History Summarized: The Castles of Wales
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Every castle tells a story, but when one small country has over 600 castles, the collective story they tell is something like "holy heck ouch, ow, oh god, why are there so many arrows, ouch, good lord ow" - And that's Wales for you.
SOURCES:“Caerphilly Castle”, by Rick Turner, provided by Cadw - “A Concise History of Wales” by Geraint H. Jenkins - “Britain’s Medieval Castles” from “The Great Tours: England, Scotland, and Wales” by Patrick N. Allitt - Information from the Welsh Historic Environment Service Cadw, Cadw.gov.wales
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As a Welsh person I always have to remind myself that the castles we have aren't...normal? and the reactions that they can inspire in other people! Like Caerphilly is just where a close friend lives and the castle is just something you walk past on the way to the pub every weekend. Similarly Newport castle (or whats left of it) is a thing my bus route into town takes you past, Or Aberystwyth castle being a thing I sat in front of eating fish and chips while I was there for university. Meanwhile for Blue its this fascinating window into a world long past. God I love how history makes one persons mundane another's wonder and vice versa
I live in the USA, and there are absolutely zero castles anywhere here. We just don't have nearly that degree of monumental history on this side of the Atlantic. Our oldest buildings date back to the Spanish colonial times around 400-500 years ago, but you guys have buildings that are twice as old and it's kind of really cool. 🙂
I grewup in the western part of the US. We have amazing mountains and such shocking natural beauty that it's crazy. And still I was completely unprepared for the Welsh Castles. Caerphily and Caernafon (sorry for spellings) felt like walking into a fairy tale. Even now decades later they seem surreal!
I just put ‘medieval castles near me’ into google. There are over 40 within 50 miles of where I live in Scotland, I mean most of them are probably golf courses or hotels, or both, but yeah, they’re pretty normal here too.
It's a similar thing here in Newport, Rhode Island. The Mansions are one of the city's biggest draws for tourism, but for us locals they're just a thing we drive by on the way to work.
:o a fellow dragon yeah its hard to imagin going to some town and not walking past a castel or haveing a wedding at one XD
I refuse to die until I get to one day own a castle. Whether taken legally or by force, I shall have my keep.
Sure thing Galehaut
I fully intend to become an ubergazzillionaire, buy a European castle, have it disassembled and ship it to the US, then reassemble it on a cliff overlooking lake Superior.
@@Russo-Delenda-EstOr have one reassembled on top of an NYC skyscraper to see if the legends about the gargoyle "statues" in it are true.
The challenge of acquiring one is overshadowed by the costs to keep them. (You've heard that a boat is just a hole in water into which money is poured.)
Ay it's you!
As someone born and raised in Caerphilly, it's so refreshing to see someone non-Welsh not only do the castle and its history justice, but to almost nail every pronunciation as well. Da iawn!
Well, it REALLY isnt that easy with welsh names.
I mean - a friend of my fathers was married to a british expat in our corner of the world, who proudly declared himself to be welsh at every given opportunity.
And when I once followed up and asked him if he spoke any welsh, he only laughed in a "ohh, fuck no!" kinda voice. Grew up and got an eductation as english and history teacher in Swansea ....
@@user-un8tv1pp8m Fake Welsh lol I'm fluent Welsh from when I could first speak
As a welsh native living and commuteing near castles I never really thought about them much. It is amazing to see from an outsider's perspective
I imagine it's what being g a Roman post collapse was like.
Mostly for us, they're things not built for us but we kinda have inherited.
Its probably similar to America's relationship with nature, we have an obsecene amount of natural beauty in our country. Ranging from full blown national parks to private nature reserves or just private forrest being ignored.
Europe general has a lot of old stuff everywhere so you get desensitized to it, America doesn't real have that, a house form 100 years ago is practically ancient to us.
But America has a lot if lightly touched wilderness that we drive past all the time without thinking about it, but someone from Europe might marvel at a forest preserve larger than their country that barely has name recognition except to the locals.
For scale, the Adirondack State Park in New York is 6million acres, Wales is 5.12million acres, which is about 1/5th of New York's total area. The ADK state park would only rank third if it was a national park, and it isn't even New York's only state park/nature preserve.
For Americans, as a country that started as a colony, it’s just equally refreshing and magical to see the rich and vibrant history of the local peoples still standing. Due to the very nature of our history, we don’t have that here.
For me it's kind of mind blowing to go vist what little family we have left in Wales and think "wow my family has been in this tiny slice of the world since the 1200s at *least*" and then to go to Abergavenny Castle right down the road and think "did my family work here? Did they ever go inside? Was the lord of the castle nice? Did my family walk on *these* stones???"
And then I just fall down the rabbit hole in my mind
Cuz most visible history in North America isn't much older than 200+ years, and we aren't very good at taking care of our old buildings so to see something so old still standing and functioning is just a total mind bender
As someone who grew up in California, where nothing built before the 1800s was built to last, the concept of going to a building that has stood for 500-700 years is utterly foreign to me and my only possible comment on the video is "Wow. Pretty stone buildings."
BTW, thank you for not re-recording the outro. It got a chuckle out of me.
There are Native American pueblo ruins in CO, not sure if there are any in CA though
What about the missions? And yeah, I grew up in California and now live in the UK and literally there just regular buildings older than California/US just kinda around everywhere
as someone from Llandovery, where the castle is directly next to our house (the walls of said house are probably made from stone stolen from the fallen castle) I have always been slightly jealous of the US's untameds wilderness, the deserts you have in Cali represent long and beautiful history that I hope to see for my self one day.
@@994mkt yeah it's definitely different. I grew up in LA and moved to the Isle of Man and I totally get what you're saying. At the same time we have a living museum here of a nearly perfectly preserved 1600s that you can walk through and talk to the residents etc
@@brynbloom5993 I suppose the difference is we have stuff that is old but still there, and "they" have wild that is still there. What you grow up around becomes normalised I guess 🤷🏻♂️
I visited Wales in college. It really is crazy how different it is from even western England. Saw a Best Western in a castle, ruined castles by the highway...Amazing!
Yet somehow so similar to Australia. The resemblance is uncanny.
Yo it's so weird how France and Spain are so different, even southern France is different from Spain.
@@oscarbarton4125 That's what I mean. England is all little farms and very organized and then boom, rocky mountains, ruined castles, vast pastures with sheep and no humans to be seen...like when I visited Wales, I really thought a dinosaur might lumber by.
Australia, much of the country was striped by warfare, clearfelling, and over-intensive stocking
Your pronunciation of ‘Llywelyn’ was perfect!! I know that for people outside Wales, the ‘Ll’ sound can be a hard thing to do
Isn't it a 'kluh' sound? Or closer to 'clue'?
@@bringitonbatman Ll doesn’t have an English equivalent, to pronounce you position your mouth like you’re going to pronounce L, then blow air past the cheeks. It’s kind of like a hissing L.
@@lv2draw1 I was trying for phonetic rather than English. But thank you!
@@bringitonbatman I don't have that sound in my language either but i think it's supposed to be closer to TL rather than KL?
@bringitonbatman there's no k sound in LL, as the other commenter said, you position your tongue as if to make an L sound then you essentially hiss through your teeth
There are the remains TWO ruined forts in my village in West Wales, literally on opposite hills. You could probably shout from one and be heard on the other.
I now have a Monty Python esque image in my head of the residents shouting insults at each other!😉
Normans on one side, welsh on the other.
@@liam3284And at half time they change sides.... oddly enough this isn't *that* much of an exaggeration to what actually happened!
"That's my valley, you Norman!"
"Take it, Celt!"
"I hate you, Gilbert!"
"I hate you too, Owain!"
love how he references Guy Fawkes (also known as John Johnson, who does work at place) in this
Our man of most respectable career!
This look into the castles of Wales was fascinating. The closest things we have nowadays are military bases and forts, but they are not nearly as pretty as the castles were. Castles were so unique because they basically combined a fort and a walled city into one thing.
I’m welsh and I never really thought much about them outside of they are apart of our country’s history. I grew up seeing one from my window and just anytime I was going just about anywhere school, work, shopping everywhere. I even remember playing tag and hid and seek as a kid at the castle 10 minutes down the road. I always forget how this part of are history is so unique to us and how people visiting must see them.
Since we’re talking about “British countries that aren’t England”, I would absolutely love to at some point see a video in The Isle of Man, lot of interesting mythology and history to look into there
As a kid, whenever I went around the country with my family on our summer holidays, I would always find our visit to local castles to be the highlight of our trips 😊
Loved this video. I tell you castles are EVERYWHERE. I can literally see one from my bedroom window, and the next two towns either side of my village have caslte ruins. I grew up among them, and I have to remind myself that not everyone is so familiar with them as a background object. They really are wonderful
Right?? It’s so odd to me to hear people from other countries go ‘wow wales has so many castles!’ And I’m just like ‘yeah and?’ They get pretty old (no pun intended) after a while and they just become part of our day-to-day lives
Also not everyobe had a segment dedicated to them in their history lessons. I knew what a Mott and Baily castle was when i was 12 due to it just being part of the curiculum
That sounds so cool. I live in a part of the west coast in the US where 2 story buildings are uncommon, let alone castles 😂
@@ozeozeoze Its like living near the ocean or mountains.
