More Castles and more Romans in Wales

Back from holiday now and catching. So here are the remaining highlights from Wales.

Caerphilly Castle has to be one of the most impressive castles in the area

Many features with multiple gatehouses

The main entrance is quite spectacular with I think I counted slots for 7 or 8 portcullises 

Lots of nice features in one section they have built wooden hoardings along the battlements with suitably clad defenders

They also have a good selection of full scale siege engines, apparently some days they fire these but sadly not when we were there

Overall well worth a visit if you haven’t been

Another specific reason on going to the Area was to visit Caerwent, I won’t give a long history here but it is (for Roman Britain) a really well preserved walled town. 

The walled around the town in places remains quite hig and gives a very good feel to what Hadrian’s wall would have been like in its day.

In Roman times the town was called Venta Silurum and inside the walls have the remains of several key buildings. Many others apparently exist but aren’t currently exposed. The building above is the forum-basilica

A well defined temple

Shops and dwellings on the Main Street

At the posh end of town houses with courtyards, overall a lovely location, free, easy to navigate and a good way to spend a couple of hours

We also went to Chapstow Castle, started as a classic Norman keep

A great location perched on steep cliffs

And then expanded over the centuries including like so many an active role in the ECW.

That wrapped up our short week in SE Wales. Definately worth a visit 😀