Visited April 2010 

Location	Raglan, Monmouthshire
Entrance Fee	Yes (Please check Website for current prices)
Railway Station	No
Parking	Yes
Facilities	Toilets, Shop, Cafe nearby
Map

Review

Situated seven miles from Monmouth, this is a large and truly impressive ruin of a castle. It was started in the 1430’s by William ap Thomas, an Agincourt veteran who made two good marriages which enabled him to acquire the money and status needed to begin the castle. The Tudor castle as it is now was mainly the work of William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke. As well as being a beautiful building, it was important enough to have been the childhood home of Henry Tudor, later King Henry VII.  The castle suffered most of the damage we see today  at the time of the Civil War, and the slighting it received afterwards. The walls of the Great Tower were said to be so strongly built that they could not be breached, in the end they finally fell when the foundations were undermined.

The castle is easy to find as it is positioned just off the A40. It has a large car park, toilets, and a courtyard café in the farm next door- a five minute walk. The ruins are extensive- once through the gatehouse you will find the moat, protecting the Great Tower which is also surrounded by a defensive wall. There are steps up to the Great Tower, they are quite wide & Passable by castle standards, but the tower is very high and although enclosed at the top  it is not the highest of walls so be very careful if you take your children to the top. I am scared of heights so I declined to go, but Dad took one of the children up to the top, it was ‘scary but fun’. There is apparently a fantastic view from the top.

There really is so much to see at Raglan castle, the ‘Fountain Court’ is a lovely area to sit in and have a picnic, and there are many small doorways leading to secret rooms and some dark and spooky cellars waiting to be explored. The pitched stone court has some amazing Tudor window frames, and the gallery still has the carving of two figures, situated high on the wall, proudly spotted by our children.

We spent about 2 ½ hours at the castle, but there is a lot to see so depending on your children’s age & attention span you could easily spend longer. This is a CADW (Welsh Heritage) run site, and I find their prices to be very reasonable, at the time of our visit a family ticket was just £8.60- when you compare that to the price of a theme park- for us no comparison- Castles win every time!

 More info CADW Raglan Castle