Castle Coch (translated from Welsh to "Red Castle") was owned by Lord Bute, an extremely wealthy landowner (one of Britain's wealthiest at the time) who also owned Cardiff Castle and Tredegar House. The castle is a 19th century Gothic Revival design, but the earlier castle on the site was placed by the Normans and built after 1081. Ruins of the castle, which were destroyed in other uprisings, were purchased in the middle of the 1700s, and it was inherited by Bute in the mid-1800s. Bute was interested in art, architecture, and antiques, and he employed William Burges to rebuild the castle as a summer residence. The castle appears as a "fairy tale castle", and visitors can see it from the major roadway.
I visited the castle on Good Friday, and a lot of people were at the castle to hunt for Easter eggs. When first entering the castle, you are welcomed into the internal courtyard, and you can see why this is called "red castle". A stairway on the left takes you to the first rooms on the tour.
The first room is the banqueting hall, which is elaborately decorated with murals and statues.
There is an impressive view over the surrounding grounds; as we are on a hill, we can see below and even see into Cardiff from the castle.
From the banqueting hall, a small room at the back leads to the drawing room. The murals depict "Aesop's Fables".
Lady Bute's bedroom is at the top of the stairs, and it is a circular room with drawings of monkeys along the ceiling. Some of these monkeys had to be repainted as they looked too suggestive for Bute. The room was designed after the main architect died, and it is similar in style to the Arab Room at Cardiff Castle.
Lord Bute's room is actually a small room just down (or up) the stairs from Lady Bute's room. He would have shared the room with her, which would have been considered to be odd for that time period.
At the top of Castle Coch was a chapel, but all that remains of it today are the stained glass windows. Ten of these can be seen here at the castle, and the others are on display at Cardiff Castle. They probably would have held a special meaning for Bute on his Scottish and Catholic heritage. Bute was very religious, and the small chapel was removed sometime in the 1890s for reasons unknown.
I had a wander around the exterior hallway of the castle to get to other rooms.
The basement of the castle is one of the surviving parts of the medieval castle. It has a vaulted roof and was used as a store room.
Also on display was a diarama. The Pentyrch Hunt has been associated with Castle Coch for most of the 20th century as it was the meeting place. This was an organised hunt, led by Bute as the master of the hunt.
Another room lay empty on the side and was displayed as a bedroom - Lady Margaret Bute's bedroom. Further down the hallway was the kitchen, which was filled with children and adults partaking in crafts.
I took a couple of photographs of the front of the castle looking a little empty.
That concludes my visit to Castle Coch. It's been on my "to visit" list for awhile.
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