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Caldicot Castle: A Brief History

Founded by the Normans, developed in royal hands as a stronghold in the Middle Ages and restored as a family home, Caldicot Castle has a romantic and colourful history.


The area in which the castle now stands has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Boat timbers, a bridge or jetty and other evidence of human activity were found on what would have been the bed of the river Nedern during this period. In the hills nearby was Llanmelin, the great iron-age fort of the Silures tribe. When the Romans reached the area and imposed military control, they built a new capital, called Venta Silurum, for the Silures at nearby Caerwent.


photo: South west view of the Caldicot Castle

 In 1127 the estate passed to Durand's nephew Walter Fitzroger, Constable of England, a great castle builder.
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 The castle would have dominated the area around it, including the crossing points of the nearby river Nedern, which was then navigable and of the River Severn, where the two Severn bridges now stand.

The estate passed to Walter Fitzroger's granddaughter Margaret who married Humphrey DeBohun in 1158. The DeBohun family held the castle for over two centuries and enlarged it with a curtain wall, towers and an impressive entranceway, influenced by the design of fortifications in the Holy Land.

 It was confiscated by the crown on several occasions, often for rebellion, but was always returned to the family.

photo: Caldicot Castle Keep

Humphrey DeBohun the 10th carried out extensive repairs to the castle in the 1360s and when he died his inheritance passed to his young daughter Alianore.

 In 1376, while she was still a child, Alianore married Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III, and so Caldicot Castle passed into royal hands.

The Woodstock Tower was built by Thomas in the late fourteenth century



photo: Woodstock Tower

Thomas and Alianore feature in Shakespeare's play Richard II.

Thomas was King Richard's uncle, but his opposition to Richard's alliances with France led to his death in France as a traitor. After being held directly by the royal family, including Henry V and his widow Katherine of Valois, for several decades, the castle passed to the Duchy of Lancaster.

 It was leased from them by the Herbert family in the sixteenth century. By this time, with the introduction of artillery powerful enough to breach stone walls and the relative peace in Britain, the great age of the castles had passed and their importance was limited to the agricultural land held with them.
 

Ghosts



The area in which the castle now stands has been occupied since the Bronze Age.

The first phase of building in stone was during the thirteenth century when the round keep was built.
The DeBohun family held the castle for over two centuries and enlarged it with a curtain wall, towers and an impressive entranceway, influenced by the design of fortifications in the Holy Land.

It was confiscated by the crown on several occasions, often for rebellion, but was always returned to the family.

The Woodstock Tower was built by Thomas in the late fourteenth century and the Great Gatehouse is believed to date from the same period. Large windows were cut into the curtain wall at some time in the fourteenth century.
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The towers were divided into apartments and rented out until the 1960's and they still contain features such as a bath that dates from before the Second World War.

The castle is reputed to be haunted by a number of ghosts and spirits including a grey lady (who is believed to be Alianore de Bohun), hooded monks, a beggar boy and a mischievous poltergeist. At the centre of the activity is the Gatehouse Banqueting Hall; shadowy figures, as well as moving furniture, has been witnessed in this area. Many people have experienced unusual cold spots, as well as hearing footsteps in vacant parts of the castle.

One not to be missed

Experience a night of ghost hunting at Caldicot Castle, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales with Ghost Hunt Events - 8pm - 2am. Tickets £45 per person.
HERE
  
 

Llanmelin

There is an Iron Age hill fort at Llanmelin, about one mile east of the village overlooking the Castrogi Brook and with distant views of the Severn estuary. The fort covers an area of 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres), with a small outpost enclosure to the north-east. It is believed to have been first built around the 4th century BC, and rebuilt and extended in the 1st century BC. Earthworks adjoining the fort to the south-east have been interpreted as funerary enclosures, suggesting to some that the fort was used as an oppidum or small town by the Silures. Finds of later Romano-British pottery have also been made at Llanmelin.

The site is one of a number which have been suggested as the true site of King Arthur's court at Celliwig or Camelot, following the Roman withdrawal from the nearby town of Venta Silurum orCaerwent.

However, others have suggested that Llanmelin is not an especially impressive hillfort, and archaeological evidence so far is that it was primarily a defended enclosure for livestock with a few associated roundhouses.
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A baby adder's first look at the world.
Llanmelin hillfort, Monmouthshire
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