Chepstow Castle (Wales)
Monmouthshire See list of castles in Galles
The well-preserved Chepstow Castle stretches along a limestone cliff above the River Wye as a history lesson in stone.
There is no better place in Britain to see how castles have gradually evolved to cope with increasingly destructive weapons and the grandiose ambitions of their owners. For more than six centuries Chepstow has been home to the richest and most powerful men of the Middle Ages and the Tudors.
Construction was begun in 1067 by Count William Fitz Osbern, a close friend of William the Conqueror, making it one of the first Norman strongholds in Wales. In turn William Marshal (Earl of Pembroke), Roger Bigod (Earl of Norfolk) and Charles Somerset (Earl of Worcester) left their mark before the castle decayed after the civil war.
These tycoons and power brokers were constantly on the move. Chepstow was just a residence in their vast estates: an imposing shell in which they would carry their gold and silver vases, rich silk, and brightly painted furniture.