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DAN JONES:
For me, a great British castle

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is a fortress, a palace, a home.

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And a symbol of power, majesty, and fear.

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For nearly 1,000 years,

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castles have shaped
Britain's famous landscape.

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These magnificent buildings have been home

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to some of the greatest heroes
and villains in our national history.

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And many of them still stand proudly today

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bursting with incredible stories

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of warfare, treachery,
intrigue, passion and murder.

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Join me, Dan Jones,

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as I uncover the secrets
behind six great British castles.

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This time, I'm in Cardiff Castle.

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Today, it's bursting with Victorian
wealth and splendor,

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but it also has a history
rich in dastardly deeds,

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horrible executions, bloody rebellions,

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even helped fight off the Nazis.

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Good morning. Receipt please.

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Thank you.

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Good day.

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-Thank you very much.
-All right.

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JONES: For many centuries,
Britain had a wild west,

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fertile and full of opportunity

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but also lawless, violent and restless.

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Today, we call it Wales,

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a place famous for music
for legends, and, of course, for rugby.

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Throughout its history,
Wales has been fiercely independent.

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It has caused a lot of would be conquerors
a lot of problems.

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And that's why the whole place
is studded with castles,

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from the huge fortresses of the North

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to the strongholds here in the South
near the Bristol Channel.

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My favorite of all of them
is here in Cardiff.

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Today, Cardiff is the capital of Wales
and one of Britain's greatest cities.

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It's also the place where Doctor Who
is filmed, which is quite fitting,

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because over the centuries, Cardiff Castle
has had plenty of its own incarnations.

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The original castle
was built in the middle ages.

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But today's visitors are mostly coming
to see the extraordinary rooms

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inside these Victorian gothic wings.

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They were built by
the third Marquess of Bute,

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one of the richest men in the world.

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He spent a fortune
on these lavish interiors

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at the end of the 19th century.

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This banqueting hall
might look like something

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straight out of the middle ages,

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in fact it was built in the 1870's
and no expense was spared.

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This was a time when medieval decoration
was all the rage.

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But what I love about it is that
as soon as you step into this room,

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you feel like you're transported
into Cardiff Castle's incredible history.

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The story of Cardiff Castle begins in 1066
at the Battle of Hastings.

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Sailing from France,
William Duke of Normandy

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challenged the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II
for the throne of England.

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(SOLDIERS GRUNTING)

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After a raging day long battle,

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Harold was killed.

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According to the legend,
he took an arrow through the eye.

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On Christmas day, 1066, William,
now known as "The Conqueror"

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was crowned King William I.

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William's Norman army set about
colonizing the whole of England.

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They did it with castles
which they built across the land.

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And when they were done with England,

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William and the Normans
turned their sight westwards on Wales.

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But the Welsh weren't just
going to roll over.

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The Normans had to do something dramatic
to show off their power.

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And they did what they
were most famous for.

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They built a castle right here in Cardiff.

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When the Normans got here, they found
the remains of an ancient Roman fort

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built almost 1,000 years earlier

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to protect the conquering Roman soldiers

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from hostile tribes of native Britons
living nearby.

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You can still see
sections of the Roman wall here

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outlined in red sandstone.

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Now, the Romans left Britain
in the fifth century AD.

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And forts like the one here at Cardiff
were allowed to crumble.

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But when the Normans arrived,
there was still enough left

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perfectly located and just
begging to be built upon.

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JONES: Marc,
this is a typical Norman castle?

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MARC MORRIS: This is absolutely text book.

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What the Normans were doing after 1066...

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You've got a motte-and-bailey.

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The motte being this great mound
of earth we see here,

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and the bailey being everything else,
the wider enclosure.

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And the bailey is where you have
basically all the buildings.

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You have your horses within here,
you have your great hall,

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your chapel, your rooms
where the knights sleep, everything.

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And is this what we call the keep?

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The bit on top,
we would now call it the keep.

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They would've just called it either
the motte or the great tower.

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We've got a stone tower here now,

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but back in William the Conqueror's day,

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a wooden tower on top,
wooden buildings everywhere.

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Marc, what would this space
have been used for?

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Well, the motte would've
been used for defense

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if the castle was under attack.

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For living,
when the Lord was in residence.

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But also used as a prison.

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One of the things that people
tend to forget about the Normans,

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is that, whilst they were very violent
in their warfare,

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when you surrendered to the Normans,
they would spare your life.

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In a word, chivalrous.

