Our Eras Tour #6: Wales and Welsh Castles

The Welsh flag features a red dragon

After the Lake District, we headed to Wales. Before I talk about what we did and what we saw, let me give you some background on this lovely country. 

Map: Rough Guides

Wales (Welsh: Cymru) is part of the United Kingdom (it’s amazing how many people don’t know that). It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. 

Wales' population is just 3.1 million (the same number as the state of Nevada) with 66 percent in the south. The rest is sparsely populated.

Wales is small: only 8,192 square miles (roughly the size of New Jersey) with 1,680 miles of coastline. It is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Mt. Snowdon (Welsh: Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit at 3,559 feet. The capital and largest city is Cardiff.

Cardiff from Cardiff Castle

Welsh and English are official languages; the majority of people speak English. About 538,000 people, mainly in the north and west, speak Welsh, a language characterized by a conspicuous lack of vowels. I recorded the Welsh narrative below at St. David’s Bishop’s Palace, which I will talk about later.

The English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the Romans via Old English. The people call themselves Cymry; Cymru is the name of the country. Both mean "fellow-countrymen" and probably came into use before the 7th century. The Latinized forms of these names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as names such as the Cambrian Mountains and the Cambrian geological period.

History

The oldest human remains – human teeth – found in Wales date back an astonishing 230,000 years. 

Neanderthals in Wales; Art: Amgueddfa Cymru

Continuous habitation has been documented since the end of the last Ice Age, between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from Central Europe began to migrate to Great Britain. At that time, sea levels were much lower than today. Wales was free of glaciers by about 10,250 years ago, the warmer climate allowing the area to become heavily wooded. Post-glacial sea-level rise turned the British Peninsula into an island and separated Wales and Ireland, forming the Irish Sea.

The rocky coast of Anglesey

Neolithic colonists integrated with indigenous people, changing from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering to become settled farmers about 6,000 years ago. They cleared forests, cultivated the land, developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production and built lots of circles of standing stones, called cromlechs. 

The Castlerigg Stone Circle in England's Lake District is similar

Over the following centuries, they assimilated immigrants and adopted ideas from Bronze Age and Iron Age Celtic cultures.

The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 48 and took 30 years to complete; Roman military occupation lasted more than 300 years. 

Mural at Cardiff Castle depicting life in Wales during Roman occupation

The Romans used their engineering technology to extract large amounts of gold, copper and lead, as well as lesser amounts of zinc and silver, from the mineral-rich land. Even though Latin became the “official language” of Wales, the people continued to speak their native tongue. The upper classes came to consider themselves Roman, all free men were granted Roman citizenship and Christianity spread throughout the country.

Kingdoms map: Deviant Art

After the Roman departure in AD 410, much of the lowlands of Britain to the east and southeast was overrun by Germanic peoples. 

By AD 500, the land had divided into a number of individual kingdoms.

In 853, Vikings raided Anglesey, but they were defeated in 856. The Celtic Britons of Wales made peace with the Vikings and allied with Norsemen occupying Northumbria, but the alliance later broke down. 

Germanic tribes who now dominated were called Saeson, what we call Saxons. The Romano-British were called Walha, meaning foreigner or stranger. The Welsh continued to call themselves Brythoniaid (Brythons or Britons) well into the Middle Ages. From the Anglo-Saxon settlement onwards, the people gradually begin to adopt the name Cymry over Brythoniad.

Llywelyn in stained glass, St. Mary's, Trefriw

From 800 onwards, a series of dynastic marriages led to consolidations of kingdoms. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn united all of Wales under his rule.

Within four years of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, England was completely subjugated by the Normans. William I of England established a series of lordships, allocated to his most powerful warriors, along the Welsh border. Starting in the 1070s, the lords began conquering land in southern and eastern Wales. The frontier region, and any English-held lordships in Wales, became known as Marchia Wallie, the Welsh Marches.

In 1267, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd secured the recognition of the title Prince of Wales from Henry III of England. Subsequent disputes, including the imprisonment of Llywelyn's wife, Eleanor, culminated in invasion by King Edward I and Wales being "annexed and united" to the English Crown, separate from England but under the same monarch. 

Edward I's conquest of Wales: War History Online

After lots of skirmishes, Henry Tudor (born in Wales in 1457) seized the throne from Richard III of England in 1485, uniting England and Wales under one royal house. Conflicts ensued after that, but the union ultimately held.