I live in a small town called Bridgend in South Wales. There are THREE castles there. And there are 10 more within a 16 mile radius!
being Welsh myself, I always forget castles aren't the norm, there's one literally a ten minute walk away from my place xD
I've got a castle literally other side of my back garden. A Norman motte and bailey built on the remains of a Roman fort! It's pretty destroyed, with only cracked outer walls and a renovated motte but it's a great place for town events with the open bailey and motte hill for sledging.
I have Welsh family, so I spent a lot of time in North Wales as a kid and if places like Conway and Caernarfon didn't spark my love of history/fantasy, I'm not sure what did.
Great video, Blue; it's great learning about Welsh history. Awesome quality video as always. As a Cornish person, I especially appreciated the gradual reduction in English control heading down the West-Country peninsula in your maps. A lot of people always forget that, much like the Welsh, the Cornish were an independent people until quite a way after the Norman Conquest.
EDIT- The Welsh are still an independent people, but you get my point.
Speaking as someone from the town of caerphilly, castles to us welsh are such a normal everyday thing that I feel people don’t appreciate how weird it must be for everyone else 😅. I personally love your videos on history. (Particularly further back you go) keep up the amazing vids ❤
OMG, being Dutch, this rings so true. Even though we fight over every square inch of land in our country, we still have tons of castles around here and looking into their history is soooo cool! They even preserved a small motte in the village I go to high school!
I think any European who lives near castles can confirm.
Ayyy, love seeing my home mentioned online. Living here all my life, I sometimes forget its not normal for most to commute past roman ruins or a 14th century castle on their way to work. It's nice seeing my friends' reactions to them, especially.
Right! Like what do you mean you haven’t gone to at least three castles every year since you were born? welshies are truly winning
@@katharinesutton7556 Cymru am Byth!
I still remember going to an Aphitheatre most weekends for a picnic in the summer.
I went to Wales when I was 19 and my kid self was absolutely thrilled at the castles that were literally everywhere
I would love a History Summarized of the Celts. I was trying to watch a doc about them but it was very dry and boring. It was talking about mainland Europe and since I grew up only knowing about Celts in the British Isles I was interested to learn more. I would like to learn it from someone more interesting though. :)
It's also interesting on how they evolved and later survived multiple rounds of forced cultural conversions from both the English and French.
As a kid I always found Newport Castle to be cool since it was just beside the road where we'd drive by next to the roundabout
It's no wonder the ruins of stone castles inspired both the Gothic architectural movement, and the later Gothic literary tradition. That kind of desolate beauty stirs up so much emotion, one cannot but fixate on it. Especially in poetry and prose, where the ghosts of people (real, imagined, or embellished) can be raised up to tell their stories (again, real or imagined or embellished).
as someone currently writing a homebrew campaign this video has solved my biggest problem, naming things like castles and forts. And problem solved less than two minutes into the video. Thank you Blue. I woke up today with a migraine so bad I was throwing up so this video has really turned my day around.
It’s always great to see more videos about wales, especially loved the spotlight on Caerphilly Castle because I live in Caerphilly. Hope you enjoyed visiting the town.
Fun fact: Scotland has over 2,500 castles, at least if you count ones where there is some form of tangible remains (even just an earthen ditch or mound).
I've been to 450 so far. If the OSP team ever wants a resident tour or expert, I'll be right here! 🏰🏰🏰
We in Czechia also have over 2000 of them but I have visited barely 300 of those. 😀 WE would have more but hundres have been torn and totally eliminated after 30 years war to avoid those castle ruins being used by marauder bandit groups.
They are also a sign of the fighting Heart of the British (Welsh) people, many love to use the term conquered dar too easy and far too often. When the occupation of Wales for around 150 years was anything but easy.