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Because they had the ability,
with castles, to confine people.

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You can lock them up
and throw away the key,

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but you don't kill them,
you just put them in prison.

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JONES:
Cardiff Castle became the power base

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from which the Normans fought
to control the natives of Wales

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and police the lands bordering England.

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In the centuries to come,

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Cardiff would be the scene
of savage uprisings,

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brutal tyranny
and blood curdling executions.

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But ironically, the first man to fall foul
of Cardiff Castle

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was William the Conqueror's own son.

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Cardiff Castle was originally built
in the 11th century,

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to impose the authority
of William the Conqueror

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and his Norman invaders over South Wales.

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But bullying the Welsh
was relatively easy.

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What the Normans couldn't do
was get along with each other.

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When William the Conqueror died in 1087,
he was survived by three sons.

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The oldest was called Robert,

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the second was another William,
and the youngest was Henry.

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All three wanted their father's throne.

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The next in line should've been William
the Conqueror's eldest son Robert.

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He was a little stout man
and his nicknames included "Fat legs"

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and "Curthose" which basically
means shorty pants.

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And Robert Curthose is buried here

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in one of the most
magnificent buildings in England,

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Gloucester Cathedral.

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Robert was weak and easily influenced.

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He had fallen out with his father
several times.

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And at the time of the old king
William the Conqueror's death in 1087,

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Robert had been banished abroad.

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It was the middle brother, William Rufus,

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who was named as the Conqueror's successor

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and crowned King William II.

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But that wasn't the end
of the family feud.

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In 1100, William II was killed
in a hunting accident,

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when a stray arrow hit him in the back.

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This enabled the youngest brother
to pounce.

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Robert Curthose was away
fighting on a crusade,

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and in his absence,
Henry now grabbed the throne,

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and was crowned Henry I.

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Understandably,
Robert wasn't very impressed.

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Losing the crown to one younger brother,
well, that was bad enough.

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Losing it to a second,
it was starting to get a bit silly.

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He started raising troops and causing
Henry as much trouble as possible.

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And that was his undoing.

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In 1106, Robert's armies
clashed with Henry's armies

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at a great battle in Normandy.

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Robert was defeated and he was captured

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and his younger brother decided
to put him out of the way for good.

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That didn't mean death, but the
alternative was still pretty bad.

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Henry locked Robert up
and threw away the key.

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At first, Robert was imprisoned
in the West country.

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But after 20 years of that, in 1126,
he was brought here to Cardiff Castle.

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By now, he was in his 70's.

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But he still had nearly another decade
of captivity ahead of him.

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In 1134, when he was an extraordinary
80 years old,

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Robert Curthose died
still imprisoned here in Cardiff Castle.

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Now, as the son of one king
and the brother of another,

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he would've been in fairly
luxurious conditions.

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This was more like house arrest
than being locked in a dungeon.

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He spent his time here at Cardiff Castle
learning the local language,

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and at least one poem in Welsh
has traditionally been attributed to him.

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That includes the line, "Woe to him
that is not old enough to die."

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I think that's an incredibly
poignant insight,

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into the mind of a man who saw far more
of the inside of Norman castles

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than he'd have ever wanted to.

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Robert Curthose wouldn't be the last enemy
of the King of England

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to see out his days in Cardiff Castle,

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but few of them would die
in their beds of old age.

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Instead, many suffered violent
and painful ends

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as Cardiff Castle entered an era
of executions and bloody rebellions.

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During the 12th and 13th centuries,

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Cardiff's defenses
were constantly beefed up.

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The castle on the hill would've been
connected to the southern gatehouse

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by a huge wall which split the courtyard
known as the bailey, in two.

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In the early 14th century,

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Cardiff Castle passed into the hands
of a family of English nobles

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called the Despensers.

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Under this family,
the castle became a feared symbol

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of English power and authority,
and Hugh Despenser, the Younger,

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proved to be one of the most merciless,
blood-thirsty and hated men

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in the whole of Welsh history.

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Hugh Despenser was
a ruthless, ambitious favorite

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of England's deeply
unpopular king, Edward II,

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who came to the throne in 1307.

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Despenser used his influence with the king

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to build up a massive power base
here in South Wales during the 1320's.

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He took the title Lord of Glamorgan
which gave him control of Cardiff Castle.

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And from here, he exercised a reign
of terror, tyranny, and corruption

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that would eventually
shake the whole kingdom.

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One of his first acts of diabolical
violence and flagrant injustice

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took place right here
in the castle grounds.

