Holiday IV Raglan Castle

   Our next stop was the mighty Raglan Castle.  As far as Welsh castles go it is not as famous the great Edwardian castles, like Harlech or Caernarvon, however architecturally it gives them a good run for their money.  It is a large and deeply accomplished Late Medieval design - a Perpendicular Gothic interpretation of Late Gothic French domestic design, both formidable and luxurious.  There is an outer and inner bailey, the latter consisting of two courtyards connected by the screens passage at the kitchen end of the Great Hall.  From the second courtyard access is gained by a bridge to the great donjon - 'The Yellow Tower of Gwent'.  Hexagonal in plan, it stands isolated in the outer bailey surrounded by its own moat and wall.  It was both the final place of refuge during a siege and a flanking defence for the main gate to the inner bailey.  After a long siege during the Civil War - like the rest of Wales it was a Royalist stronghold - the castle was dismantled, and thereafter left to decay.