An Anglican priest

When Henry VIII broke with Rome and the Pope, Wales, for the most, part followed in accepting Anglicanism. Still, a number of Catholics were active in attempting to counteract this and produced some of the earliest books printed in Welsh, including the first complete translation of the Welsh Bible. 

Wales was overwhelmingly Royalist in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the early 17th century and provided men for the armies of King Charles I of England. The Second English Civil War was affected in 1648 when unpaid Parliamentarian troops in Pembrokeshire changed sides. 

Literacy was a struggle; Cardiff Castle

During this period, the only education available was in English and the majority of the population spoke only Welsh. 

This was an issue. In 1731, Griffith Jones started Welsh-language schools that were held in one place for about three months before circulating to another location. By 1761, up to 250,000 people had learned to read in schools throughout Wales.

One of the most significant religious and social movements was when a group calling themselves Methodists split from the Church of England the 18th century. 

In the early 19th century, these Welsh Methodists completely broke away from the Anglican church and established their own denomination, now the Presbyterian Church of Wales. 

This led to other similar denominations and, by the middle of the 19th century, Wales was largely nonconformist in religion. This had considerable implications for Welsh, which was the main language of these churches. Sunday schools became an important feature of Welsh life and were responsible for a huge increase in Welsh literacy, which helped ensure the survival of the language.

It was a struggle to keep the language alive

Development of mining and metallurgical industries in the Industrial Revolution transformed Wales from agricultural to industrial, dramatically expanding the population.

The 1941 film, How Green Was My Valley, depicted mining in Wales

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Welsh nationalism grew. A nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society was founded in 1962 in response to fears that the language might soon die out.

All signs are bilingual

After economic growth in the first two decades of the 20th century, Wales' industries endured a slump from the early 1920s to the late 1930s, leading to widespread unemployment and poverty. For the first time in centuries, the population went into decline. 

Highway sign warning of Taylor Swift Traffic

In 1934, the Welsh government used financial incentives to bring businesses into disadvantaged areas, including building industrial estates and improving transportation, most notably the M4 motorway linking south Wales directly to London. 

By the end of the 1960s, this had proven very successful in diversifying the industrial economy. 

Unfortunately, the recession of the early 1980s saw the collapse of much of the manufacturing base that had been built over the preceding forty years.

The Welsh Language Act of 1967 defined Wales as a separate entity legally within the UK, for the first time since 1535. Wales now has its own parliament.

Now that the country's traditional mines and heavy industries are gone or in decline, the economy is based on the public sector, light and service industries and tourism. Agriculture is largely livestock-based.

Nature

Much of Wales's diverse landscape is mountainous, particularly in the north and central regions. The mountains were shaped during the last ice age, the Devensian Glaciation. Fourteen Welsh mountains are over 3,000 feet high and are collectively known as the Welsh 3000s.

I wanted to see this, but weather didn't allow; Photo: Alan Novelli/Getty Images

The earliest geological period of the Paleozoic era, the Cambrian, takes its name from the Cambrian Mountains, where geologists first identified Cambrian remnants. The next two periods of the Paleozoic era, the Ordovician and Silurian, were named after ancient Celtic tribes from this area.

Wales has three National Parks (Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire Coast) and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Anglesey, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, the Gower Peninsula, the Llŷn Peninsula and the Wye Valley).

We did make it to Aber Falls in Snowdonia ...

... and to the Gower Peninsula

Wales is one of the wettest countries in Europe, often cloudy and windy as well, with warm summers and mild winters. The highest temperature ever recorded was 99°F in 2022. The lowest was −10°F in 1940.

It is a cool, green place

Wales' wildlife is typical of Britain with several distinctions. Because of its long coastline, Wales hosts a variety of seabirds. The coasts and surrounding islands are home to colonies of Gannets, Manx Shearwaters, Puffins, Kittiwakes, Shags and Razorbills. Unfortunately, we didn’t really have time or access to look for these seabirds. We saw nothing but several species of Gulls.

Immature Herring Gull

The country also supports a variety of upland-habitat birds, including Ravens and Ring Ouzels. Birds of prey include the Common Buzzard, Merlin, Hen Harrier and Red Kite, a national symbol of Welsh wildlife. 

Common Buzzard (a Buzzard is a Hawk, not a Vulture) and Red Kite

In total, more than 200 different species of birds have been seen in Wales, including seasonal visitors. 

