History Summarized: The Castles of Wales

Every castle tells a story, but when one small country has over 600 castles, the collective story they tell is something like "holy heck ouch, ow, oh god, why are there so many arrows, ouch, good lord ow" – And that's Wales for you.

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[Fordmister]

As a Welsh person I always have to remind myself that the castles we have aren't...normal? and the reactions that they can inspire in other people! Like Caerphilly is just where a close friend lives and the castle is just something you walk past on the way to the pub every weekend. Similarly Newport castle (or whats left of it) is a thing my bus route into town takes you past, Or Aberystwyth castle being a thing I sat in front of eating fish and chips while I was there for university. Meanwhile for Blue its this fascinating window into a world long past. God I love how history makes one persons mundane another's wonder and vice versa

[aledthomasdavies]

As someone born and raised in Caerphilly, it's so refreshing to see someone non-Welsh not only do the castle and its history justice, but to almost nail every pronunciation as well. Da iawn!

[Stoneworks]

I refuse to die until I get to one day own a castle. Whether taken legally or by force, I shall have my keep.

[akirachiyoko]

As a welsh native living and commuteing near castles I never really thought about them much. It is amazing to see from an outsider's perspective

[bluesbest]

As someone who grew up in California, where nothing built before the 1800s was built to last, the concept of going to a building that has stood for 500-700 years is utterly foreign to me and my only possible comment on the video is "Wow. Pretty stone buildings."
BTW, thank you for not re-recording the outro. It got a chuckle out of me.

[ozeozeoze]

Your pronunciation of ‘Llywelyn’ was perfect!! I know that for people outside Wales, the ‘Ll’ sound can be a hard thing to do

[pendragon]

I visited Wales in college. It really is crazy how different it is from even western England. Saw a Best Western in a castle, ruined castles by the highway...Amazing!

[mistcaller]

love how he references Guy Fawkes (also known as John Johnson, who does work at place) in this

[woodencoyote]

There are the remains TWO ruined forts in my village in West Wales, literally on opposite hills. You could probably shout from one and be heard on the other.

[annekeener]

This look into the castles of Wales was fascinating. The closest things we have nowadays are military bases and forts, but they are not nearly as pretty as the castles were. Castles were so unique because they basically combined a fort and a walled city into one thing.

[SalemSalamander]

I’m welsh and I never really thought much about them outside of they are apart of our country’s history. I grew up seeing one from my window and just anytime I was going just about anywhere school, work, shopping everywhere. I even remember playing tag and hid and seek as a kid at the castle 10 minutes down the road. I always forget how this part of are history is so unique to us and how people visiting must see them.

[jeremy]

As a kid, whenever I went around the country with my family on our summer holidays, I would always find our visit to local castles to be the highlight of our trips 😊

[matthewknight]

Since we’re talking about “British countries that aren’t England”, I would absolutely love to at some point see a video in The Isle of Man, lot of interesting mythology and history to look into there

[pippastrelle]

I've got a castle literally other side of my back garden. A Norman motte and bailey built on the remains of a Roman fort! It's pretty destroyed, with only cracked outer walls and a renovated motte but it's a great place for town events with the open bailey and motte hill for sledging.

[brynjames]

Loved this video. I tell you castles are EVERYWHERE. I can literally see one from my bedroom window, and the next two towns either side of my village have caslte ruins. I grew up among them, and I have to remind myself that not everyone is so familiar with them as a background object. They really are wonderful

[skyrimjones]

Speaking as someone from the town of caerphilly, castles to us welsh are such a normal everyday thing that I feel people don’t appreciate how weird it must be for everyone else 😅. I personally love your videos on history. (Particularly further back you go) keep up the amazing vids ❤

[jaydee]

Great video, Blue; it's great learning about Welsh history. Awesome quality video as always. As a Cornish person, I especially appreciated the gradual reduction in English control heading down the West-Country peninsula in your maps. A lot of people always forget that, much like the Welsh, the Cornish were an independent people until quite a way after the Norman Conquest.
EDIT- The Welsh are still an independent people, but you get my point.

[everestjarvik]

I went to Wales when I was 19 and my kid self was absolutely thrilled at the castles that were literally everywhere

[GamesNTech]

I would love a History Summarized of the Celts. I was trying to watch a doc about them but it was very dry and boring. It was talking about mainland Europe and since I grew up only knowing about Celts in the British Isles I was interested to learn more. I would like to learn it from someone more interesting though. :)

[MysteryMedia]

It’s always great to see more videos about wales, especially loved the spotlight on Caerphilly Castle because I live in Caerphilly. Hope you enjoyed visiting the town.