Castles / GB / Wales
Caerphilly Castle
Castell Caerffili
Which definitions does it satisfy?
This dataset does not record whether something “is a castle”. It records a verdict against each named definition, with the reasoning that produced it.
| Definition | Verdict | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Fortified residence | yes | Built 1268-71 by Gilbert de Clare, lord of Glamorgan, as both fortress and residence. Active defence: concentric curtain walls, twin D-shaped gatehouses with portcullises at both ends, flanking corner towers and large-scale water defences (an identified lord's held work). Residence: the great ground-floor hall "was a sumptuous building" with well-appointed state apartments on the south of the inner ward. |
| Enclosure fortification | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| State fortification | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| Palatial seat | unassessed | No source consulted so far speaks to this definition. Unassessed is not the same as no. |
| Revival and folly | no | A 13th-century concentric castle, "a revolutionary masterpiece of military planning" within the defensive era; not a post-defensive folly or revival. |
| Popularly a castle | yes | Cadw calls it "one of the great medieval castles of western Europe" and the second largest in Britain, famed for its leaning tower — a monument of wide public standing that a general audience recognises as a castle. |
Facts
| Tradition | european medieval |
|---|---|
| Location | Caerphilly, Caerphilly, Wales, GB |
| Built | Medieval |
| Confidence | medium |
| First recorded | 2026-07-21 |
| Last updated | 2026-07-22 |
In the registers
Where this structure appears in official inventories. This is what turns an individual record into evidence about a count.
- Cof Cymru — National Historic Assets of Wales —
GM002· Scheduled Monument — SiteType: Castle · entry
Location
Approximate. © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Notes
Upgraded from bulk register import to assessed verdicts against the Cadw full report. palatial_seat is OMITTED, not set: although the report describes sumptuous state apartments, the defensive fabric (concentric wards, gatehouses, water defences) genuinely governs, so it fails the "defences absent/vestigial" test rather than the report affirmatively speaking to a palatial phase. The adjacent 17th-century Civil War gun-platform earthwork is a field work, not a state fortification of this structure. enclosure_fortification and state_fortification omitted. Confidence medium: one official report plus the register.
Sources
- Scheduled Monument Full Report — Caerphilly Castle — Cadw, 2026-07-22
Cadw's full scheduled-monument report (GM002); the sole source, read in full for the band assessment. One official report plus the register = medium.
Signals
Raw per-source observations behind this record (2):
sig-20260721-cadw-gm002,
sig-20260722-report-gm002
Record file · dataset licensed CC BY 4.0 — see provenance.