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Despenser was despised throughout England

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because of his influence over
the foolish King Edward.

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But he was especially loathed
in South Wales.

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One of his most despicable acts
involved a local Welsh hero

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called Llywelyn Bren.

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In 1316, bad weather had devastated crops

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and famine was ravaging
the people of Wales.

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Provoked by the hardship all around him,

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Bren, a local Welsh Lord,
rose in revolt against the King.

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Soon, his rebellion was spreading
across all of South Wales.

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When Edward II learned
about Bren's rising,

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he sent 2000 men into Wales to crush him.

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Now, this was a spectacular show
of military force.

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And Bren soon realized, the only sensible
option was to head,

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quite literally, for the hills,
these hills,

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the rugged and wingswept, Brecon Beacons.

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But even that wasn't enough.

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With English troops approaching
from two directions,

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on March, 1316, Llywelyn Bren surrendered.

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Bren's one condition was that
he alone should be punished.

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Now, that impressed his English captors.

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They thought it
was a great display of chivalry.

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Several high ranking English Lords
asked the King to pardon him,

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but it didn't work out that way.

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In 1318, two years after he was captured,

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Bren was transferred to Cardiff Castle,

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and he fell into the hands
of Hugh Despenser.

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This was a disaster for Bren,

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because once he'd gotten
back to his stronghold,

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it became clear that
the vengeful Despenser

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had no interest in letting Bren go free.

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In fact, he wanted him dead to send
a message to his rival English lords

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who'd spoken up in Bren's favor.

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To flex his muscles and assert his power.

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Despenser's influence with the King
was so great,

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that no one could stand in his way.

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Without the benefit of a fair trial
with a total disregard for justice,

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he declared Bren a traitor

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and sentenced him to be hanged,
drawn and quartered.

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This was a terrible way
for an honorable man to go.

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Dragged through the streets
behind a horse,

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choked with a noose,
and disemboweled while still alive.

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It was one of the slowest, most savage,
and agonizing deaths imaginable.

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With a taste for blood,
and an iron grip on the King,

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very soon Despenser,
the Master of Cardiff Castle,

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wasn't just terrorizing South Wales,

238
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,600
he held sway over the whole kingdom.

239
00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:38,920
For the next four years, he would be
the power behind Edward II's throne.

240
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,120
But eventually, his evil deeds
came back to bite him.

241
00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,440
Despenser's influence had estranged
the King from his wife,

242
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,920
Queen Isabella, who was in self-imposed
exile in France.

243
00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:59,440
Now, the Queen teamed up with another
mighty Baron from the Welsh borders

244
00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,240
called Roger Mortimer.

245
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,040
Together, they launched
an invasion of England

246
00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:10,040
overthrew the unpopular king,
and put Despenser in prison.

247
00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,280
He was sentenced
to the same horrific death

248
00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:16,320
that he inflicted on Bren,

249
00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,560
to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

250
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:24,960
It was said that when he was imprisoned,
he attempted to starve himself to death.

251
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,640
But there was to be no escape.

252
00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:44,680
Here at Reading University,

253
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,360
there's grizzly evidence that may
help us to understand

254
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,760
the savagery of death
the Despensers suffered.

255
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,760
Mary, where do this bones come from?

256
00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,400
So, they were discovered
at Hulton Abbey in Staffordshire

257
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,040
when they were excavated
inside of the church.

258
00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:06,480
JONES: Why do we think these might
be the remains of Hugh Despenser?

259
00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:12,040
So the bones we have c14 dating,
so, they date around 1300's.

260
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:15,840
And there were very few candidates,
if this was hung, drawn and quartered,

261
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:17,720
for that practice during that time.

262
00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,360
One was Hugh Despenser.
So, I contacted the archivist

263
00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:24,720
in charge of the Abbey
and the burials there.

264
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,880
The archivist responded
that Hugh Despenser,

265
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,480
he had been executed and his wife
petitioned for his head

266
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,360
and few vertebra, and one of his
thigh bone, and it took me a few minutes

267
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,920
to realize that the elements
in the skeleton that I was missing

268
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,200
on my individual work is head,

269
00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:43,640
his thigh bone and some vertebra

270
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,600
and it just seemed too much of
a coincidence, really, not to be true.

271
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,920
But probably the most
obvious thing that we see

272
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,320
one of the neck vertebra at the top,

273
00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,400
and there's a clean cut mark
straight through the vertebra.

