Cardigan Castle

Cardigan Castle stands on a bluff above the River Teifi in the town of Cardigan, Ceredigion. The first earth-and-timber fort was built in about 1093 by a Norman baron. A stone castle was begun in 1171 by Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd and rebuilt again in 1244 after Llywelyn the Great lost it. Castle Green House, an 1800s mansion, was added inside the walls. The whole site fell into ruin until the early 2000s, when Ceredigion County Council restored it. The castle’s history runs from Norman sieges to the first recorded eisteddfod in 1176. It changed hands between Welsh princes and English earls through the 12th and 13th centuries. Later it served as a prison, then as a private home until 1996. The rescue cost the council millions and took more than a decade, but the result is a Grade I-listed building with modern facilities. Visitors walk the restored curtain walls and view the surviving 13th-century gatehouse. Inside the ward lie Castle Green House, a heritage centre, and a restaurant named for the 1176 festival. The pleasure gardens and kitchen garden are kept to Cadw’s Grade II standard. Outdoor concerts are held on the lawns, and the river below frames the scene.