Caldicot Castle

Castellarium Anglicanum /	Caldicot ST487885
D. J. Cathcart King (New York; London: Kraus International, 1983)	"Motte and bailey of a very rectangular shape, with outer bailey on low ridge in marshy ground. Walled in stone in the earlier 13th century, with round keep on the motte, and round towers, one having a very curious gate in its flank. Hall added c.1320, and a great rectangular gatehouse and a semi-octagonal postern-tower 1377-97. First mentioned in 1216, though an earlier mention, c.1150, of Castell Canscuit may apply. "Exceptionally well preserved." p. 281
Gwent / Monmouthshire / John Newman, with contributions by Frances Lynch, William Manning and Stephen Hughes (London: Penguin; University of Wales Press, 2000) [The buildings of Wales series]	" After Chepstow and Raglan, Caldicot is the largest and best preserved castle in the county. Its keep and its gatehouse are among the county's finest medieval structures. ... After the Norman conquest of South Wales Caldicot came within the lordship of Caerwent. Some time after 1087 it was in the possession of Walter Fitzroger, who died in 1127. The first earthen castle is likely to have been constructed in this period. By the mid 12th century Caldicot had come by marriage to the de Bohuns. The masonry castle was probably begun by Henry de Bohun (d.1220), and continued by his son Humphrey (d.1275). The circular keep, all the drum or bow-fronted towers, and much of the curtain walls must belong to this campaign. The next period of building activity seems to have extended from the late 13th century to the second quarter of the 14th century, when a suite of handsome apartments was formed in the south-east quarter of the castle, and a splendid new South gatehouse was constructed. The documented works of the 1380s, during the ownership of Thomas Woodstock, Edward III's youngest son, who had married a de Bohun heiress, include the north postern tower, which bears his name. Other important but less easily identified works were carried out 1385-9. In1521, after the attainder of the third Duke of Buckingham, Woodstock's last descendant, Caldicot became part of the Duchy of Lancaster, fell out of use and gradually decayed into a ruin. ... " p. 154-5


Aerial view of the castle		Another aerial view