Cardiff Castle

The Normans began to make incursions into South Wales from the late 1060s onwards, pushing westwards from their bases in recently occupied England. Their advance was marked by the construction of castles, frequently on old Roman sites, and the creation of regional lordships. The reuse of Roman sites produced considerable savings in the manpower required to construct large earth fortifications. Cardiff Castle was built during this period.

In 1814 Bute's grandson, John, inherited his title and the castle. In 1825 the new marquess began a sequence of investments in the Cardiff Docks, an expensive programme of work that would enable Cardiff to become a major coal exporting port. Although the docks were not particularly profitable, they transformed the value of the Butes' mining and land interests, making the family immensely wealthy. By 1900, the family estate owned 22,000 acres (8,900 ha) of land in Glamorgan. The second marquess preferred to live on the Isle of Bute in Scotland and only used Cardiff Castle occasionally.

John, 3rd Marquess of Bute, inherited the title and castle in 1848. He was then less than a year old, and as he grew up he came to despise the existing castle, believing that it represented a mediocre, half-hearted example of the Gothic style. The young Lord Bute engaged the architect William Burges to undertake the remodelling of the castle. The two shared a passion in medieval Gothic Revivalism and this, combined with Bute's huge financial resources, enabled Burges to rebuild the property on a grand scale.