ILLUMINATA 2011 -9TH. ---11TH. DECEMBER

As darkness falls, CAERPHILLY Castle will be bathed in light for a twice nightly sound and light show. Illuminata, which is supported by the £19m European funded Heritage Tourism Project, backed by £8.5million from the European Regional Development Fund, reflects the fascinating history of this iconic stronghold.

Caerphilly’s Illuminata story begins in 1268 with the construction of the castle .
Projected onto the castle walls of the Inner Wards, four eras in Caerphilly's long history will be displayed from Gilbert de Clare to Llywelyn Bren, when much of the castle was destroyed, through to Hugh Despenser and Edward II and the grisly end of an English king, before moving on to the ravages of the Civil War and the castle's subsequent restoration by Coal Baron, the Marques of Bute.

The Welsh Dragon (Welsh: Y Ddraig Goch "the red dragon", appears on the national flag of Wales (the flag itself is also called "Y Ddraig Goch").
The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written around 820, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders

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The Castle in Caerphilly ----in the centre of town.

Beautiful Wildfowl occupy the moats and lakes.


Caerphilly Castle stands in the town of the same name which is 7 miles to the north of Cardiff in Wales. It was started in 1268, took around 10 years to complete and is one of the largest castles in Europe. In addition to being a fortress, Caerphilly was also used as an administrative and revenue collection centre at one time.
# note - - history of this castle on previous image .

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CASTELL COCH
6 miles from Cardiff.

The castle can be seen for miles around and it commands excellent views of the Taff valley below.
This building is chiefly known as a romantic folly supposedly reproducing a small medieval Welsh chieftain's stronghold, built in the 1870s, for the 3rd Marquess of Bute to a design by William Burges, and possessing the most remarkable interior decoration. However, it was built upon the remains of a genuine 13th century castle built in two stages. Evidence was found of the building having been deliberately slighted by mining.
The castle was probably founded by a Welsh lord in c1240-65 and had a round tower keep at the SW corner of a tiny D-shaped courtyard with a hall on the south side, all built of rough rubble sandstone from which the building took the name Castell Coch, or "Red Castle." It stands upon a platform commanding the gorge of the Taff and was protected towards the higher ground by a deep dry moat from the bottom of which the walls rise with a very broadly battered base. The keep contained vaulted rooms, and probably had a fourth storey and a conical roof like it has now. The walls are over 3.3m thick above the square battered base from which it rises with pyramidal spurs.

The two eastern towers, the square gatehouse between them, and the upper hall on the south side were superior ashlar faced buildings added slightly later, perhaps by Gilbert de Clare, who is likely to have taken over the castle in the 1270s or 1280s. These works were more damaged than the older part and not much survived of the towers above the rooms at courtyard level. The curtain wall also thickened at the second building period and now has two fighting galleries, a series of embrasures at courtyard level, and a roofed over wall walk open to the court on the inner side.

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Caerphilly Castle in the mist

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CWM Y EGLWYS

Church of the valley
Was built right on the sea shore
For sailors so free

With stone walls so strong
Burial ground for all souls
For fisherfolk too

Many years so passed
Then a storm sea rose above
Washing walls away.

Only the belfry
Stands protecting all the graves
In this place of peace.

By Henrhyde

Location

The Church of St Brynach, Cwm Yr Eglwys, Newport Bay , Pembrokeshire , West Wales
. Overlooking the picturesque shingle and pebble beach are the remains of the 12th Century church of St Brynach's, which was destroyed during a fierce storm in 1859.Also most of the ground and graveyard.
. Set in a secluded bay, Cwm Y Eglwys is said to have its own micro-climate and is supposedly a few degrees warmer than elsewhere on the Pembrokeshire coast.
: Cwm yr Eglwys beach. Looking west over the picturesque cove of Cwm yr Eglwys (valley of the church) with the belfry of the 12thC church..

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