Black birds abound: Eurasian Blackbird and Eurasian Jackdaw

We saw only Gray Squirrels

Larger mammals, including Brown Bears, Wolves and Wildcats, died out during the Norman period. Today, mammals include Shrews, Voles, Badgers, Otters, Stoats, Weasels, Hedgehogs, Pine Martens and Bats. 

The waters of Cardigan Bay, Pembrokeshire and Gower attract marine animals, including Basking Sharks, Atlantic Grey Seals, Leatherback Turtles, Dolphins and Porpoises. Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion are areas of international importance for Bottlenose Dolphins. We didn't see any.

We didn't get as much ocean time as I expected (the weather wasn't conducive to boats)

National Identity and Culture

The red dragon is the principal symbol of national identity and pride, personifying the fearlessness of the Welsh nation. As an emblem, the red dragon of Wales has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd from around 655 AD, and appears prominently on the national flag of Wales, which became an official flag in 1959.

The dragon personifies the fearlessness of the Welsh nation

March 1 is St. David's Day, commemorating the death of the country's patron saint in 589. Customs include wearing a leek or a daffodil, which are two national emblems of Wales. The origins of the leek can be traced to the 16th century, while the daffodil became popular in the 19th century.

Pipe organ in St. David's Cathedral

Wales, often called "the land of song," is notable for its solo artists, its male voice choirs and its harpists. The annual National Eisteddfod is the country's main performance festival. 

The Welsh Folk Song Society publishes collections of historical songs and tunes. Traditional instruments of Wales include the telyn deires (triple harp), fiddle, crwth (bowed lyre) and the pibgorn (hornpipe). 

Male voice choirs emerged in the 19th century, formed as the tenor and bass sections of chapel choirs, and embraced the popular secular hymns of the day. 

Welsh congregations and choirs were known for singing in a rousing four-voice style, becoming characteristic of the country. Many of the historic choirs survive in modern Wales, singing a mixture of traditional and popular songs. Traditional dances include Welsh folk dancing and clog dancing. Oddly, we didn’t encounter many places where we even saw mentions of music.

Well, except for The Eras Tour

I mentioned when I blogged about the Lake District in England, that Brits tend to do lots of walking and strolling on their holidays. This seems true in Wales, as well. We saw a fairly large number (for the size of the country) of recreational vehicles, called caravans, in Wales. So, it looks like camping is popular.

Caravan park by the ocean

Snackies!

We also noticed that almost everyone has a dog. 

Welsh dogs tend to be small to medium-sized. Not a lot of tiny dogs, like Chihuahuas, and not many big breeds, like Golden Retrievers. Think Corgis, Shelties and the like. 

The dogs are all remarkably well-behaved. Although I saw a lot of dogs, I don't recall ever being annoyed by one. And, the dogs actually walk; they are not in strollers or carriers. 

There is some indulgence, however. Every restaurant and store stocked dog treats, including doggie ice cream. They love their little pets.

Speaking of food, traditional Welsh food includes some we have heard of and many we have not. Most are hearty, peasant food and many were created as affordable, easy-to-transport meals for miners.

In addition to its own traditional food, Wales has absorbed much of the cuisine of England. Welsh diets include lots of Indian, Chinese and U.S. foods (we had Indian food twice and chutney came with many dishes). Chicken tikka masala is the country's favorite dish, and hamburgers and Chinese food outsell fish and chips as takeaways. 

Welsh cawl; Photo: The Spruce Eats

With three Sheep for every one person in Wales, lamb is a mainstay. It is renowned for its quality and taste. Cawl, which dates back to the 14th century, is a hearty stew of lamb and seasonal vegetables that is considered to be the national dish of Wales. Usually accompanied by slabs of fresh bread, it is also known as “lobscows” in areas of North Wales. I don’t care for lamb, so I didn’t try any.

Traditional Welsh dishes include laverbread made from seaweed (didn’t see it anywhere) and cawl cennin leek soup (didn’t see it anywhere). 

Can't beat bread and cheese!

We had Welsh rarebit – melted cheese flavored with mustard atop hearty bread – and it was a favorite among the many cheese-and-bread meals I ate while in Wales. No one really knows how Welsh rarebit got its name, but it's thought that it was originally meant as a jibe by the English suggesting Welsh people couldn't afford to eat actual rabbit and had to eat cheese instead.

Welsh cheese – a softer Cheddar-ish cheese – is very good. Very good.