Arguably that fighting heart was also our downfall. We could never stop scrapping amongst ourselves to put up a long term defence. 🤷♂️
Indeed, one of the main reasons why England refused to see us a Kingdom. It was because Wales worked a lot like pre-Kingdom Scandinavian nations. Where a high king would be elected and after trouble ceased they would revert back to being semi-independent petty Kingdoms. Wales has formed and disbanded thanks to this several times.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons I've always found it interesting that a large part of Edward the First's conquering army was in fact made of other small Welsh Kingdoms that simply hated Gwynedd. The entity that, arguably, was our last great chance at forming a unified Wales.
We essentially invaded ourselves😆
Although we did technically get the throne back with the Tudors... 🤷♂️
Well, the rivalry between the South and North goes back a very long time. From The Roman times! When Cunedda, the founder of Aberffraw moved to North Wales From Southern Scotland. This imo is what the story of the Red and White Dragon is about. The house of Aberffraw and Gwynedd being Red (Tudor also used this one), and The House of Bran and Morgannwg (Glamorgan and Gwent) being Gold on a white background….The one Owain Glyndwr used
@@WalesTheTrueBritons Cunedda was a Gododdin boy. That's interesting. I just recently found out about that region. Cheers.
I like how the Tudors and Stuarts would've been the last (sort of) Brythonic dynasties. Both causing all sorts of internal squabbles. Leads us nicely back to that fighting heart😆
I went to university in Aberystwyth. Saw a LOT of these beautiful fortresses during my time there. Wales is such a beautiful place
Hell yeah, fellow Aber student!
Grew up there and in about a ten mile radius you've got a decent size castle slap bang in the middle of the town, hillside chalk drawings, the Devil's own bridge, the lost sunken kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod, and the iron age hillfort home of the giant Maelor Gawr. All we need is a singing dragon called Idris and we've got the lot!
Diolch yn Fawr! It’s so lovely to see a RUclips channel you follow do not only one - but two videos directly about your little country!
I visited a friends in Wales, once, and it's absolutely bonkers the way they just... *have castles.* Like, it's just part of the scenery, as far as they're concerned. When we had some time to burn, we went back and forth over what to do, until they just went "Hey, we could go visit the castle, if you're interested?" Because of course they had a castle. Apparently, anywhere you may be in Wales, you've got a castle within walking-distance.
I have Welsh ancestry and studied in Swansea for a semester in college, and I adored the fact that there were so many castles to visit!
I sang in Caerphilly castle's hall as a child and ive never heard acoustics like it anywhere else.
I live in Cardiff and the castles always blow me away. I love that they host Concerts in the castle grounds!! Saw primal scream last year. Its great the castles are alive and get used
The castle of Wales are what inspired my love of history as a child. They're granduer, history and beauty is really something to behold. In fact I went to Caerphilly castle 4 weeks ago and it was absolutely stunning, and I got a free guide book to boot.
I guess it falls outside of the scope of this video, but the more modern parts of Cardiff Castle are also breathtaking. I visited it years ago and had the absolute time of my life marveling at the apartment where the old inhabitants actually lived, where each room was designed with a different theme by a mad interior designer.
Adding to the sense of Living History, the outer wall of Cardiff Castle was hollowed out and used as a bomb shelter during WW2. This medieval castle built on the site of a Roman fort saw use in war in the 20th century.
I grew up in Caldicot, a small town just 5 miles from the English border right on the south coast, and it has a lovely (mostly intact) small castle there, with large grounds surrounding it. I used to love playing in the fields when I was a kid. They even did medieval banquets at night.
The strange thing is that it's just a couple of miles from Caerwent, one of the biggest Roman camps, so it could easily be assumed that Caerwent would be where any new fortification was built. Yet, even though a Normal motte and baily was built there, it was Caldicot where the stone castle was built.
Being Welsh, its so easy to take castles for granted and not be overawed by their existence like, say, Americans are. Like, as a little kid I was often taken to Coity Castle and Ogmore Castle, so to me castle ruins have always been normal and just a thing that's there; they're pretty much just part of the background scenery like trees, and hills and even normal ass houses.
Don't think I've ever heard that pronunciation of Caerphilly before; I've live ~20miles from it for nearly 35 years and fairly sure I've only heard it pronounced more like 'cuh-philly' than 'car-philly'. Wonder if this is just a regional thing within Wales or if Blue misheard/misremembered it.
Most of the Castles in Wales were already built by the time the Normans conquered England and gazed westwards to Wales. Cardiff being originally built by the Britons to commemorate the Romano-British peace treaty. This is the real reason why 1. The Vikings couldn’t do anything to Wales, and why it took the Later Normans a couple of hundred years. The “Norman” castle were all built atop of the far older British ones. Take the Castle in Newport for example, it’s said to be from the 11th century, however, that doesn’t explain why it is mentioned several times a couple of hundred years prior to its supposed founding.
