Cilgerran Castle / Castell Cilgerran

Hello again people and pooches. Joe the Cocker here after visiting a castle in Cardigan, Aberteifi. As part of our tour around Wales, Cymru, we called into a small village near Cardigan. The National Trust run castle is in ruin, but the remains in the awesome setting provide a fascinating visit for those interested.

We parked in the village main street outside of a cafe that my human planned to visit after our mooch around the castle grounds. It was only a short walk to the castle entrance. The gate was open, but the kiosk was closed. So, in we went!

The grounds were almost empty, so i had a cheeky run, off lead. The stone fortress is 800 years old and replaced a wooden structure built around 1110. That’s older than my human! Its ownership alternated between the Welsh and the English until it was abandoned around 1400 and left to ruin.

The main parts of the building still standing are the two drum towers. These towers overlook the Teifi Gorge, in which the castle was built onto its sheer cliffs.

There are two open areas or wards within the castle. As there was only me and my human there, I took advantage of the situation and had a zoomy session. My human said that I showed no respect. Cheeky!

The towers loomed over the grassy wards, and I was excited to investigate in them.

As the castle was closed to visitors, we were restricted to mooching around at ground level.

The towers were even more imposing from inside as we looked up at the blue sky above.

It was cooler inside the towers. My human said that he could feel the history in the building. It was so quiet and peaceful, whereas at times of battle, the castle would have been noisy and chaotic.

The light through the arrowslit windows must have been dazzling for archers to peer out of.

My human wanted me to look up to the sky above while we were in the tower. I suppose that he gets more excited about stuff like that than I do!

OK. It was quite impressive with a circular shaft of light from four storeys above.

I took the opportunity to catch a few rays while the big feller mooched around and imagined how it would have been there 800 years ago as the castle was being built.

The Teifi Gorge was green and lush, but its sheer cliffs would have prevented easy access by invading forces.

The current grounds have been made accessible due to the construction of sturdy wooden bridges.

Dotted around the grounds are giant straw characters, adding more interest to young humans. I don’t think that my human could see me as i hid behind one of the swordsmen.

We still had the castle to ourselves on that glorious sunny day. Well, except for those straw figures.

I think that they were guarding the place while the National Trust people were busy elsewhere.

We took one last look at the castle as we left.

A stone plaque at the exit/entrance tells a very brief history of Cilgerran Castle. It is well worth a visit. Till next time!