castell Coch, the Red Castle. So in 1872 with the ruins cleared of vegetation he asked William Burges to imagine what the original appearance of the castle would have been like.

The origins of the castle go back to the 11th century when the Welsh were defending their country against the Norman invaders who sought to conquer the south-west of the country. The first stronghold on the site was a motte and bailey, later a stone keep was erected on the summit. By the 13th century the area was controlled by the powerful Clare family, lords of Glamorgan, and they built the first of Castell Coch's three great towers, the Well Tower.

Two further towers were added to the southern face of the castle, overlooking the Taff Gorge, most probably by Earl Gilbert de Clare (1263-95), responsible for building Caerphilly Castle. However soon after Castell Coch seems to have suffered the depredations of war and was finally abandoned after the Welsh rebellions of the early 14th century.  Then, after a gap of 550 years, the Marquess of Bute engaged William Burges to recreate the castle.

What Lord Bute's cash and William Burges' imagination created was a stunning fantasy castle. Never intended to be a permanent residence Castell Coch was a spectacular folly to augment Lord Bute's vast Welsh estates.

The dramatic entrance to the castle is by means of a wooden bridge to the gatehouse, defended by a working portcullis and drawbridge and a wooden platform above. Bute and Burgess wanted to emulate Viollet-le-Duc at Carcassonne and Pierrefonds. Spiritual protection is provided by a statue of the Madonna and Child

The Courtyard was inspired by the castle of Chillon and Viollet-le-Duc's covered wall walk at Pierrefonds.

The Courtyard and wall walk

The Portcullis

The Banqueting Hall

The vaulted galleried Drawing Room is the most spectacular room at Castell Coch.

The Drawing Room

The Three Fates of Greek mythology on the chimney-piece.

The drawing room ceiling

The walls of the drawing room are painted with scenes from Aesop's Fables.

Lord Bute's Bedroom

Ceiling of Lord  Bute's Bedroom

Lord Bute's Bedroom

Lady Bute's Bedroom

Ceiling of Lady Bute's Bedroom

Armoire

The washstand

Lady Margaret's Bedroom

Stained glass from the Chapel

Although Castell Coch was never intended as a permanent residence, after Lord Bute's death, his widow and daughter Lady Margaret withdrew here for the mourning period. Lady Bute recieved the use of Castell Coch for life. However the castle was only used for occassional visits in summer and for an annual meet of the Pentrych Hunt. The castle was requisitioned in the Second World War and in 1950, the 5th Marquess of Bute handed Castell Coch over to the Ministry of Works, whose successors Cadw care for the castle today.

Sir Bevil Grenville's Monument, Bath

Sir Bevil Grenville's Monument was erected in 1720 by Henry Grenville, Lord Lansdown, to commemorate his grandfather's great heroism at the spot where he was killed during the Battle of Lansdown in 1643. Standing 7.6 metres high the Monument is said to be the first war memorial to be erected in England. On the south face there is a description of the battle and two poems on the north side. On another side are the Royal arms of Charles II supported by those of Sir Bevil's eldest son John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628-1721) , and by the arms of the latter's first cousin General Monck, 1st Duke of Albermarle, KG (1608-1670). Monck was the pivotal figure in the Restoration of Charles II and for their support both men were elevated to the peerage.  The Monument is surmounted by a griffin supporting the Grenville arms.

The Battle of Lansdown was fought on 5 July 1643 on the hill just north of Bath. The Royalist army led by Lord Hopton attacked the Parliamentarian forces entrenched on top of the hill. Under the command of Sir Bevil Grenville, the Cornish Pikemen stormed the enemy position, but he was mortally wounded when the Parliamentarian horse counter-attacked although they were driven off. He received a fatal poleaxe to the head.

Inscribed on the Monument is the Elegy to Sir Bevil Grenville by William Cartwright, a fellow Royalist who was killed soon after, on 29 November 1643

                                           This was not Nature's courage nor that thing,
                                            We valour call which time and reason bring,
                                            But a diviner fury fierce and high,
                                            Valour transported into Ecstasy.

The Monument used to be the venue for the closing meet of the Duke of  Beaufort's Hunt, an occasion I was privileged  to attend on a number of times as a boy, many, many years ago.      

Woodchester

In a secluded Cotswold valley near Stroud, Woodchester is an unfinished Victorian Gothic house, abandoned  in 1873. The house was built for William Leigh, son of a wealthy industrialist  and Roman Catholic convert who inherited a fortune and bought the Woodchester estate in 1845. In January the following year Leigh engaged the eminent architect A.W.N.Pugin to survey the existing mansion on the estate and propose improvements. Pugin visited Woodchester and proposed demolition. He sent Leigh his designs for a new house but later resigned the commission. Leigh then engaged Bristol based architect Charles Hanson, who began by work on the north wing, the servants' quarters.

At William Leigh's request a young local man, Benjamin Bucknall was employed to work in Hanson's office. Bucknall was also a recent Catholic convert shared Leigh's admiration for French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. Before long Bucknall took over the project, basing his design on Pugin's plans and consulting Viollet-le-Duc. From the outside Woodchester appears to be an impressive Gothick mansion. But on entering the house the extraordinary reality is revealed;  a house left unchanged since work on it stopped before it was completed

The mansion is built from local limestone. All the principal rooms on the ground floor have vaulted ceilings, highly unusual in a domestic building.

Library door

Library

The only principal room in the mansion to have been finished is the Drawing Room, completed for a visit by Cardinal Newman in 1894.

Drawing Room ceiling

The Loo

The grand staircase has a rare example of a vaulted ceiling installed at an angle, a challenge to design, and to build.

In the main wing of the house the fireplaces are stacked up above each other, only the floorboards are missing.

The bath is carved from a single block of stone.In the corner of the bathroom is a water cure room, a shower with cold water only delivered through a leopard's mask.

The fireplace in the bathroom is decorated with carvings symbolizing the Garden of Eden, fruit, birds and of course, a serpent.

The second floor corridor.

The kitchen in the north wing was one of the first and only parts of the mansion to be finished.

The scullery.

The chapel has the most impressive interior at Woodchester. Its great height is dramatic in relation to its relative short length. It features two stone balconies and a confessional booth, its glory is the rose window.

Next to the chapel, the sacristy.

Progress on the mansion was slow because the workforce was always being withdrawn to work on other projects on the estate. William Leigh's personality also contributed to the slow progress of the mansion, he was a perfectionist who insisted on overseeing all the work himself. Woodchester Mansion was unfinished at the time of his death in January 1873.

William Leigh's son Willie inherited the Woodchester estate. He consulted the opinions of two architects for ideas on the best way to finish the house. One of them was Benjamin Bucknall who surprisingly  suggested either partial or complete demolition and rebuilding elsewhere in the park and estimate that it would have been cheaper to build a new house rather than finish the mansion. Bucknall cautioned against leaving the mansion unfinished, feeling that it would compromise the value of the estate:

                                        "No ruin is more melancholy looking or
                                         produces sadder impressions, than that
                                         of an unfinished house - its existence
                                         would cast a perpetual gloom over the
                                         Park."

But none of the suggestions were acted upon and nor was any  further work carried out on Woodchester Mansion. Woodchester Mansion died with its builder. The Leigh family faded away, with male heirs suffering from illness and premature death. The family line died out with the death of two spinster sisters after the war. In 1989 the Woodchester Mansion Trust was established to conserve Benjamin Bucknall's  Victorian Gothic masterpiece exactly as it is, in its unfinished state.