There seems no reason to suppose that the works of Caerphilly were never completed. The flanking towers on either wing rest upon the lake, and the horn-work is a sufficient defence in the opposite direction.
About three-quarters of a mile from Caerphilly, on the Rudry road, are the ruins of the “Van,” or “Ffanvawr,” the ancient and very stately manor-house of the Lewis family, the direct descendants in blood, and the heirs in heritage, of Ivor Bach, on whose land Caerphilly was erected.
Most of the outer walls of the house, and a curious old dovecot, remain standing. They are of the age of Elizabeth or James, but much of the hewn stone employed in the windows, doorcases, quoins, and stringcourses of the lower story, are either of oolite or Sutton stone, and are very evidently a part of the spoils of Caerphilly. Most of these stones have been worked up, and their original ornaments destroyed, but one long stringcourse of Decorated date, evidently much earlier than the wall in which it is embedded, extends along the west front of the house.
These stones could not have been removed from Caerphilly earlier than the reign of Elizabeth, in which reign, or rather in that of Henry VIII., the castle was used as a prison. Probably the central parts were so occupied, and the parts allowed to be spoiled were those connected with the east front. In appropriating the stones of Caerphilly to the erection of their manor-house, the Lewis family, from whom the ground was originally wrested, may have committed a breach of taste, but none had a better moral right to help themselves from that source.
CARDIFF CASTLE, GLAMORGAN.
THE castle of Cardiff, though not unknown to border fame, has been the theatre of no great historical event, nor does it present any very striking peculiarities of position, scenery, or structure. Its claim to more than local interest rests upon the character and fortunes of the great barons whose inheritance and occasional residence it was from the 11th to the 15th century, from the reign of Rufus to that of Henry VI. Probably a Roman castrum, and certainly a hold of the local British princes, it was won, in 1090, by the sword of Robert Fitzhamon, lord of the Honour of Gloucester, and by him constituted the “caput” of his newly acquired seignory of Morgan and Glamorgan.
Mabel, the heiress of Fitzhamon, conveyed his possessions, with her hand, to Robert Consul, Earl of Gloucester, bastard son of Henry I., and the reputed builder of the Norman parts of the castle.
They were succeeded by their son William, Earl of Gloucester, who died 1173, leaving daughters only; the inheritance was then for a time held by King John, then Earl of Moreton, by marriage with Isabel, the youngest co-heir; and on her divorce, soon after 1199, by Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who died, 1216. Isabel’s third husband was Hubert de Burgh, she died childless.
Upon this, Almaric d’Evreux, who married Mabel, the elder co-heir, became Earl of Gloucester; but Mabel’s issue also failed.