Bara brith is a tea-infused bread, sprinkled with dried fruit, that is sold cafes and coffee shops throughout Wales. We bought a small loaf and ate it over several days; its pretty heavily spiced and was better when I had a microwave to heat it.

Perhaps the best-loved of all Welsh treats, Welsh cakes are small, circular sugar-dusted cakes often studded with dried fruit or chocolate chips and served with tea. They are delicious (but must be heated on a griddle to release the yumminess).

Delicious!

We ate in pubs, the aforementioned Indian restaurants, a Mediterranean restaurant with incredible puffy bread topped with whipped garlic butter and chive oil, cafes, a teahouse and even ate some Marks & Spencer pre-packaged sandwiches (they are soooo good).

And, here's a confession: on our last day in Cardiff before the concert, we were pretty done with pub food and we ate at a Taco Bell. Yep. It was the first backslide of the entire trip and it was pretty good.

Fire sauce makes everything good

Welsh Castles

Cardiff Castle

Since I will talk a lot about castles in upcoming posts, let’s lay out some basic information. 

Pembroke has a large display about Welsh castles

Wales has 427 castles, most in ruins, that fall into nine categories.

I already blogged about Levens Hall and Lowther Castle, both in England. They were grand estates, but not actual castles. 

In Wales, we visited Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Pembroke and Cardiff Castles as well as St. David’s Bishop’s Palace (not a palace for a king or queen, but definitely castle-caliber).

The oldest castles are “earthworks castles.” After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror gave land to the noblemen who had supported him and made them lords. They built castles to protect their land and helped him rule Britain.

Because they needed to build quickly to hold onto the land, they used materials found close at hand – timber and earth. Sites were chosen carefully and castles designed to give defenders the maximum advantage over attackers. They could be garrisoned by small forces of men but, in time of need, could accommodate larger numbers of troops.

Diagram: The World of Castles

Motte-and-bailey castles (including Cardiff Castle) started with a huge mound of earth called a motte upon which they often built a wooden tower with a good view of the surrounding countryside (and potential invaders). Next to it was a courtyard (called a bailey) surrounded by a ditch, a bank and a wooden palisade (strong fence). The bailey kept the horses, supplies and weapons safe.

Another type of earthwork castle is called a ringwork, which had a bailey with a strong gate tower, but no motte. Ringwork castles were often built on the borders between England and Wales and in southwest Wales.

Inside the bailey; Art: 100 Facts: Knights & Castles

Gradually, from the late 11th and through the 12th century, some earth and timber castles were rebuilt in stone, which was (is) plentiful in Wales. These new castles had a stone keep (a fortified tower) instead of the wooden tower on the motte, a stone curtain wall instead of the wooden palisade and a stone tower instead of the bailey gate.

Caernarfon started as a ringwork castle

Newly built castles also took this style. The towers were more than defense; they often held the owners’ hall and private rooms, quarters for soldiers and storerooms in the basement. Entry could be by an external wooden stair, which could be removed in times of danger. 

In the keep, the furnishings would probably have been sparse. The hall, for example, may have contained a table, benches and chairs for the lord's family. Stone seats were often built into the walls or windows. The floor would have been covered with rushes. The inside walls were usually plastered and painted, and it is still sometimes possible to see traces of paint that once decorated the walls.

Display: Pembroke Castle

A round keep at Pembroke

When the timber palisade around the motte was rebuilt in stone, it became what is called a "shell keep." Cardiff Castle, which I will talk about in more detail in a later blog, is a shell keep castle. 

From about 1200 onwards, stone keeps were round because attacking armies could damage rectangular keeps and undermine them by knocking out the corner stones. Sometimes they would then set a fire underneath or dig a hole for the soldiers to enter. 

The round keeps at Pembroke Castle, which I will aslo blog more about later, were built between 1200 and 1240.

In the 14th century, castles became even more defensive. The stone curtain walls around the bailey became thicker, stronger and higher. 

Thick walls at Cardiff Castle

Towers added to the curtain wall often projected out to give soldiers a better view of the surrounding area so they could fire their bows more accurately. Some had barbicans – a fortified outpost or fortified gateway – on either the actual castle or at an outer defense perimeter of a city.

To protect the entrance, which was the weakest point of the castle, the gatehouse was added. At first it was a tower with a simple archway in the curtain wall. 