274
00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:58,480
And this is a very clear sign
of beheading.

275
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:00,720
If we move down the spine,

276
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,280
-these are just higher up in his chest...
-Okay.

277
00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:06,320
...vertebra, and they have been sliced

278
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,560
-down the middle, straight across...
-I see. Yeah.

279
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:11,720
...by sword or an ax.

280
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:13,720
So it's as if somebody has been cut

281
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:15,240
-this way vertically...
-Yes, yes.

282
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:17,160
-Down the side of the skeleton.
-Okay.

283
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,400
So when you look at this vertebrae
in particular, if you turn it over,

284
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,160
there's also a very clean slice

285
00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,160
across the middle,
so he's been cut this way

286
00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:29,800
-and cut that way, so he's been quartered.
-Oh.

287
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,880
So he would have been alive when he was
being dragged by the back of the horse.

288
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:35,800
And then, he would have been
put on the ladder

289
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,760
and he would have not been hanged the way
we think of hanging.

290
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,440
He would've actually been choked,

291
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:43,480
so that he would've been alive
when they were eviscerating him.

292
00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:47,560
And, probably, he only died
when they took him down from the ladder

293
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:49,000
and then they beheaded him.

294
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,240
So, it was a very political execution,
a very public execution.

295
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,080
So all the evidence is pointing towards
this being the skeleton

296
00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:57,360
of Hugh Despenser.

297
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,320
I think there's a weight of evidence
to suggest this is Hugh Despenser, yes.

298
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,640
JONES: Hugh Despenser is remembered
as brutal and evil,

299
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,520
but also for reaping what he sowed.

300
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,000
This stained glass window in the castle

301
00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,720
shows him with his coat
of arms upside down.

302
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,680
It's a sign of disgrace and shame.

303
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,200
With Despenser's gruesome death,

304
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:30,360
one of the most violent periods in
the history of Cardiff Castle had ended.

305
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,240
But in the coming centuries,

306
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,400
the castle's defenses would
be tested to their limit

307
00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,080
by some of the bloodiest rebellions
in British history.

308
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:39,160
Fire!

309
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:41,560
(SOLDIERS GRUNTING)

310
00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:51,200
By the 14th century, Cardiff Castle
had come to symbolize

311
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,760
the power of English Kings
over the people of Wales.

312
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,520
That power was wielded
by the lords of Cardiff Castle

313
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,600
such as the cruel and corrupt
Hugh Despenser.

314
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,000
As a result, the castle was always
a natural target for rebellion.

315
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,000
At the start of the 15th century,

316
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,560
the last great Welsh rising
against the English crown began.

317
00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:31,640
The Welsh national hero Owain Glyndwr
claimed the title Prince of Wales

318
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,520
and led a violent revolt
against King Henry IV.

319
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:42,360
By 1483, Glyndwr and his men
burned the city of Cardiff

320
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,560
and placed the castle under siege.

321
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,440
Eventually, the castle
running out of food,

322
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,080
down to its last 24 cannonballs

323
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,920
and a few bags of gun powder,
they surrendered.

324
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,440
But not before it had been badly damaged.

325
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:59,080
It was a stunning victory
for Glyndwr and the rebels.

326
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:09,720
The English were humiliated, and although
they eventually regained the castle,

327
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,960
it took years for Henry IV

328
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,680
to subdue Glyndwr's rebellions
across South Wales.

329
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:20,360
But when order was restored,
the English took terrible revenge.

330
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,720
The English passed a series of laws
called the penal laws

331
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,760
which stripped the native Welsh
off their legal rights.

332
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:32,440
Welshmen were forbidden to carry weapons,
own properties in English towns,

333
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,720
speak their own language,
or hold public office.

334
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:37,560
This was a form of apartheid.

335
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,440
If you were within this castle's walls,
you had personal rights.

336
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,400
If you were outside, you barely had any.

337
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,560
The draconian laws that followed
the defeat of Glyndwr's rebellion

338
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:53,960
may have been harsh and repressive,

339
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,760
but they did succeed in subduing
the population of Wales

340
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,400
and a period of relative peace followed.

341
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,200
A succession of aristocratic owners

342
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,360
developed the castle buildings
around the old Norman Keep.

343
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,560
In Tudor times, these new wings
were further expanded.

344
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,560
But by the 17th century,

345
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,040
Cardiff Castle was once more
in the firing line

346
00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:21,080
as a new and deadly conflict
began to grip Britain.