They were likely hillforts or settlements before, with occupying Norman's building on them due to being naturally strategic sites?
We don't know if these would be defined castles or forts until the English conquests.
Not all, you’ll notice how all the “Welsh” ones that haven’t been built over the top of are in far worse condition, which suggest either a prolonged target, Welsh control while the Norman’s built theirs, or Being far older. I subscribe to the later, based solely on the length of time it took to subdue them. The fact that the Vikings didn’t do much in Wales also lends credence to them having already been there. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they were as grand as the norman-English ones. But there is no denying that the “Welsh” knew how to build stone fortifications.
It's always very strange to watch foreigners talk about my country because I regard where I live to be very ordinary but this video gave me a new perspective on my local area, so thanks!
"Matchy shapes make happy brain go brr"...it's the deference to technical language that really makes me excited for Blue's videos.
1:00 I understood (and appreciated) that reference :D
John Johnson, you're a real jokester.
I live in wales and the castles are so normal that they're just part of the landscape that you don't pay attention to. Swansea castle is right in the middle of the city at the top of the street where all the big clubs are but people are less interested in the ruins than the maccies opposite it (with good reason). I've gone on trips to beaches and just found a named castle ruin in a field on the way. Last year I went to a Halloween experience in of one of the better kept castles and being able to theme the entire place really made me notice it for a change.
Then again there have been times where I've driven down a quiet road and just seen a 5000 year old structure in a field that I just stop to go and look at. These things are everywhere
Wow! Never thought I'd see Ogmore Castle pop up in an OSP vid! I grew up right next to it! It's so nice seeing this special attention given to the lovely castles here in Wales. :D Thanks Blue!
We in Wales totally take for granted the fact we have these incredible medieval structures just dotted all over the place. People come from abroad and are blown away by them, but they're so common here, we don't really appreciate how remarkable it is that they're all still standing after 700-900 years, many in great condition.
To add to Blue's intro: there's a distinction between people from the New World and from the Old World. Speaking as a European (would love to have folks from Asia or Africa confirm or deny the feeling), castles and other ancient fortresses or palaces no longer in use may fascinate people from the American continent because they aren't part of the cultural landscape/geographic consciousness there. Not saying I don't find castles cool - I'm a medieval history student - but in the US (which is where I lived for a bit), the closest things you have to a physical connection to the medieval era are museum exhibits, or at worst, Medieval Times and those "bougie 1800s/1900s castles".
As a welshmen, this video makes me happy.
Conwy Castle and Conwy/Llandudno in general is absolutely stunning. Would highly recommend. You can take the train there (took the train from Glasgow and it was actually quicker than driving down)
I adore the videos on Welsh history, since as a Welsh person, it's astounding that we never got taught about it. We'd learn the history of individual castles if we went to visit a particularly fancy one where they have little historical signposts and sometimes guides (Caernarfon and Conwy springs to mind), but there'd be a bunch of names swung around like Llewellyn who me and many other folks just didn't know. My history lessons started at the Norman conquest, and it was just kind of assumed that Welsh history was just English history. This was only broken when I came to University, where they had modules in Welsh history, most of which I didn't take because I just assumed it was English history with a few fancy embellishments.
Even in the beloved show of my childhood, Horrible Histories, I remember little eight-year-old me getting very distinctly salty because when they were covering England's conquest like a weather report, I remember looking at the graphic one moment where it was England, then the next it covered Wales without a word said about it. Meanwhile, they did detail how Ireland and Scotland were incorporated into the UK, and proudly called it the United Kingdom after they breezed over one of said United Kingdoms.
Especially here, like many a fellow countryman has said, castles are just normal in Wales, you see them everywhere. I regularly square up to my local castle, sit and watch the waves as I'll eat noodles or chips or something to that effect, with friends. It's really cool! And it's really cool to hear it from someone else's perspective.
So, yeah, I really love hearing about Welsh history on here from time to time. It's refreshing, and really interesting, and I hope that other folks, Welsh or otherwise find it as epic and cool as I do.
tl;dr - Welsh history is neat, I wasn't taught it particularly in the area of Wales I'm from, so it's neat hearing about castles and other bits and bobs from someone else.