Beaumaris' moat bridge leads to a barbicon and gate

Later, twin towers, usually D-shaped, were built on each side of the entrance. The way into the castle was usually by a bridge or drawbridge across the ditch or the moat.

Cross-shaped arrow slits

The towers usually projected forward to guard the gate and had openings that archers could shoot through called arrow loops or arrow slits. More arrow slits could be found along the castle walls.

Sometimes the tower was made deeper with a passageway that had gates, heavy grates called portcullises that could be lowered down grooves on each side to block the gate and colorfully named "murder holes." 

Murder holes are openings in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling oil, down on attackers. 

During this time, concentric castles were built to have more than one line of defense: an outer wall with additional towers surrounded the inner stronghold. The inner wall was higher, to allow archers to shoot arrows over the heads of soldiers stationed on the outer wall. Sometimes, moats were added to make the castle even stronger.

Beaumaris is concentric; Diagram: World History Encyclopedia; Photo: Alamy

Welsh princes built castles of their own to defend their land, in the beginning using designs similar to those of the English and Norman invaders. But, in the 13th century, the Welsh princes began to build stone castles with designs dictated by the site upon which they sat, usually a highly defensible natural setting such as on a hilltop or next to a river. The towers formed the main strong points in the castle, with a curtain wall linking them, and they were usually two stories high. The towers were often D-shaped.

While technically built by a bishop, St. David's was under the Welsh princes

In 1276-77 and 1282-83, King Edward I led military campaigns to defeat the Welsh princes and bring Wales under English rule. Part of his strategy was to take and rebuild existing castles. Then, after each campaign, he built castles to maintain hold of the captured land and rule the defeated enemies. 

Map: Discover Middle Ages

Eryri (Snowdonia), a mountainous area, was the heartland of the Welsh, and King Edward surrounded it with a ring of castles, called the Ring of Iron.

Most of these castles were on the coast or by a river so that supplies could be brought by ship. 

The latest ideas in castle-building were used, and the new castles had concentric defenses, massive curtain walls and towers, multiple arrow loops and powerful gatehouses.

Castles built or rebuilt by Edward I: Aberystwyth, Beaumaris, Builth, Caernarfon, Conwy, Flint, Harlech, Rhuddlan. Welsh castles captured and repaired by Edward I: Castell y Bere, Criccieth, Dolwyddelan and Caergwrle. Castles built or rebuilt by lords on their own land for Edward I: Chirk, Denbigh, Hawarden, Holt, Ruthin.

Caernarfon is on the water

After the conquest of Wales by Edward I, the military need for castles lessened. When gunpowder and cannon were invented, castle defenses could be damaged or destroyed more easily. Thus, battles between armies were increasingly fought away from castles on open ground.

The battle of St. Fagan's; Art: Historic UK

During the campaigns of Owain Glyndŵr against the king, castles came back into use for a while. But, when Wales and England became one country in the mid-1500s, the country became more peaceful and castles were not needed for defense. Then castles were used administrative centers where rents and taxes could be collected, as courts of law and as prisons. Rooms were adapted to provide offices and accommodation for the officials who carried out these duties.

Other castles fell into ruin

In other cases owners improved and rebuilt castles to create more comfortable living conditions.

However, military uses for castles in Wales were not completely over. When the Civil War broke out between the King and Parliament in 1642, a number of Welsh castles were refortified to become bases for troops supporting King Charles I. Walls were strengthened to withstand gunfire and platforms were built outside the walls to mount cannons.

Residence at Cardiff Castle: Castle or estate?

At the end of the 18th century and into the 19th, there was a resurgence in interest in medieval and gothic architecture and decor. 

Some wealthy people remodeled their homes to look like castles. 

Some built ornate new ones made to look ancient. 

These "castles," including a massive addition to Cardiff Castle, were never for defense, they were simply to demonstrate that the owners were wealthy.

Welsh Roads

I already talked about driving in the UK, and Wales icertainly follows suit. Except for the highways, roads are rural, narrow, unmarked and often bounded by stone walls or high hedges. Some we were routed on even had grass and moss growing down the middle. Almost all are paved and most are in pretty good condition.

Photos: Caty Stevens (CUZ I WAS DRIVING!!!!!)

In towns, they usually have two narrow but dedicated lanes. However (and this is a big however), they also allow parking, usually on both sides of the road. Some areas even have parking spaces marked out in the road. So, even driving in towns can be tricky.

Yikes!!!!

Trip date: June 6 - 20, 2024