Early History
Castell Coch was built on the site of a 13th-century castle. The earlier fortification was constructed by the Welsh chieftain named Ifor Bach. In the late thirteenth century the castle site was claimed by the De Clare family because of its strategic importance, commanding both the plains area and the entrance to the Taff valley. The castle was rebuilt in stone and consisted of a keep, towers, an enclosed courtyard and a gatehouse. Although the early history of the castle is largely undocumented, it is generally accepted that it was severely damaged during a period of Welsh rebellion in the early fourteenth century. Thereafter, the castle fell into disuse and by Tudor times, the antiquary John Leland described it as "all in ruin no big thing but high".
Read more about this topic: Castell Coch
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:
“They circumcised women, little girls, in Jesus’s time. Did he know? Did the subject anger or embarrass him? Did the early church erase the record? Jesus himself was circumcised; perhaps he thought only the cutting done to him was done to women, and therefore, since he survived, it was all right.”
—Alice Walker (b. 1944)
“The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.”
—Lytton Strachey (1880–1932)