This is my first blog post looking back at the history of CastellCoch.com. I’m proud to have reached this milestone and want to share some of my favourite posts.
I’ve been writing about Castell Coch for over 13 years. It’s such a unique and beloved Welsh landmark, but I was always concerned people wouldn’t find my posts on Tongwynlais.com.
My collection of memorabilia was still growing and I often thought about creating a dedicated site. I had lots of free time over the summer of 2020 so I decided to put the plan into action.
CastellCoch.com is a collection of memorabilia, stories and images inspired by Cardiff’s fairytale castle.
I really enjoyed putting the site together, using the photos and illustration I’d created over the previous 8 years. The focus was always going to centre on my interest in history, art and photography.
I republished 14 articles from Tongwynlais.com and launched the site on 1st October 2020.
5 Favourite Posts
I could’ve easily picked ten favourites but as it’s the 5th anniversary, I’ll stick to five.
I’m always on the lookout for old and rare photos of Castell Coch so I was delighted when I stumbled on this image from the late 19th Century. I spent ages reading about the history and technology involved in magic lanterns.
This article uncovers the history of Britain’s first commercial vineyard that was on the slopes underneath Castell Coch. I created a detailed timeline of the project over 40 years and was kindly permitted to use documents from the family of Andrew Pettigrew, the head gardener. I recently published another instalment that features an article by Andrew’s son, who was Cardiff’s Chief of Parks from 1915.
I attended a meeting of the South Wales Postcard Club where a gentleman presented a talk on J M Staniforth. He happened to mention that some of his illustrations were on sale and I managed to buy them. They’re beautiful pieces of art with a fascinating history. I made copies straight away and they take pride of place on my office wall.
There are two issues of Country Life from 1962 that feature a tour of Castell Coch by architectural writer Mark Girouard. He was an award winning author and co-founder of the Victorian Society. The article is very interesting and there are some great quotes. I published part 2 the following year.
I had a couple of beer mats with the “Festival of Castles” branding so I decided to do some research and discovered more about this controversial marketing campaign. I stumbled across some amazing photos by Ian Walker and he very kindly permitted me to publish them.
The Next 5 Years
There a plenty of items in my collection that I haven’t shared yet. I like to take time and research each item to add interest and value to the posts I publish. I’ve settled into a manageable schedule that allows me to publish on my other site too.
I created these illustration of Lady Bute, William Burges and Lord Bute as Lego characters recently. I have a few more creative projects in the planning stages and I’d like to do more drawing.
This has always been a personal project that I create for myself and hope that other people find it interesting too.
Hi Jack,
I remember that first message and wondered why you’d split the Castell Coch stuff from the Tongwynlias stuff that I had long enjoyed. But I see the logic of it now, really well explianed in this post.
Thanks for continuing the hard work and I hope the next five years are as fruitful for you in exploring the Castle and its history as were the last five.