Pub walks can be a good way of both getting new information for guiding and for practising guiding skills.  

On this occasion a group of 10 “Wacky Wanderers” left the White Cross pub in Groeswen at 11am in the direction of Castell Coch where I planned to give a 10-minute talk on the history of the castle. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining. As we crossed the old coal tips from Nantgarw Colliery we were greeted by the Red Arrows flying in formation.

Unfortunately, the flypast was too rapid for anyone to get their phone camera to take a photo before they disappeared in the direction of Bristol. Eventually we made our way on to the Taff Trail and on down to Taffs Well and the site where Walnut Tree Junction on the Taff Vale Railway used to be, now the site of the main depot for the new trains on the South Wales Metro. 

60 years ago, the river Taff, the Glamorgan Canal, 3 railway lines and the main Cardiff to Brecon Road all squeezed through the 250 yard Taff Gorge near Tongwynlais, with the Barry Railway running precariously over them all before disappearing into a tunnel through Lower Garth Mountain below Pentyrch. Nowadays, only one rail track has survived Dr Beeching’s axe, and the canal is buried underneath the dual carriageway of the A470.

A single pillar, with a reminder of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1978, sits to the south of this road as a reminder of the perilous path under the line walked by generations of children from the surrounding villages. One member of our group gave a short talk on the history of the various rail companies set up around Cardiff in the 19th century, before we continued around Pugh’s Garden Centre, over the new footbridge that has replaced the railway crossing, and on to the site of the Tollbooth at Tongwynlais.

The footprint of the Tollhouse, that controlled the traffic on 2 tramroads that were part of the Melingriffith-Pentyrch railway supplying the tinplate works at Whitchurch, has recently been renovated and made safe by the local Historical Society as part of a history trail around the village.

From here it was a short step to the castle, stopping outside the par 3 golf course built on the site of the old Castell Coch vineyard for a talk on wine growing in South Wales. This was the first commercial vineyard in Britain, first planted by Lord Bute’s head gardener, Andrew Pettigrew, in 1875.

Success varied with the Welsh weather, but 3,000 bottles were produced for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, and the vintage of 1893 paid for the entire venture. Of the worst years, it is said that it took 4 men to drink the wine; two to hold the victim down and one to pour it down his throat. Production halted with the onset of WWI in 1914, and the vines were grubbed up in 1920.

Castell Coch itself is a familiar South Wales landmark owing to its visibility from both the the A470 and the M4 on the hillside just north of Cardiff. It is not the most visited castle in Wales (Cardiff Castle has that honour) but is regularly voted the favourite Welsh castle of local visitors.

The Victorian folly seen today was commissioned by the 3rd Marquess of Bute to be built on the site of an old Norman castle, built before 1260 to prevent the Welsh attacking Cardiff, probably by Gilbert de Clare before he built Caerphilly Castle. The Norman keep had been “spoiled” in the uprising led by Llewellyn Bren around 1314. It then stood as a “noble ruin” for over 500 years before the Marquess asked his eccentric architect, William Burgess, and his team of craftsmen, who were working on Bute’s main Welsh residence at Cardiff Castle, to also rebuild Castell Coch on the surviving foundations, in what was believed at the time to be authentic medieval style, including a working drawbridge and portcullis, and a fighting hourd above the gate.

Work started in 1975 and was finished 16 years later in 1891 when the Marquess lost interest. Burgess himself died in 1881, 10 years before the completion of his masterpiece, but will not be forgotten while his works here, at Cardiff and on the Isle of Bute in Scotland survive.

By now some cloud cover had bubbled up, but it remained warm, and we sat around a tree stump on the lawn, while I gave the planned talk on the development of the castle from its origins in the middle of the 13th century to the present day. Nobody complained of being bored and later feedback in the pub was all positive. This was excellent preparation for my first professional tour to the castle the following week. Incidentally, the scaffolding visible around the Well tower on the right of the picture, is to allow replacement of the old mortar, which is leaking and allowing damp to penetrate the walls and damage the impressive interior decor.

After a well-earned rest, we proceeded through Fforest Fawr, the 600 year old beech woods above the castle, to the Forest Cafe where we took lunch. This ramshackle structure, tucked in the trees just off Forest Road, has been a popular stop for walkers for over 20 years, slowly adding to the seating by the addition of settees and picnic tables outside the main building, most of them sheltered from the worst of the Welsh weather. The owner also sells wood burning stoves.

With batteries recharged after being fed and watered we set off back up the hill through Fforest Fawr and down to the higher branch of the Taff Trail that follows the route of the old Barry Railway seen in the first photograph. The path diverts down to the old Rhymney Railway, which leads back to Penrhos, once the meeting place of 5 rail lines, now deserted apart from some imposing, grey, monolithic remains of another viaduct standing as a reminder from the bygone age of steam.

By the time we reached the Old Ponderosa farm at the bottom of the hill back to Groeswen some of the members of the group were starting to flag but, 20 minutes later, beer was waiting at the White Cross and everyone agreed that it had been a pleasant walk and an interesting day.