Castell Coch was featured in Country Life magazine 61 years ago this month. Architectural writer Mark Girouard took readers on a tour of the famous Welsh landmark over two issues beginning on 10th May 1962. The magazine was founded in 1897 and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022. Girouard went on to become an authority …
The Wales 1983 Festival of Castles (Gwyl Cestyll Cymru 1983) was a controversial marketing campaign created by the Wales Tourist Board. It was branded “Cestyll 83” and took place during the “Year of Castles”. The festival was launched on 28 February 1983 by the Prince and Princess of Wales at Caerphilly Castle. Euryn Rhys Roberts, …
Castell Coch is currently closed for its annual conservation housekeeping. The trees surrounding the castle are also undergoing some maintenance so I looked through some old postcards to see how the view has changed. This postcard was published by “The R. A. P. Co. Ltd. London. EC4.” It’s unposted but I believe it’s from between …
I purchased a guidebook for the Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans from an online store as the description mentioned Castell Coch. There was no other information but I was intrigued and it wasn’t very expensive. It turned out to be this charming little pamphlet for Caerphilly Castle and Castell Coch. The guide was produced …
I shared some aerial photos of the Taff Valley by Terence Soames earlier in the year. One of the photos was this spectacular shot of the Walnut Tree Viaduct and Castell Coch, which was taken in 1957. Terence Soames was an aerial photographer and worked for H. Tempest (Cardiff) Ltd in the 1950s. The main …
I have several postcards that use the same image so I thought I would research an interesting series of cards posted between 1905 and 1910. All three postcards were produced by Blum & Degen, who produced millions of cards between 1895 and 1908. The first two postcards are later versions of the first “divided backs”, …
Castell Coch was featured in Country Life magazine 60 years ago this month. Architectural writer Mark Girouard took readers on a tour of the famous Welsh landmark over two issues beginning on 10th May 1962. The magazine was founded in 1897 and celebrated its 125th anniversary earlier this month. Girouard went on to become an …
There are lots of postcards with aerial photos of the castle in my collection and this is one of my favourites. The company who produced the image have a huge collection of photos available to view on Amgueddfa Cymru’s website. Scaffolding has been erected on the curtain wall and it looks like roof tiles were …
I was sorting through my collection recently and noticed quite a few pieces from the 1980s. Hopefully these items will bring back memories of school trips and visits during this decade.
This collection of postcards from the “Ministry of Works” and the “Ministry of Public Building and Works” were produced between 1940 and 1970. To find out more about the organisations that have cared for the castle, read my post about the official guidebooks. Further Reading