That’s what happens to a country when they want a history replaced. You have to ignore inconvenient parts of it that implies something to the contrary that your controllers now want for you. This is why King Arthur is made to look like fantasy! By the English and French (Normans). And Why it’s taught that Wales was conquered, when if fact it was only ever occupied. The conquest actually went the other way at the battle of Bosworth field 1485. It was not a civil war for Wales as it wasn’t a part of English law in this period. It’s annexation by Henry Viii in 1436-42 proves it’s autonomy prior to Bosworth Field.
I live in Bridgend, South Wales. There are 4 castles within a 5-10 mile radius of us, it’s crazy that something so normal to us is really fascinating to others. Great video
This channel (both your work and Red’s work) are the only RUclips channel in my internet experience where I genuinely watch your new content less than an hour after it comes out
When I visited Wales a few years ago, I got to visit two English castles (Harlech and Caernarfon, although the latter was closed by the time we got there) and two Welsh ones (Dolbadarn and Criccieth). Of the four, Dolbadarn was actually my favorite, despite being the smallest and one of the least well-preserved I saw. It's small enough you could probably fit the whole thing inside the courtyard of Harlech or Caernarfon, but the location makes it so much cooler. Picture a long, narrow mountain valley lined with steep hillsides, one side dominated by a massive slate quarry. Two long lakes run down the valley, a narrow strip of land in the middle separating them. It is atop a hill on that strip of land that Dolbadarn sits, a singular, ruined tower jutting into the sky, framed by the surrounding hillsides of the valley - even just seeing it from the parking lot with a Welsh flag fluttering on a flagpole in the foreground was a site to behold.
I can definitely recommend it if you ever visit Northern Wales. The Welsh Slate museum is also right nearby, which is way cooler than it sounds. The area is pretty, and not as inundated with tourists as the bigger castles are wont to be. There's few things that beat hiking up a trail through the woods by yourself to reach a castle at the top of the hill.
I'm from North Wales! We have some bangin' castles, especially Harlech, Beaumaris and Conwy!
"Matchy shapes make happy brain go 'brrrr!'"
Yeah, I can see that.
Personally, I like the aesthetic of castles and buildings that look like they started with symmetry in mind, but then got added to as needs arose.
To ease your conflict a little. Built heritage is allowed to change and still be significant. If we left everything to rot, it would rot. The important part is preserving the methods with which it's constructed, and using them where reasonable and safe to do so.
The idea that built heritage is dependent on the original materials is kind of a Eurocentric take on cultural resource management. Mostly because not all old buildings are made out of as sturdy stuff as stone; and their histories are just as valid. Now, this reconstruction was likely done before we had ideas about how these things should be done, so I wouldn't say it did things perfectly, but like you said; there's a full castle there now; and that's pretty cool.
According to a guide I spoke to at Caerphilly when I visited, the reason big chunks of the castle have collapsed wasn't due to the cannonry of the English Civil War. Rather, the moats around the castle were sustained by artificial means, and there was a period where the water inflow was diverted elsewhere, draining the moats. Over time, the soil upon which Caerphilly was built started to dry out, shifting as it did so. Causing chunks of the castle to shift too, cracking and crumbling and sinking in the process.
Nowadays the moats have been refilled with water, and the soil has stopped shifting. So the castle is unlikely to suffer any further damage of that kind. But it remains fascinating to me, that the simple process of waterlogged earth drying out could destroy such a colossal structure. Look on my works, ye mighty...
The whole "castles arent used anymore and therefore perceived as more fantasy than reality." is a very american viewpoint my guy
A friend of mine lives in a castle, an aunt got married in one and im litterally currently doing catering in one as we speak
I think he meant more 'Used as a military strong point'. Sure you can still live in a castle, or use one as a wedding venue, but at this point in time it's just a really neat looking home/backdrop. It's intended purpose has fallen by the wayside.
@@AtholAnderson right but the point made again other historical building was that they are normalized because and i quote "normal people work there". So imo the same applies to castles when "normal people live there"
@@ietsbram To be fair, if you live in a castle most people, even in these fair isles, would consider that 'not normal' enough to be noteworthy. And I say this as someone who's closest town has a castle in it where people are still using it.
It means so much to see the castle of my hometown (Abergavenny) featured on OSP 🥰
I visited Conwy Castle in Wales… it was such a beautiful and informing experience. I highly recommend it to anybody.
"Power, Peril, and more than a little Prettiness" is now officially the inspiration for my next dnd character
That last picture shot of the castle and the lights was gorgeous.
I suppose there’s something magical about history, even though its nature is mundane.
