Cardiff Castle
October 11th 2007 18:33
Perhaps it's because I grew up in the new world where there are no grand, ancient buildings, or perhaps it's because of the fairy-tales that fuelled my childhood imagination, that I find castles so fascinating and irrestistable. Naturally, when I went found myself in Cardiff last weekend, I was in the queue for the Castle tour first thing on Saturday morning.
Cardiff Castle stands in the centre of the city, where a fortified castle has stood for over 2000 years. The first castle was built by the Romans and the second by the Normans. It was here that Wiliam the Conquerer died in the 11th century. The basic Norman structures and layout still remain; the thick stone walls that surround the castle and its gardens; the arched entrance, now somewhat overshadowed by signs and information stands; the keep, still with its spiral stone stairs, lookouts and barred windows; the turrets, the towers and the cloisters. But the interior, the finishing and the decoration is the work of the 3rd Marquis of Bute, the Scottish coal magnate. After he had turned Cardiff from a sleepy backwater into the most important coal port in the world and made himself the richest man in the world in the process, Bute decided to restore the almost ruined Castle and make a home for his family there. He enlisted the services of architect John Burgess for the project. No expense, imagination or cteative effort was spared in Burgess's Mediaeval Gothic style renovations.
Our tour began in the smoking room. the men only salon for after dinner cigars and conversation unfit for feminine ears. Every surface and ledge of the circular room is decorated with the signs and symbols, all to do with time, typical of the Mediaeval Gothic style. Behind many of the panels are concealed cubby-holes where smoking apparatus and suggestive pictures were once stored. Next came the nursery, decorated with macabre and bloodthirsty scenes from nursery rhymes, like a red-eyed, salivating wolf running off with red-riding hood on his back and Jack (of the beanstalk) holding the bloody, severed head of the giant. We wound up the stairs to Lady Bute's salon, called the Arab room, an extravaganza of marble, gold leaf and painted parrots of every size shape and hue. A Latin inscription in the marble on the fire-surround marks the death of Burgess, while work on this room was in progress. Fortunately, he had shown the way to the completion of the castle before his demise and his unmistakable opulent gold leaf and extravagant gadgetry continues downstairs in the private dining room, where Lord Bute's strong religious faith is reflected in the stained glass window which depicts the story Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. The Banquet Hall, with its ceiling emblazoned with Bute Scottish ancestors, angels holding shieds and a carved mezzanine musicaians gallery was next. The drawing room, followed -a plain Georgian room, lined with life sized paintings of more Bute Marquises and Marquises The tribe of carved and gilded monkeys in the cornices was the only visible sign of Burgess. The tour finished in the library where the Marquis of Bute's knowledge of literature, History, languages, the world and the universe are shown off and high-lighted through Burgess's decorative genius. Over the door spreads a carved tree of knowledge. Busts of poets from Homer to Keats, stare moodily from the top of the walls. The countries of the British Commonwealth are represented by their native animals lower down. Tablets, held by statues, above the chimneys are inscribed with the 40 foreign languages spoken by Lord Bute. On the ceiling are the shields of the Kings of the British Isles.
While the Bute restorations and the work of Burgess are undoubted masterpiece s of design and decoration, at the end, my head was spinning with the sheer oplulence and extravagance and the somewhat oppressive busy-ness of it all. It was srefreshing to escape into the air and rest my eyes on that stretch of bright green lawn, to climb the worn steps of the keep and look out over the patchwork of autumn-leafed trees to the hills and the sky.
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle stands in the centre of the city, where a fortified castle has stood for over 2000 years. The first castle was built by the Romans and the second by the Normans. It was here that Wiliam the Conquerer died in the 11th century. The basic Norman structures and layout still remain; the thick stone walls that surround the castle and its gardens; the arched entrance, now somewhat overshadowed by signs and information stands; the keep, still with its spiral stone stairs, lookouts and barred windows; the turrets, the towers and the cloisters. But the interior, the finishing and the decoration is the work of the 3rd Marquis of Bute, the Scottish coal magnate. After he had turned Cardiff from a sleepy backwater into the most important coal port in the world and made himself the richest man in the world in the process, Bute decided to restore the almost ruined Castle and make a home for his family there. He enlisted the services of architect John Burgess for the project. No expense, imagination or cteative effort was spared in Burgess's Mediaeval Gothic style renovations.
The Castle Keep
Our tour began in the smoking room. the men only salon for after dinner cigars and conversation unfit for feminine ears. Every surface and ledge of the circular room is decorated with the signs and symbols, all to do with time, typical of the Mediaeval Gothic style. Behind many of the panels are concealed cubby-holes where smoking apparatus and suggestive pictures were once stored. Next came the nursery, decorated with macabre and bloodthirsty scenes from nursery rhymes, like a red-eyed, salivating wolf running off with red-riding hood on his back and Jack (of the beanstalk) holding the bloody, severed head of the giant. We wound up the stairs to Lady Bute's salon, called the Arab room, an extravaganza of marble, gold leaf and painted parrots of every size shape and hue. A Latin inscription in the marble on the fire-surround marks the death of Burgess, while work on this room was in progress. Fortunately, he had shown the way to the completion of the castle before his demise and his unmistakable opulent gold leaf and extravagant gadgetry continues downstairs in the private dining room, where Lord Bute's strong religious faith is reflected in the stained glass window which depicts the story Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. The Banquet Hall, with its ceiling emblazoned with Bute Scottish ancestors, angels holding shieds and a carved mezzanine musicaians gallery was next. The drawing room, followed -a plain Georgian room, lined with life sized paintings of more Bute Marquises and Marquises The tribe of carved and gilded monkeys in the cornices was the only visible sign of Burgess. The tour finished in the library where the Marquis of Bute's knowledge of literature, History, languages, the world and the universe are shown off and high-lighted through Burgess's decorative genius. Over the door spreads a carved tree of knowledge. Busts of poets from Homer to Keats, stare moodily from the top of the walls. The countries of the British Commonwealth are represented by their native animals lower down. Tablets, held by statues, above the chimneys are inscribed with the 40 foreign languages spoken by Lord Bute. On the ceiling are the shields of the Kings of the British Isles.
The park surrounding Cardiff Castle
While the Bute restorations and the work of Burgess are undoubted masterpiece s of design and decoration, at the end, my head was spinning with the sheer oplulence and extravagance and the somewhat oppressive busy-ness of it all. It was srefreshing to escape into the air and rest my eyes on that stretch of bright green lawn, to climb the worn steps of the keep and look out over the patchwork of autumn-leafed trees to the hills and the sky.
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Comment by jon
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Comment by Mountain Fog
The toilet is MILES away...ALWAYS!!...and the very idea of trying to keep it in tip top condition...or even just sweeping...is enough to make anyone shove a for sale sign out the front!!
Anyhoo...I can still dream...and maybe win lotto so I've got enough servants and buy one!!
cheers...interesting post...
fog
Comment by Patricia
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Comment by Patricia
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