Castell Coch

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Remember Aesop's fables? You might have heard them as a child-the Ant and the Grasshopper, the Fox and the Crow,the Fox and the Grapes, etc. Castell Coch in Wales has a beautiful interpretation of these fables on the castle's drawing room walls. (And you can stil hear the tales read in this room as a yearly tradition)


Castell Coch(English;Red Castle) is a 19th century Gothic Revival castle built on the remains of a genuine 13th-century fortification. It is situated on a steep hillside high above the village of Tongwynlais, to the north of Cardiff in Wales, and is a Grade I listed building as of 28 January 1963.-wikipedia

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In 1871, John Crichton-Stuart,3rd Marquess of Bute, ordered the site to be cleared of vegetation and debris while his architect,William Burges, drew up plans for a full reconstruction. Burges and the Marquess had been working for over three years on the rebuilding of Cardiff Castle; the aim at Castel Coch was to achieve another "dazzling architectual tour de force of the High Victorian era, (a) dream-like castle which combine(d) sumptuous Gothic fantasy with timeless fairy tale.-Wikipedia

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Click on the link above for a 360 panoramic view of the drawing room.

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This is a detail of the singerie ceiling in Lady Bute's bedroom.
The room is "pure Burges: an arcaded circle, punched through by window embrasurs, and topped by a trefoil-sectioned dome." The decorative theme is 'love', symbolised by "monkeys, pomegranates, and nesting birds".-wikipedia

click on the link to view Lady Bute's bedroom in a panoramic view.

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This is a detail of the mantle in Lord Bute's bedroom.

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His Victorian  room is heavily influenced with Burge's love of geometric stenciling and gilded ornamentation.

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The fact that Burges was, as described by Simon Jenkins, "an opium-addicted bachelor Gothicist who dressed in medieval costume" may have influenced his building style.(source)

Burges travels to Italy, Spain, Belgium, Germany and eventually Turkey led to his lavish wall designs and moorish influences.

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The roof garden offers wonderful tiled murals with a simple animal border underneath.

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Castell Coch was the realization of Burge's High Victorian Dream. Burge was able to combine the influences from his travels and fantasy of Victorian lore to create this wonderful world of ornamentation.