Cardiff Castle (Cardiff)
Cardiff Castle is a spectacular but historic attraction in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.
The site was originally a Roman fort, built to defend the estuary of the River Taff.
A Norman castle used the same site for a motte with a surrounding moat, built in 1091 by Robert Fitzhamon. It was here that Robert of Normandy, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, was kept prisoner by his brother Henry I from 1106 until he died in 1134. The Welsh leader Ivor Bach captured the stronghold in 1158.
Robert, Duke of Gloucester, built most of the remaining buildings on top of the motte in the 12th century, and more was added in the 13th century by Gilbert de Clare.
During the Middle Ages, the castle passed to the Despensers and later to the Earls of Warwick.
The fabulously wealthy Earl of Bute employed the extraordinary architect William Burges in the Victorian period to redesign the castle as a mediaeval fantasy palace.