It was one of my favourite things as a kid growing up in Wales, being able to visit castles all the time like it was a regular Tuesday. I grew up in Flintshire so Ewloe castle was a regular wander spot when I was bored, Caergwrle castle became a picnic spot on days where we went to Wrexham for shopping, Hawarden castle was visited every month for a walk, freaking Moel Famau was the view from my bedroom window, (and even if it's cheating, having Chester's Roman walls nearby is always a treat to walk along). Being able to enjoy this history and nature so easily and regularly really gave me a love for walking, which I appreciate in my adulthood as a mentally ill person who has no motivation to get a gym membership, but also as a cheap date idea. Plus, you can't beat the nature walks in Wales as well. Almost every afternoon after school when the weather was good was spent walking through Loggerheads in Denbighshire. Just.... You can probably tell I miss it so much. I live in Liverpool city centre now, and I love this city and it has my heart, but a part of me will always long to return to my homeland.
If you ever get to north England, you MUST check out Skipton Castle. It's a Grade 1, 11th century medieval castle that's one of the most well preserved in the UK. I visited last year and it blew me away
Thanks for the love! 🏴 Gwlad! There are more 'complete' *ish castles surviving as rendering them 'useless' was often just knocking through a couple of walls, and many that weren't considered as important were left, saved as homes or through bribery and even attempts to hide them (more like the paper trail, though the thought of saying "nothing to see here but my winter fuel stack of logs... 30 ft high 😂
One does find that living with castles in practically every town (and more) and i HAVE gone to work daily in a castle and used such spaces as parks and such places for public events and activities... But they remain strongholds of fantasy and history, one might no longer look up every time in awe, but peering through an arrow loop or winding your way up another spiral staircase, the magic returns, especially if one is looking for it!
Although I think these castle look great and I’d love to visit one, I prefer and definitely advise to visit the castles along the Mittelrheintal (Middle Rhine Valley) here in Germany.
They’re mostly open for visitors, some are still inhabited and in my opinion look cooler. Also I just love that two castles, who were built on the hills directly across the river are named Burg Katz (Castle Cat) and Burg Maus (Castle Mouse).
I visit my grandfather in Wales very often and have seen so many castles. I was watching this video getting excited whenever i saw one ive been to.
Castle Rushen on the Isle of Man is almost perfectly preserved. The foundation is actually viking. When you walk in they have a model of the castle colour coded to what parts were added when
I seem to recall while looking into medieval building practices that it is often unclear exactly how medieval buildings were planned and work done etc. As I recall there are records from one Welsh castle in the medieval period that give a sense of how many workman were employed and so give some insight into the basic logistics.
An odd Norman castle is the one at Norwich, it was reclad in the 19th century and was continuously used for various things (it was a jail) throughout history, it is now a museum. I think it may be one of the few classic Norman castles from the period still standing even if it was heavily rebuilt at various times subsequent to 1066 and all that.
Marquess of Bute: *reconstructs Caerphilly Castle*
Blue: I'm sickened, but curious...
There are a few castles in Wales and the borders that were part renovated as residences around the 1900's and at least one (St Breivals) is now a backpackers/youth hostel. During the summer its an overnight stop off point for cyclists and hikers, in the winter they do a roaring trade with re-enactors, larpers and steam punkers hiring it for events.
that blues videos never make most watched is a tragedy. These are amazing
I’m half Welsh, and grew up in england, only ever visiting to see my nan in the countryside for a week every year/ few years. recently I’ve been interested in learning more about Wales and the language, especially now that my dad has a house there!! I’ve been really enjoying your guys’ Welsh oriented videos, and I adore castles so this video was amazing timing!!!!!
I tend to forget Americans in general do not have a lot of contact with historical buildings older than 200 years. These videos help reminding me how lucky we are in that sense here in the old world.
Excellent pronunciation of Llywelyn!
I love welsh history! It’s a interesting country because it’s evolved yet remained strong. I learned welsh so if I do ever visit I may be able to read certain manuscripts
Ah, the Marquess of Bute... a name you'll be absolutely sick to the teeth of seeing on plaques if you tour the castles of South Wales. There's seemingly not a single one he didn't get his hands on at some point. It really is wild how tightly packed the castles are in the former Marches. In just the Swansea area alone, there's six of them.
