Wales · 17th century
Raglan Castle (Welsh: Castell Rhaglan) is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th centuries, when the successive ruling families of the Herberts and the Somersets created a luxurious, fortified castle, complete with a large hexagonal keep, known as the Great Tower or the Yellow Tower of Gwent. Surrounded by parkland, water gardens and terraces, the castle was considered by contemporaries to be the equal of any other in England or Wales.
During the First English Civil War, Raglan was occupied by a Royalist garrison on behalf of Charles I but was taken by Parliamentarian forces in 1646 and its walls slighted, or deliberately put beyond military use. After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the Somersets declined to restore it and it became first a source of local building materials, then a romantic ruin. It is now a tourist attraction.
Text adapted from “Raglan Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Raglan Castle ranks #823 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #11 of the 107 mapped in Wales. Founded c. 1625, it is older than 29% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 721 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 7,577 times in the last 60 days, more than 91% of the atlas. 19 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Bristol, 39 km away. See how Wales compares in the castle statistics.
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