St Donat's Castle

St Donats, United Kingdom

St Donat's Castle is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, positioned on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Channel. The site has been occupied since the Iron Age, and was by tradition the home of the Celtic chieftain Caradog. The present castle's origins date from the 12th century when the de Haweys and later Peter de Stradling began its development. The Stradlings held the castle for four hundred years, until the death of Sir Thomas Stradling in a duel in 1738.

During the 18th century, the castle's status and condition declined and by the early 19th century it was only partly habitable. The later 19th and early 20th centuries saw several restorations. 

Today the castle is home to some three hundred and fifty international students and, with a history of occupation extending back to the late-13th century, is among the oldest continuously inhabited castles in Wales. Both the castle and the grounds are of historical and architectural importance, and have Grade I listed status.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 12th century
Category: Castles and fortifications in United Kingdom

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Simon Jones (8 months ago)
Bought tickets as a family of 4 to the Halloween Spooktacular event to watch HocusPocus in the hall. There was barely any decorations up, the refreshments were extremely basic no hot food just one choice of crisps ASDA popcorn tubs and a couple of chocolate bars! not a festive treat in sight. The promo shots for the event were absolutely NOTHING like the experience on the day everybody just sat in the hall awaiting the film to start with no ambient atmosphere music at all, some people dressed up which was literally the only way you'd ever know you were attending a Halloween event. Nothing more than a cash grab! Poorly lit on the way out somebody fell over and I could have sworn I heard thier phone go flying aswell. WASTE OF TIME/MONEY not happy whatsoever.
Julie Brown (8 months ago)
Such a lovely experience. The Church is always open for people to visit or pray. It's very peaceful and lots of history to see. The Castle has such fantastic features and looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie
English Studio (10 months ago)
A stunning castle beautifully located.... definitely worth a visit!
anna seldon (12 months ago)
Great trip to St Donats at the Summer Fayre 2022 ❤️. My dad being the senior Stradling in the family enjoyed showing the grand children their heritage, definitely worth a walk to the church to see that! Paid £10 a car which is good value for entry and extra £5 pp for swimming, had lovely swim in the outdoor lido overlooking the beach ?‍♀️ lots of other activities on offer ?‍♂️ but all needed to be prebooked and could get costly if doing lots. U need to be fairly fit to walk all the grounds as lots and lots of levels and steps. So not wheelchair or pushchair friendly if venturing away from the castle.
Sally Wade (13 months ago)
Beautiful grounds. Amazing place to take photos.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Goryokaku Fortress

Goryōkaku (五稜郭) (literally, 'five-point fort') is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.

Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō and Jules Brunet. Their plans was based on the work of the French architect Vauban. The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun emplacements on its walls than a traditional Japanese fortress, and reduced the number of blind spots where a cannon could not fire.

The fort was built by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the Tsugaru Strait against a possible invasion by the Meiji government.

Goryōkaku is famous as the site of the last battle of the Boshin War.