A Victorian fairy-tale castle with conical towers, built on medieval ruins on a wooded hillside north of Cardiff
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Castell Coch means “red castle”, and it looks like something from a storybook: three round towers with steep conical roofs rising out of the trees above the village of Tongwynlais, just north of Cardiff. It is not really a medieval castle at all, though it stands on the ruins of one. What you see was built in the 1870s and after for John Crichton-Stuart, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, one of the richest men in the world at the time, to a design by the architect William Burges. They were rebuilding on the remains of a 13th-century castle that had long since fallen down.
Burges only finished the outside and a few rooms before he died, but the interiors that were completed are wildly decorated, all painted ceilings, murals and gilding. It was meant as an occasional country retreat rather than a home, and the Bute family barely used it. Cadw runs the castle now.
The setting is a steep, wooded hillside, so expect a short uphill walk from the car park. The Taff Trail, the walking and cycling route that runs up the Taff valley, passes close by, so you can arrive on foot or by bike. If you want a genuine medieval fortress to go with the fantasy one, the huge Caerphilly Castle is a few miles to the northeast.
