Caerphilly Castle - Largest in Wales, 2nd in Britain

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Recently, I headed to largest castle in Wales, the second largest in Britain …Caerphilly Castle! :european_castle: I explore the massive 30 acre site, the medieval rooms and passageways, and fly around and over the drawbridge, moats, trebuchet and breathtaking fortification :heart_eyes:

Unfortunately, they are renovating the main tower until 2023, and the weather was against me. But I still enjoyed the place. If anyone is in the neighbourhood, I can definitely recommend visiting this place.

I hope you enjoy the vid :+1:

The castle was built from 1268 to 1271 by red-haired Gilbert de Clare. He was the Norman Lord of Glamorgan and was worried by the strength of support in this area for Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Wales’ last indigenous prince. The castle became the de Clare family’s administrative centre for Glamorgan. Gilbert’s son-in-law, Hugh le Despenser, enlarged the castle’s Great Hall in the 1320s for entertainment on a grand scale.

The market town outside the castle controlled the area’s trade but wasn’t surrounded by the defensive walls common in other Welsh castle towns. The town was attacked and damaged more than once, and largely destroyed in 1316 by rebel leader Llywelyn Bren.

King Edward II took refuge in the castle in 1326, hiding from persecution by Queen Isabella, his wife! Edward and Hugh le Despenser, his advisor, fled from Caerphilly Castle but were eventually caught and Edward was deposed.

In the 14th century, court sessions were moved from the castle to a purpose-built court house, now a pub.

The castle was disused by the Tudor era. It provided a handy source of dressed stone for local buildings, including the Van Mansion (east of town). The moats vanished after their dams became derelict. Nant y Gledyr, which had supplied the water, flowed past on the south side, where it powered a woollen mill.

Restoration was started by the Bute family of Cardiff Castle. In Victorian times the Great Hall was roofed again. Major works in the 1930s preserved or rebuilt the walls and towers but left untouched the iconic leaning tower, which gives us an insight into the castle’s original structure. The tower may have been built on unstable foundations or been deliberately damaged during the Civil War of the 17th century to prevent future defensive use of the castle. It leans at a more acute angle than the Tower of Pisa in Italy!

The Marquess of Bute also cleared shops and other buildings close to the castle. This paved the way for the moats to be re-flooded after the Second World War.

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Another informative film Chris. An amazing building. Well done.

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One of many of my many “local” castles. Love it, loved your video. Oh, and it’s Castle Cor’chh (not cock) :smiley:

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Thank you Clive. Yes, certainly an amazing building. Even the aerial footage doesn’t do the scale of it justice. It is massive :+1:

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Cheers Stuart. Glad you enyoyed it. It’s a mere stone’s throw from you :grinning:

If you listen again at 3:07, being Welsh myself … I did use the Welsh pronounciation, not the English.

  • Engish = Cock :rofl:
  • Welsh = Coh’-chh :sunglasses:

Iechyd da :+1:

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Fantastic Chris, another great video mate. :+1: what a structure and captured very well. :heart_eyes::clap:

Fanboy suggestions:

Clifton Suspension bridge and Observatory :smiley:

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Cheers Steve! Thanks, glad you liked it mate.

That’s a great idea :clap: Will check it out :+1:

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Great video Chris :clap: :clap: :clap:

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Cheers John! Glad you enjoyed it mate :+1:

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You’ve kindled my interest in visiting now - worked just down the road for 10 years and lived within an hour’s drive for 20 years and I’m ashamed to say - I’ve never been inside :man_shrugging: :thinking: :smile:

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Don’t worry, you’re not alone … It was my first time inside it too :wink:

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Hey Steve, I saw your vid of this place recently, but stuggling to find it. Do you have the link to it by any chance? Cheers :+1:

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This one? :smiley:

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Nice video Chris, just over the hill from me.
I shot a video of it five years ago on my old Phantom 4 before crashing it into a tree and breaking it when it fell onto the moat bank :cry:
I couldn’t see it when it went into the tree but it sounded like a strimmer until it fell to it’s death, I did manage to recover this video from the corrupt card of it until it broke the camera ribbon cable.
DJI 0237

Here is my video from that day.
Caerphilly Castle

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Thanks Richard.

Gutted about your P4. That must have been such a shock seeing those tries pop out of nowhere. I can only imagine … “do I go up, down, left, right” :exploding_head:

Just watched both videos on YouTube. I have already subbed to your channel, but I hadn’t turned on the notification bell - it’s now on :+1:

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Yes it was a shock at the time, because I was going sideways and I was up on the bank behind the trees I thought I was clear and over the moat (schoolboy error), I didn’t realise it was going into the tree until I heard the brush cutter noises :exploding_head: they then stopped and I thought I was okay but then as I was running down towards the tree there was some more and out it fell onto the bank throwing the camera, battery and other bits in all directions, I was so fed up that I bought a P4P in the next few days :zipper_mouth_face:
I still have the P4 and have tried to fix it, it flies fine, it’s just the gimbal that shakes its head like it’s saying no every few seconds now.
Not flown anything in a while, I will have to try and get out with something again one day.
Thanks for the kind words on YT :+1:

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I think many of this have heard this noise at least once, I have for sure :confounded:

I take it the ribbon cable has been replaced. Anything else? Never flew one, but heard good things.

The wind has died down at least, nice weather today. Hopefully you get back out soon :+1:

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It’s not a nice noise in this scenario :laughing:

Yes, went for a copy at first and then bought a genuine one, I also had to buy a new gimbal arm and I’m wondering if this is the fault :thinking:
They are lovely to fly.

One day, fingers crossed :crossed_fingers:

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That’s the badger. Cheers mate. Doing a bit of research :face_with_monocle: