Castles & Palaces
Wales castle landscape

8 historic sites

Castles in Wales

Wales has more castles per square mile than any country in Europe — Caernarfon and Conwy lead a remarkable collection.

Cardiff Castle (Castell Caerdydd) in the centre of the Welsh capital — the Norman shell keep on its Roman mound behind the outer wall, with the Victorian Clock Tower of the Bute/Burges Gothic Revival apartments

wales · Cardiff

Cardiff Castle

Coal money and Gothic dreams in the heart of Cardiff — the Marquess of Bute spent a fortune transforming a Norman keep into one of Britain's most lavish Victorian interiors, with an Arab Room and Chaucer Room that William Burges designed as fairy-tale architecture for a fairy-tale income

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Castell Coch in Tongwynlais near Cardiff, Wales — the three conical-roofed round towers of William Burges's Victorian Gothic Revival reconstruction rising from the wooded hillside above the Taff valley

wales · Cardiff

Castell Coch

William Burges's Gothic Revival fantasy in the Cardiff hills — a Victorian architect's vision of a 13th-century castle rebuilt on genuine medieval foundations, with a working drawbridge and the most elaborate painted interior in Wales

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Beaumaris Castle's perfectly symmetrical concentric walls and towers reflected in the surrounding moat, Anglesey, Wales
UNESCO

wales · Anglesey / Isle of Anglesey

Beaumaris Castle

The most technically perfect medieval castle ever built — Edward I's unfinished masterpiece of concentric design

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Caernarfon Castle viewed from across the water, its banded towers reflected in the Menai Strait at sunset
UNESCO

wales · Gwynedd

Caernarfon Castle

Edward I's masterpiece of military architecture — the castle built to dominate Wales forever

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Caerphilly Castle reflected in its artificial lake with the famous leaning tower visible, South Wales

wales · South Wales

Caerphilly Castle

The second largest castle complex in Britain — a masterpiece of medieval water defence engineering

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Harlech Castle's massive twin-towered gatehouse on its cliff above Cardigan Bay and the mountains of Snowdonia, Wales
UNESCO

wales · Gwynedd / Snowdonia

Harlech Castle

The castle that inspired 'Men of Harlech' — Edward I's Iron Ring fortress on a cliff above the Irish Sea

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Conwy Castle and its eight towers reflected in the Conwy Estuary at dawn
UNESCO

wales · Conwy County Borough

Conwy Castle

Eight towers and an unbroken wall — the most perfectly preserved ring of medieval town walls in Britain

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Raglan Castle Great Tower and ruins in Monmouthshire, South Wales

wales · Monmouthshire

Raglan Castle

The last great medieval castle built in Wales — a courtly fortress of rare grandeur

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