HLF Approve £4.7m grant to restore Cardigan Castle - Birthplace of the Welsh Eisteddfod

Today is a bloody good day for Cardigan, Wales and for anyone who values Welsh culture.

Cardigan Castle in 2014?





For today it was officially announced that the Heritage Lottery Fund have given their approval to a £4.7m grant application submitted by Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust on behalf of Cardigan Castle.

This is absolutely brilliant news for the castle and for us all here in the town. It is the moment when a great campaign to bring our historic castle back into full, open, public use, crossed the rubicon from being one of hope to one of expectancy.

A Potted History
Cardigan is a Welsh castle built in stone in 1171 - built by the native population and not by the Norman occupiers. It is a castle that, in 1176, witnessed a feast of celebration as poets and musicians competed for a chair at Lord Rhys's table.

As recorded in Brut y Tywysogion...

"...at Christmas in that year, the Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd held court in splendour at Cardigan, in the castle. And he set two kinds of contests there: one between bards and poets, another between harpists and crowders and pipers and various classes of music craft. And he had two chairs set for the victors. And he honoured those with ample gifts".

It was the first incarnation of our modern day Eisteddfod. After the final Norman conquest of the castle during the 1240s, the castle was reconstructed. Two towers, a new keep and the town wall were all built to create the stronghold, the ruins of which are visible to visitors today. A peaceful four centuries however came to an abrupt end when Oliver Cromwell took it upon himself to storm the battlements. The castle was uninhabitable from then on until the 19th century, when it breathed a new lease of life as it was converted into a residence with Castle Green House built inside the walls and incorporating the North Tower. A pill box was built overlooking Cardigan Bridge during WWII but the castle fell into disrepair after its final private owner Barbara Wood failed to keep up with the maintenance required on such an old and vast site. After threatening a CPO, the castle was sold to Ceredigion County Council in 2003 and it's re-emergance into the public consciousness moved into top gear from then until the present day.

Cardigan Castle and me
As I've previously blogged here, as a historian, Cardigan Castle has always been a special place for me.

As I said in that post back in September...


"I can remember as a child crossing the old bridge and always wondering what lay behind those great walls. Never in a million years could I have thought that I would one day become Mayor of Cardigan and donate my Mayoral Fund donations to the Cardigan Castle Fund. If current plans being pursued by local Building Preservation Trust Cadwgan are successful, then the castle could well be totally renovated and open to the public by 2014".

Well, they were indeed precient words because that final sentence is now a great step closer to becoming a reality.


Cardigan Castle as I have always known it



"...the end of the beginning".

But it hasn't been easy. After the Council bought the castle back in 2003 after a campaign led by the local Tivy Side Advertiser, it entered into discussions regarding the future 'end use' of the castle. It was at this stage that I became directly involved in the development of this story having been elected to the County Council in 2004.

I sat in many a meeting that dealt with the 'next steps' in bringing the castle into full public use. A viable, sustainable 'end use' was required with which to bid for grant funding. I can well recall the Keen Report which the authority spent a good deal of money on but which came up with no credible plan. We then had the Peter Lord proposal of housing a new Welsh Museum of Art in the castle. I recall a passionate public meeting in the town (which public meeting in Cardigan isn't passionate?!) to discuss the options in which I as a local member was sitting on the 'top table'. It was chaired by then County Council leader Dai Lloyd Evans and local residents didn't hold back from giving their opinions.

It eventually became clear that the County Council had gone as far as they could with the castle and when Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust requested the opportunity to take charge of this ambitious project, it was a welcomed change of direction. Since then, around 2007, they have put together financially sustainable options that have been welcomed by local residents. Along with their partners, they have worked with great patience to put forward a detailed bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for what is a £9.2m scheme.


Castle Green House

It was important as a part of their detailed bid that they could evidence public support for their bid. It was with great pride therefore that during my Mayoral year between 2009-2010, my Mayoral charity was the Castle Fund.

I felt that I needed to give them this support because if their bid proved unsuccessful in this difficult economic climate where grants are drying up, it would probably mean the moth-balling of the Cardigan Castle project for a generation.