Very cool vid, the way you describe the feeling of walking into history when going into a castle is spot on! Like to see you do one on the Netherlands haha the Romans referred to us as swampy people that scavenge the shores during low tide
You've really done our corner of the world proud, Blue, diolch yn fawr. Living in Manchester but with family in North Wales, I spent many a summer stomping around castles like Beaumaris and Caernarfon. Thanks for stating that the Welsh made castles as well as the Normans and English because this is often something that's glossed over. Welsh-built castles that come to mind include Dolbadarn and Criccieth :)
Ewlo Castle is surprisingly impressive.
I just got back from studying abroad in Cardiff and I definitely had to get used to all the castles that are just a casual part of the landscape. But it was really cool! And it was nice to see pictures in the video from places I have actually seen in real life, that normally doesn`t happen to me
Growing up in Britain, the Castles are fantastic, so much history all over the place and it’s great, there’s a castle just 20 mins drive from where I grew up
You uploaded this as soon as I got back from my holiday to Conwy
Love your videos!! Would you be interested in doing an episode on Cornwall? We're also a very ancient celtic kingdom but since we were conquered by the English we don't get much attention. Would be so cool to see my homeland talked about by my favourite channel!
These OSP History Summarized videos are always something I look forward to.
I've been to Caernarvon Castle. I've driven by some of the others shown here. There is something thrilling about coming in sight of a castle that has its flags flying.
Born in the UK and live in New Zealand and I do miss just having so much history as part of daily life everywhere you go and it's just normal, castles everywhere and buildings hundreds of years old still in use
I went to Scotland and Ireland earlier this year, saw a bunch of castles... The ones I went inside were Edinburgh Castle, Dublin Castle, and Kilkenny Castle... Saw the outside of some others too...
My relative was a kid during the Battle of Nuremburg and remembers playing in the castle ruins and tunnels for the year following the end of the war.
I love how you started a video about Wales - which my family visited almost every year I was a teenager - with a picture of the fortress in Nürnberg, where I lived during the same time. Of all the castles in all the world... 😂
This is a wonderful video. Would you be able to do one about Predjama castle in Slovenia, also? It’s built into a huge cave 😮
Who hopes Red talks about the Myth where Hera gets beaten up by a Spartan Queen, the Myth about the Chinese Femboy defeating the four dragons, or the myth where a Aztec god was tricked into sleeping with their sister
Chinese femboy de feats 4 dragons ??
What is that and why isn't it an anime already?
Chinese femboy? There was no such thing
Well, starting precisely 23 seconds ago when I learned these myths existed… me.
@@kingofdragons7 look up the Chinese Demi-God Nezha
@@mattdragon333 googled 'chinese four dragon story' and found out. This isn't rocket science, just do five seconds of research
It’s so fun to see my country represented again! A lot of us who grew up here in wales were really used to castles - I’m from south west wales and basically every town and village has a castle, and there’s a bunch out in the countryside too! So to us they feel super normal 😂
As a kid I grew up in Kent, England and then moved to Wales, we didn't have holidays/vacations, but we did do trips to castles. Caerphilly castle is beautiful and I believe it's leaning tower has been that way since before the leaning tower of Pisa. Castle Coch (The Red Castle) pronounced cock) is another favourite.
Castle Coch is just down the road from me lol. Always used to call it the fairy tale castle as a kid because of its design.
@@BeinDraug iirc Castle Coch isn't a 'real' castle; it was something built by a rich man in either the 1800s or early 1900s (dont remember when off the top of my head) and was deliberately designed to look like a fairytale/Disney castle.
fun fact about Castell Biwmaris/Beaumaris Castle- there's a long-standing tale (probably true) that it was meant to be taller, but Edward ran out of materials halfway though. Since Ynys Mon was so late to be conquered, he fucked off for a while for safety, and the locals took the chance to steal the castle bricks and build a church. Seriously, they're very proud of it to this day.
So trippy seeing people oogle and fantasise bout the history of a place I have seen and walked by going for a drink
1:03 Blue you forgot about Valletta and other parts of Malta?
They are still living in district sized forts/castles.
As somebody who lives in Germany I sometimes forget that the local church is older than the US. Seeing this phenomenon being applied to castles in Wales cause yall got so many of em is hilarious.
as someone living within a 15-minute walk to a castle i can honestly say that this point of view has never even occured to me. that being said, matchy shapes do make happy brain go brrr.
I just got back from Denmark where I biked to Kronberg Stor, in Helsgnor, the castle that was the inspiration for Elisonor Castle in 'Hamlet'. Something of a pilgrimage for me. and yes a diffident Danish prince reenactor wandered around the place.
I lived castles when I was a kid… and I still do. Great video!