Llandaff Cathedral & Castle

I've had a busy day work wise but in between I popped to Llandaff Cathedral to get an aerial view of it. It seemed a good idea as the weather was lovely and sunny and the forecast is for it to change before Easter is over. It seems an appropriate picture. The aerial show the Cathedral from the west side (you can clearly see the Welsh regiment chapel).

Llandaff Cathedral stands on one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain.  In the sixth century St Dyfrig founded a community close to the ford where the Roman road crossed the river Taff.

The present cathedral dates from 1107 when Bishop Urban, the first Bishop appointed by the Normans, instigated the building of a much larger church.  The arch behind the High Altar was built at that time and the doorway that now leads to the St David (or Welsh Regiment) Chapel may have been the West door of Urban's church until it was moved to its new site when the Cathedral was extended and widened and a new West front built about 1220. This West front is judged by many to be one of the two or three most notable medieval works of art in Wales.

The extra shows a close-up of Llandaff Castle (or Bishops Palace) which is about 100 metres from the Cathedral. Entry is free. Thre is apparently no recorded history of this castle although according to tradition it was burnt by Owain Glyndwr when his revolt spread to the south at the beginning of the 15th Century. The main feature of the ruins is the twin-towered gatehouse,probably dating from the early 14th century.The castle was small, and its four irregular sides were gaurded by three small towers, one round, one square, and another which has vanished. The gatehouse of the Palace survives and the courtyard is now a public garden.