You can imagine by sheer delight therefore, after years of increasing hope but nagging uncertainty, when I heard last Wednesday morning that we'd got the full grant request of £4.7m! But it was embargoed until today so I can only give my sentiments today! But it is wonderful news. This now means that we're half-way to raising the £9m+ necessary to making our dream a reality.

But this is only a work-in-progress. The remaining money is still required but this positive news will I am sure, act as a magnet to draw down the match-funding required to bring us to our financial goal. It is now more than feasible that works on the site could begin before the end of this year and the 2014 completion date is still a very much hoped for reality. Seeing the removal of those awful stanchions will be a good start!

As Jann Tucker, the Chair of the Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust, in quoting Churchill said at today's official announcement in the castle:

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning".

It is indeed. There's much work ahead of us but the light at the end of the tunnel has just got that big bit brighter.

Coast, Castles and Community - Why Wales' West is Best

At the new 'Parc Y Scarlets' rugby stadium in Llanelli, the Ray Gravell inspired wording 'West is Best' is indelibly marked in the seating.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45341000/jpg/_45341522_parcyscars_empty_huw466x300.jpg

It's a sense of self which I have shared and felt throughout my life.

Of course I would. I'm a Pembrokeshire boy, educated in Carmarthenshire who for the past 10 years has lived in Cardiganshire. Like most people, I am fiercely proud of my roots and mine are very much in the soil of west Wales.

When I think about it, the 3 constants that make this part of the world very much my own can be encapsulated in the 3 C's - Coast, Castles and Community.

Coast

To my absolute horror, at the age of 28, I still can't swim. Yet, living near the coast for me is a staple part of my whole being. My upbringing in southern Pembrokeshire near Loveston (south west of Narberth) meant that I was never far from the sea. I can remember vividly, those idyllic moments from my very happy childhood in Tenby (up on Castle Hill) or Saundersfoot (buying Premier League stickers at the shop opposite the Wimpy's) or further along the coast at Manorbier and continuing along the path of the Pembrokehsire Coast Footpath, to St Govan's Head and the Bosherston Lily Ponds. St Govan's in particular is a place I re-visit as often as possible and always with those who have not been initiated before in the joy of counting the steps down to the Chapel, built deep into the rocks, and then on counting them on the way back up, realising that as the fable goes, the two numbers don't tally!

Head further north and Angle marks the sadder memories for me of witnessing the stranded Sea Empress spewing 72,000 gallons of oil into the estuary in February 1996.

http://www.itopf.com/information-services/data-and-statistics/case-histories/images/casehist_seaemp.jpg

Further east is the village of Rhoscrowther which sits in the great shadow of the Texaco Oil Refinery where my Uncle Desmond worked for many years. The village was cleared in the1960's for the coming of the refinery and little now remains apart from the picturesque church. It is an odd sensation that goes down the spine when you go through this old medieval village with it's church and see this great 20th century construction overwhelming the visual senses.

Heading in-land though, deeper into the Cleddau estuary and my childhood memories fondly recall my times at Cresswell Quay, Lawrenny and Lanshipping. I particularly recall in my mind seeing my father, a keen photographer, taking photos and film of the sunset in Landshipping by the bridge down from where my (great) Aunty Dolly used to live. I remember often standing with my father on the site of Lawrenny Castle, which was a large towered and turreted mansion, overlooking the estuary. I'd always be so frustrated that the 'castle' had been demolished in 1950 so I'd never be able to see it. But my father, born in 1936, could at least tell me where exactly it was located and what it looked like.

History tells us that Henry Tudor landed off the coast at Dale in August 1485 on his way to defeat Richard III at Bosworth. With one of my maternal great-aunt's, Aunty Claudia and her family living down in Marloes, it was another wonderful part of the coast that I well knew.

My life as a student in Aberystwyth continued my love affair with the sea. Where is there better to live by the sea than Aberystwyth? The views from the top of Constitution Hill are quite simply exceptional. Now these past 5 years, I'm back in Cardigan and on the estuary here, the sea salt is still there, as it should be for me.

Castles

'A load of stones' I think I recall my father calling them. I admit to being one of those many boring historians who just love castles and my parents were saints for putting up with my calls to go to any castle that we could go too whilst on our holidays.