347
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:27,120
In 1642, increasingly bitter hostilities

348
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,920
between King Charles I and his enemies
in parliament

349
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,800
erupted into a civil war
that tore Britain in half.

350
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,400
The King's supporters, cavaliers,

351
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,560
battled the parliamentary army,
the roundheads,

352
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,960
led by Oliver Cromwell.

353
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,440
At stake was the whole system
of British government.

354
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,120
Should the country be ruled
by headstrong kings

355
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,320
or a dangerously radical parliament?

356
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:57,920
During this long struggle,

357
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,840
Cardiff Castle was besieged several times.

358
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,960
It was held first by the parliamentarians
and then by the royalists.

359
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,160
As fighting with canon and guns
spilled into the streets around it,

360
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,640
the castle was badly damaged.

361
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:17,480
And no wonder,

362
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,160
gun powder was now being used extensively,

363
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,600
and it changed the nature of warfare.

364
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,600
Canons could wreck the castle walls

365
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,280
and defenders and attackers alike
were using small arms called muskets.

366
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:36,000
To get a taste
for this new form of warfare

367
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,960
which challenged
Cardiff Castle's defenses,

368
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:40,160
I've come to have a go

369
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,880
at firing a few weapons
from the period myself.

370
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,480
When did muskets
appear on the battlefield?

371
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,320
They took over nearly 17th century

372
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:58,400
and are the dominant weapons on the
battlefield until the 19th century.

373
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,920
We've got some muskets here.
They all look very different.

374
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,240
This is a matchlock,
which is the most common type.

375
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,360
It's mass produced,
and it fires with a piece of match

376
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,920
held at the serpent mechanism here.

377
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,400
This is a wheel lock.

378
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,080
It's more expensive
and therefore rarer than the matchlock

379
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,880
and has a flint
in the firing mechanism here

380
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,120
which does the firing for you.

381
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,920
And this is a carbine, this a cut down
version of the flintlock.

382
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,720
Really useful for cavalry,
'cause you can take it by your saddle

383
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:32,240
and dismount and fire with it.

384
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:34,200
And what do they all fire?

385
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,880
They fire lead balls,

386
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,040
like, this is an actual
civil war musket ball

387
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,680
and you see,
it's half an inch across, solid lead.

388
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,760
When it hits you,
the entry wound's half an inch across.

389
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,720
The lead will then spread out
and impact with your body.

390
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:51,960
So the exit wound on the far side of you

391
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,480
is going to be about
six inches across, maximum.

392
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,400
You're gonna have a horrible death.
Even the guns are dangerous.

393
00:25:57,800 --> 00:25:59,160
They are totally inaccurate.

394
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:01,000
JONES: Well, I think we should
have a go at firing them.

395
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,680
Let's go for it. I suggest you have this.

396
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,720
-Thank you very much indeed.
-The up market version.

397
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:08,960
Yes, it feels very smart.

398
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:11,320
I'll take the heavy, ponderous,
more dangerous one.

399
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:12,400
(CHUCKLES)

400
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,200
Colin, you're the man who's gonna
make sure we don't blow ourselves up.

401
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,440
Hopefully. Hopefully,
don't blow yourselves up.

402
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,040
Well, talk me through
how this musket works.

403
00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:24,320
This is a wheel lock.

404
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,720
And you've got to put in the main charge

405
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:29,520
which is one measure of gun powder.

406
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,960
-Goes down the barrel?
-Goes down in the barrel, that's it.

407
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,040
Right. So now,
this gun is full of gun powder

408
00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:36,840
and I'm slightly more scared than I was.

409
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,880
Oh, you have every reason to be, sir.

410
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:40,280
I'm gonna give you that.

411
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:42,120
-Right.
-Take a bit of wadding...

412
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,520
-Okay.
-Put it right there in the gun.

413
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:45,600
Mmm-hmm.

414
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,160
And this is the ramrod.

415
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,320
-This is the ramrod.
-Ramrod straight.

416
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,440
-Absolutely.
-Mmm. So I do know a bit.

417
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:54,360
This isn't gonna blow up
when I do this, is it?

418
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:57,520
-(LAUGHS) Let's see.
-Let's see.

419
00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,760
-Tell my wife I love her.
-That'll do.

420
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,720
-Good. Replace the ramrod.
-Okay.

421
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:04,920
And that gun is now ready to go.

422
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,560
Keep it away from your face.
Don't point it at anybody.

423
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,840
So, I take the key and give it

424
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:11,880
-a bit of a turn.
-Yeah.

