Caldicot Castle (or Castell Cil-y-coed in Welsh) is an extensive stone medieval castle in the town of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, in southeast Wales. The castle contains all the elements of a typical medieval fortress, and has been maintained by its present owners, who opened it to the public.
The castle was built near the site of Harold Godwinson‘s former Saxon castle by the Norman earls of Hereford from about 1100, a location long recognized for its strategic value. Romans, for example, had actively made use of the area in the early centuries AD. Caldicot’s placement near the Bristol Channel allowed observation of the comings and goings of ship traffic and eased transport of supplies to the site.
The castle and grounds were in the possession of Thomas of Woodstock, a son of King Edward III of England, until his death in 1391, when it reverted to the Crown. It became a Grade I listed building on 10 June 1953.