Here in the glorious west though, I really was spoilt. Living less than 5 miles north of Carew, it would be one of my favourite castles. Manorbier, a romantic castle if ever there was one always wowed me. Pembroke Castle? Well, what can you say? Majestic quite frankly is the word that comes to mind. Then there's the smaller castles which I loved for their own stories. Llawhaden, where I was a member of the Young Farmers for 5 years before going to University, Wiston, Roch, the imposing Haverfordwest and the one that scared me witless every day of my school life, Narberth Castle. Indeed, this latter one only finally opened to the public after being made safe, back in 2005. When I took my first steps in this castle which, because of its ruins and inaccessibility had always had a haunting effect on me, I found myself overcome with an incredibly crippling sense of absolute fear! I've never felt anything like it! My childhood fears of this spooky, scary castle came rushing back as I finally confronted those very fears. When was this? It was last year - 2009! I was 27 years old! It's incredible how those childhood sensations stay with us. When I finally overcame my fears, I walked in and enjoyed putting this particular ghost of mine to rest!

http://www.castlewales.com/narberth.jpg

Carmarthen Castle, like Haverfordwest has fascinated me though little of substance of either remain. Cilgerran Castle is just beautiful, perched as it above the gorge looking down onto the Teifi River. Mind you, my relative hopelessness with heights means that I have never been able to look to my left when crossing the drawbridge into the castle - I couldn't stomach that sheer drop!

http://www.castlewales.com/cliger.html

Aberystwyth Castle during my University days would provide a place for sanctuary if I needed some time to collect my thoughts and then, here in Cardigan, our very own superstar! Birthplace of the Welsh Eisteddfod in 1176, I can remember as a child crossing the old bridge and always wondering what lay behind those great walls. Never in a million years could I have thought that I would one day become Mayor of Cardigan and donate my Mayoral Fund donations to the Cardigan Castle Fund. If current plans being pursued by local Building Preservation Trust Cadwgan are successful, then the castle could well be totally renovated and open to the public by 2014. It will be a great day for Wales when this happens.

As a historian, west Wales is just brimming with gems and the memories they've given me will always stay with me.

Community

Finally, but most importantly, it's what binds us all, particular in rural Wales together that matters most - community.

I take great pride in being able to say that I have a foot in both Pembrokeshire 'camps'. My father's family are from south Pembrokeshire - below the fabled Landsker Line in Anglicised 'Little England Beyond Wales'. My mother comes from the Welsh north, in Eglwyswrw near Crymych, on the the main coastal road between Fishguard and Cardigan. Be it in the community of Martletwy where I went to Sunday School and where my paternal grandparents are buried, or in shadows of the Preseli Hills around Crosswell and Pontyglasier where my maternal grandparents are buried, there has always been this strong sense of togetherness. Communities of people who know each other and help each other.

The same could be said of my years in school. I fondly recall my years as a pupil in Whitland Primary and Secondary Schools between 1987-2000. There was a sense of belonging and depsite our age-old annoyances of having to go to school, a pride in our own school against all of the others in the area. Or as the Beach Boys song went, 'Be True to Your School'. The community of the Young Farmers movement is also a firm one and during my 5 years in Llawhaden, I had the good fortune of being able to meet those of my age who went to schools in Haverfordwest. I can see it now too in Llanboidy where my girlfriend Alyson lives. The annual carnival occurred recently over the Bank Holiday weekend and I gather everyone had a good time!

The sense of community in Aberystwyth of course is a rather special one - that of the 'Town and Gown'. Back here in Cardigan, it's less of the cosmpolitan kind that annually regenerates itself in Aberystwyth, and more of the traditional kind that I grew up with in Pembrokeshire. I have great neighbours who I can rely on to look after my house on my many excursions away and it's impossible to walk down the street without bumping into someone I know and having a chat.

That's the way it should be. Shouldn't it? Well it's certainly the way I like it and want it to remain.

Don't get me wrong, I love Cardiff and London and enjoy my trips there. But there's nothing quite like the sense of travelling home on the train heading west from Swansea. When I come into Carmarthen I know that I'm homeward bound.

As many who know me will be bored of hearing me say, I'm a farmers boy and proud of it. To add to that, I'm a farmers boy from west Wales.

It's the Coast, the Castles and the Community for me.

Ray Gravell wasn't wrong. West is most definitely Best.