425
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:13,040
There we are.

426
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,520
Are we about to give fire?

427
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,280
To your front, present, gentlemen.

428
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:21,640
-What does that mean?
-It means point it.

429
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:22,760
Point it.

430
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:23,960
Okay.

431
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,520
Give fire!

432
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:26,840
-(FIRES GUN)
-Whoo!

433
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,240
-I think it fired.
-It did fire.

434
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:33,560
I heard something.

435
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:35,640
-Yeah.
-And mine fell out.

436
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:36,840
I'm dead.

437
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,480
You want to try touch firing
if I hold the barrel for you.

438
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:40,560
Yes.

439
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,120
Give him fire.

440
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,240
-(FIRES)
-Whoo!

441
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:46,040
Wow!

442
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:49,560
Perfect.

443
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,440
JONES: After the battering it took
in the Civil War,

444
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,920
Cardiff Castle was lucky
to be left standing.

445
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,920
The keep on the hill was badly damaged.

446
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,560
And it might've decayed
into obscurity and ruin,

447
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,880
but for a wedding that changed
the fortunes, not only of the castle,

448
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,000
but of the whole of Cardiff.

449
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:22,600
In 1766, an heiress
called Charlotte Jane Windsor,

450
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,920
daughter of an aristocrat and MP
and the heir to Cardiff Castle

451
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,000
married a wealthy Scottish land owner,
Lord Mount Stuart,

452
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,720
the man who had been better known
as the first Marquess of Bute.

453
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:41,560
Together, they set about transforming
the castle that Charlotte had inherited

454
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,360
into a comfortable Georgian mansion.

455
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,480
They employed the most famous
landscape designer of the day

456
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,080
Lancelot Capability Brown,

457
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,760
to redevelop the castle and its gardens.

458
00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:02,240
Brown infuriated many locals when
he demolished the massive bailey wall

459
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,160
and swept away a number
of ancient historic buildings

460
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,600
to create a sweeping
English landscape garden.

461
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:16,200
The Marquess of Bute also transformed
the town around the castle.

462
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,560
And it all started with coal.

463
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,840
By the 19th century, the Welsh valleys

464
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,000
became studded with steel works
and coal mines.

465
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,440
Like this one known as the big pit.

466
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,360
Coal was the super fuel
of the industrial revolution.

467
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,680
All the new technology was powered
by steam, and to make steam

468
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,480
you need coal and plenty of it.

469
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:51,920
As well as owning Cardiff Castle,

470
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,640
the Bute family owned vast tracts of land

471
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,240
here in South Wales.

472
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,160
In the early 19th century,
it was discovered

473
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,560
that all this land was lying
on top of rich seams of coal.

474
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,640
The second Marquess of Bute
quickly realized

475
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:11,280
just how valuable the coal could be
and he exploited it to its fullest,

476
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,480
changing Cardiff and its castle forever.

477
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:21,080
The Bute family made Cardiff Castle
and the city around it what it is today.

478
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:27,720
And to turn all that coal into hard cash,
someone had to dig it out of the ground.

479
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:30,200
Everything the Butes created

480
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,920
was based on the hard labor
of local people.

481
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,400
And the best place to see it
is quite literally at the coalface

482
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:40,040
at the bottom of this mine.

483
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,720
How long has this mine been here?

484
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:47,440
How long have people
been coming up and down?

485
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:51,200
Well, a shaft was first sunk in 1860,
not quite to the bottom.

486
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,960
In 1880, they made the hole
a little bit deeper

487
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:55,800
to where we go into today,
right in the bottom.

488
00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:00,680
So the men have been coming down
this shaft for what, 120, 130 years?

489
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:02,080
-Yeah, yeah.
-Maybe more, okay.

490
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,440
Right, welcome to the bottom.

491
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,840
-Here we are.
-Ninety meters underground, 90 meters.

492
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,080
-Wow.
-Can you turn your light on for me?

493
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:14,520
-Of course, yeah.
-Yeah.

494
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:16,960
So how many miles of tunnels are there?

495
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,320
We reckon up to 26 miles of roadway.

496
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,880
When I was a kid, my grandparents
used to bring me here

497
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:31,640
and it's still incredibly atmospheric
to be down in these tunnels.

498
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,440
What you really get when
you're here is the sense that

499
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,480
this was hard, brutal, back-breaking work.

