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Raglan
Raglan Castle in Monmouthshire is a perfect example of what happened to castles
all over the country during the 16th and 17th centuries. In the Tudor period,
medieval castles were customised to make them even more luxurious and comfortable.
Then, in the 1640s, many were deliberately pulled down once the English
Civil War was over.
True castle or white elephant?
Raglan was begun in the 1440s, towards the end of the medieval period. Even
before the first stone was laid, it was something of a white elephant because
castles had been falling out of fashion for at least 100 years. During times
of peace, no sensible nobleman was going to waste time and money building a
castle when he could be investing in a more comfortable courtyard house. So
castles everywhere began to be abandoned, and by the end of the 15th century
a great many of them were in ruins.
Of course, certain people did stick it out in castles, largely for sentimental
reasons. This meant, however, that they had to make lots of home improvements.
The principal commodity that Tudor nobles wanted was light, and everywhere you
look inside Raglan Castle, you can see that massive new windows were the order
of the day. At the same time, Raglan gained a Long Gallery (a room to entertain
important guests) the very height of fashionable living in the Tudor period.
Civil war arrives
On the eve of the Civil War, therefore, Raglan was one of the most impressive
and opulent places to live in the kingdom. Fortunately for its last resident,
the 70-year-old Marquis of Worcester, the alterations that had been made to
the castle over the years had not unduly compromised the original medieval defences.
In the summer of 1646, he and his family were able to remain relatively safe
and sound inside the castle during a two-month bombardment by Parliament's troops.
It was only the arrival of the parliamentary general Sir Thomas Fairfax with
six deadly mortar pieces that finally persuaded the marquis to surrender.
Just six days after the conclusion of the siege, Parliament ordered that Raglan
should be demolished, and it earmarked the profits of destruction as reward for
its victorious army. The building was stripped of such material wealth as could
be easily removed but, even in defeat, the medieval masonry proved too strong.
Parliament had to content itself with 'slighting' (the deliberate destruction
of castles) and ruined the great tower by undermining its walls. The rest of the
castle became a quarry.
The castle today
Plans to rebuild it as a residence in the 19th century did not come to fruition.
Today, the castle is managed by CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments and is open to
the public.
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