{"id":23374,"date":"2023-02-06T13:09:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=23374"},"modified":"2023-02-09T09:38:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T08:38:31","slug":"a-leaning-tower-to-rival-pisa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2023\/02\/06\/a-leaning-tower-to-rival-pisa\/","title":{"rendered":"A leaning tower to rival Pisa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
DAY OUT: <\/strong>Caerphilly Castle, Caerphilly <\/h5>\n\n

A leaning tower to rival Pisa<\/h2>\n\n

The rise of a redoubtable Welsh prince inspired the speedy construction of one of Britain\u2019s mightiest and most defendable medieval castles, discovers Margaret <\/strong>Bartlett <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
John Merrill\u2019s statue of the Marquis was sculpted from a fallen oak <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

How do you prop up a stone tower leaning at more than 10\u00b0? Very Caerphilly. Cheesy puns aside, the tilt of Caerphilly Castle\u2019s Civil War-damaged south-east tower surpasses Pisa\u2019s by a whopping 6\u00b0. <\/p>\n\n

But here you have to share your holding-up-the-tower snap with a six-metre-tall statue that\u2019s already doing the job. The sculpture represents John Crichton-Stuart, the 4th Marquis of Bute, who, from 1928 to 1939, continued the restoration of the castle started by his father. <\/p>\n\n

Dominating the heart of Caerphilly, this awe-inspiring 12-hectare fortress is the second largest in Britain, behind only Windsor Castle. Commissioned by Gilbert de Clare in his bid to defy Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, it was built in a rapid three years, between 1268 and 1271. The first concentric-circle fortification in Britain, its design \u2013 on an island surrounded by artificial lakes \u2013 made it a formidable bastion. Allow a couple of hours to explore the huge gatehouse rooms, the reroofed medieval Great Hall, and the impressive recreated wooden fighting platform. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Caerphilly Castle\u2019s central island was accessed via a drawbridge, while two massive gatehouses flanked by towers protected the entrance <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Complete your visit with a walk around the castle\u2019s lakes; designed as a sophisticated network of moats and dams, they were among the most advanced water defences of their kind in Britain. Now, geese, ducks, moorhens, swans, herons and cormorants are at home on the water, and you may spot people fishing for carp, too. <\/p>\n\n

This year, the Welsh heritage agency Cadw has started major conservation and development work on the castle, thanks to a \u00a35 million funding boost, so check their website for amended opening times. cadw.gov.wales<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Production editor Margaret enjoys finding new walks near her home in South Wales.<\/p>\n\n

Photos: Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rise of a redoubtable Welsh prince inspired the speedy construction of one of Britain\u2019s mightiest and most defendable medieval castles, discovers Margaret Bartlett <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"87","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"87","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_87-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_87-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"March-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"March-2023","purple_external_id":"March-2023-87-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"March-2023-87-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000084066||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000084066||","purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.200","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.200","purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.200","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.200","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"91da22fd-9e7f-40d1-a93f-fc46e9516d91","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-02-06T12:14:22Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"7e91eee5-850b-412b-a93d-9ff09ca81bdb","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-02-09T08:38:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AfpHu5YULQSupPZ_wnKgb2w","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-scaled.jpg",2560,1700,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-768x510.jpg",768,510,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-1024x680.jpg",800,531,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-1536x1020.jpg",1536,1020,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/02\/JEH235_preview-2048x1360.jpg",2048,1360,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The rise of a redoubtable Welsh prince inspired the speedy construction of one of Britain\u2019s mightiest and most defendable medieval castles, discovers Margaret Bartlett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23374"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23798,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23374\/revisions\/23798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}