500
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,600
It was hot, it was dangerous.
In the 19th century,

501
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,040
there was a precious little legislation
to protect the people,

502
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,160
men, women and children
as young as five years old

503
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,440
who were toiling away in these tunnels.

504
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:54,680
But what you've also got to remember

505
00:31:54,760 --> 00:32:00,040
is that the painstaking work dragging coal
out of here, up to the surface,

506
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,800
is what turned Cardiff
into an industrial powerhouse

507
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,120
and made the Bute family of Cardiff Castle

508
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,120
one of the wealthiest families
in the world.

509
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:22,360
All that coal and iron
from the valleys needed to be exported

510
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,480
to markets around the world.

511
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:28,680
So the second Marquess of Bute
built Cardiff docks

512
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:33,640
and transformed the town into
one of the biggest ports in the world.

513
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:54,600
Bute's ambitious development led to a boom
in the city's industry and population

514
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,280
during the middle of the 19th century.

515
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:17,600
The population of Cardiff exploded
from less than 2000 in 1801

516
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,680
to 150,000 a century later.

517
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,400
By 1880, Cardiff had transformed
from a small town

518
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,720
into one of the world's busiest ports

519
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:30,160
with its docks
handling more traffic than New York.

520
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,120
With the vast wealth they accrued,
successive generations of Butes

521
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:40,520
transformed the castle
into a palatial family home.

522
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,840
And soon, Cardiff Castle would become
famous for the extraordinary richness

523
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,160
and opulence of its interiors.

524
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:54,520
Yet, despite the centuries of peace
and prosperity that Cardiff had enjoyed,

525
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,720
its castle would be called once more
into military service.

526
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,960
Fortifications originally built
in the 11th century

527
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,040
would be tested by 20th century invaders,

528
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:08,160
the Nazis.

529
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,400
From the earliest times,
Cardiff Castle kept watch

530
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:20,800
over the bad lands of Wales,

531
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,520
keeping the unruly natives in check.

532
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,920
Under the Tudors, the walls were
strengthened and extended.

533
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,200
Then a family of Scottish nobles,
the Butes,

534
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,360
not only embellished these buildings,

535
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,040
they redeveloped the docks,

536
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,800
transforming Cardiff from a small town
on the edge of a fortress

537
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:42,840
into a major modern city.

538
00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:48,000
In 1865, John, the third Marquess Bute,

539
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,800
reputed to be one
of the richest men in the world,

540
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,720
decided to give Cardiff Castle a makeover.

541
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,200
He asked the architect William Burges

542
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,960
to produce a report
on the state of the castle

543
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:04,160
with a view to refurbishing it
on a grand scale.

544
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:09,920
The report was one of the most important
documents in this castle's history.

545
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:15,360
Turning an old fortress into one of
the most extraordinary gothic palaces

546
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,320
in the whole of Britain.

547
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:25,280
This is a pretty incredible room.
Which part of the castle are we in here?

548
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,200
MATTHEW WILLIAMS: We're in the clock tower
which is the first part of the tower

549
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,400
to be done as part of a rebuild.

550
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:34,240
The theme is one of time,
and if you start looking at the ceiling,

551
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:37,440
you will see the signs
of the zodiac up there

552
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,080
and each of the four seasons.

553
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:41,640
JONES: What was this room used for?

554
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,480
This one is called
the winter smoking room.

555
00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,000
So, you'd think, you know,
they would come in here

556
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,000
for cigarettes, and cigars,
and port after dinner.

557
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:55,800
Lord Bute experimented with drug tobacco
and William Burges smoked opium.

558
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,000
But that wasn't unusual for Victorian
artists and designers.

559
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,920
But it would explain
a lot of the design in this.

560
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,400
Well, it's very easy to run away

561
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,440
with the idea of this
being an opium induced fantasy.

562
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,640
I think that's overstating it. It isn't.

563
00:36:09,720 --> 00:36:12,720
But, certainly,
it's that period of imagination and dreams

564
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:15,440
and Lewis Carroll
and all that sort of thing.

565
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,560
And they just don't know where to stop
because every surface is covered.

566
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:27,960
So whose room is it
that has mirrors all over the ceiling?

567
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:32,480
Yeah, I'm afraid you can't miss them,
can you? This is Lord Bute's bedroom.

568
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:34,040
Bit of a puny bed, isn't it?

569
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:35,680
It is a single bed as you can see.

570
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,760
But, actually, this was more
of a dressing room than a bedroom.

571
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,720
Oh, this must've cost a fortune.

572
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,320
Lord Bute had a fortune.

