Raglan Castle, Monmouthshire, Wales. Castles are Amazing, history, context, visiting tips

I think castles are amazing because they have survived for hundreds of years often after being pounded during the English civil war.
This castle was built to impress, not for war, However it ended up with cannons firing from its walls during the English Civil War, but then survived as a romantic ruin.
This is the gorgeous Raglan Castle in Raglan , Monmouthshire, Wales
This video will provide a brief history, context and visiting tips please stay to the end for all the detail
I aim to visit and make short videos on many castles across the country in addition to my regular ones, so please like, subscribe and click the alerts bell for future releases.
Thank you for watching Eclectic Experience change seen through images
Raglan Castle is located Here in Monmouthshire Wales roughly 9 miles from Monmouth
On this map from Historic Wales, the red shaded area is the castle which is a Grade I listed building, and also a Scheduled Ancient Monument
For context let's look at monarchs. This chart goes from the present King Charles III, back to 1066 and William I.
Setting aside if there was any earlier settlement here or not, we know that in 1432 the land was purchased and the great tower and gatehouse were built and this was in the reign of King Henry VI
This was the time of the war of the Roses when 2 rival families were fighting over the throne and the owners of the house were caught up in this during the reigns of Edward IV and then Richard III of princes in the tower infamy, culminating in Henry Tudor, Henry VII, father of Henry VIII gaining the throne.
Looking on the timeline we can see Edward IV lost the throne in 1470 but regained it in 1471. Following his death in 1483 his son Edward V ruled for a very short time before his uncle Richard III took the throne and then he lost it in battle to Henry VII in 1485
Raglan Castle is a fortress / palace rather than a mediaeval castle, though there possibly could have been an earlier fortification on this site given its strong position. What we largely see today however came about some time after the period of great castle building.
Let's look at some history
The tower and gatehouse date from around 1432. The Tower has its own moat, which looks incredibly picturesque now. It was built to impress and was known as the Yellow Tower of Gwent.
This is an artist's impression of what the castle might have looked like, from an information board on site - the tower can clearly be seen with its dominant position over the very large castle complex.
As an aside It is interesting to note the gun loops are for show only as many are inaccessible from inside the castle!
The rest of the castle was built later and added to until it reached its peak in the 1620s. This is an artist's impression of what the castle might have looked then taken from the guide book Huge, imposing and impressive are words that spring to mind.
Sources
Cadw - maps and listing information
Historic Wales

[@rontanser9369]

Now that is a beautiful rowing

[@rontanser9369]

I’ll start again, 😂 now that is a beautiful ruin that is well worth a walk round. In fact, I think it would be lovely if they could rebuild it as it was, of course that cost a fortune

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thanks, with the water it is one of the most beautiful ruins I have seen