Caldicot Castle

After a job I was allocated finished in Newport; the weather being reasonable and the fact I haven't done an aerial photograph for a while, I headed to Caldicot Castle.

The visibility was very good and I was able to capture a nice one of the castle with the Old Severn Bridge in the background. The extra is of the castle, looking down from above, to give you an idea of the layout.

It is an extensive stone medieval castle in the town of Caldicot, Monmouthshire  in southeast Wales, built near the site of Harold Godwinson former Saxon castle by the Norman Earls of Herefordshire from about 1100. The castle became a Grade 1 listed building on 10 June 1953.

From the date of building, the castle was in the hands of the Bohun family who held it for two centuries. In 1376 the manor, along with 70 others, passed to Thomas of Woodstock the third son of King Edward 111 of England when he married Alianore de Bohun.

Mary de Bohun (mother of Alianore) was married to Henry 1V and her son became King Henry V (Victor of Agincourt). Caldicot was later granted into the stewardship of the Herbert family for much of the fifteenth century, and then leased in the sixteenth century to their successors the Somersets with their power base at Raglan.

The castle fell into ruin and was bought in 1857 and changed hands in 1885 to The Cobb family who held it until 1964 whe they sold it to Chepstow Council for £12,000. It is open to the public and admission is free.