573
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,000
He had an income of about
£300,000 a year.

574
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:46,680
This is in the 1860's.

575
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,000
I mean, millions and millions of pounds.

576
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:54,960
But he was using industrial money
to put black gold, coal,

577
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,400
-into real gold on the ceiling.
-Yeah.

578
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:01,840
JONES: Bute was creating a pleasure palace

579
00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,920
incorporating all of the luxuries
of the day.

580
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:10,040
There is a wonderful bath,
which of course, is all plumbed in.

581
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:11,960
There's a working lavatory here,

582
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:15,480
one of the earliest
flushing loos in the city.

583
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,560
And, also, other things.
I mean, there was central heating,

584
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,040
in the house, there was electric light.

585
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:25,320
We were the first house in Wales
to be lit by electric lighting in 1883.

586
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:27,160
So is this medieval,
but with all the mod-cons?

587
00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:29,280
Yeah, it's seeing the middle ages
by moonlight.

588
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,520
It's a very romanticized idea of the past.

589
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,360
But also making sure that
you are absolutely comfortable.

590
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:55,080
We're at the top of the castle now.
What was this room used for?

591
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,960
That a good question really,
I don't know. In fact,

592
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,720
I think it's one of those secret worlds

593
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,760
that Lord Bute had at the tops
of so many of these towers.

594
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,200
Little, personal, private spaces
all for himself.

595
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,040
But also reflects his interests.

596
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,560
All over the walls, there's this
incredible religious imagery

597
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:14,920
with Hebrew writing underneath it.

598
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,080
-Was he particularly a religious man?
-Oh, he was.

599
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,720
He was a Roman Catholic convert,
so he converted when he was 21.

600
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,120
But look at the details
that are pure medieval.

601
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:24,400
Look at this wonderful fountain.

602
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,240
The water would've come out
of the mouths of these fish

603
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,440
that are being held by beavers.

604
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:32,240
This is all done with a great zest,

605
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:34,600
a great imagination,
and a great sense of fun.

606
00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:38,320
Despite the religion, Bute didn't take

607
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:42,440
the creative process that seriously.
This castle is meant to be enjoyed.

608
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:51,440
JONES: But in some ways,

609
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,920
it's a miracle that any of
this Victorian splendors survives today.

610
00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:00,280
Because in the 20th century,
a new enemy took aim at Cardiff.

611
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:05,920
And this enemy threatened to wipe
the city, and the castle, off the map.

612
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,520
(BOMBS WHISTLING)

613
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,720
In 1939, Britain declared war
on Nazi Germany.

614
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:26,800
One year later, cities across Britain
suffered devastating bombing raids.

615
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,600
In Cardiff, 33,000 houses were bombed

616
00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:35,640
and almost 400 civilians killed
during the course of the war,

617
00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:38,520
as the Nazis targeted Bute's docks.

618
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,440
That death toll could've been far higher,

619
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:47,200
but fortunately for the people of Cardiff,
the castle came to the rescue.

620
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,800
(ALARM BLARING)

621
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,800
This castle's walls were built
to withstand the worst

622
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:55,680
the middle ages could throw at them.

623
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,400
But when the blitz began in Cardiff,
it was realized

624
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,600
they could probably stand
up to German bombs as well.

625
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:08,680
Here, in the medieval ramparts,
four entrance holes were cut

626
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,720
leading to a network of tunnels
deep below the rock.

627
00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:19,720
They were close enough to the city center
for people to flee here

628
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:23,480
when they heard the air-raid siren.
You can still explore them today.

629
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:42,720
The castle survived the blitz.

630
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,680
Shortly after the war, the fifth
Marquess of Bute inherited the castle.

631
00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:53,760
But with his family fortunes
having declined substantially,

632
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:55,320
he found himself struggling.

633
00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:01,200
With a heavy heart, he sold off the last
of the family's property in Cardiff

634
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:05,160
and gave the castle
and the landscape parklands around it

635
00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:06,720
as a gift to the city.

636
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:18,240
It severed the Bute family's
181 year connection with Cardiff,

637
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,120
but gave the city a lasting legacy.

638
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:32,440
Wales isn't the wild west anymore.

639
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,440
The only battles fought here today

640
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,240
are on the turf
of the Principality Stadium.

641
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,920
But this fortress
stands as a vivid reminder

642
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,760
of the tenacity, the tirelessness
and the defiance

643
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,760
of the people who used
a castle to make a city.

644
00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:59,080
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)