An early glimpse of Edward I’s Welsh castle-building projectWe’re pleased to announce that this monument has re-opened to visitors.To enter this heritage site, both members and general visitors Please note that all site entry prices have been reduced to reflect the recently announced reduction in the VAT charged for entry into visitor attractions. (2002) : Raglan Castle and the Civil War. 200 years after its construction Raglan found military relevance. Built for comfort and show rather then defence, Raglan Castle nevertheless saw action during the English Civil War when it was besieged for thirteen weeks by Parliamentary forces. He has the trees in the park cut down. Worcester had 800 horse and foot in his castle and they made "diverse and desperate sallies"; but after the fall of Oxford the besieging force rose from 1,500 to 3,500, and the garrison was "reduced to more caution and taught to lie closer." Whittle, E. (1990) "The 16th and 17th century gardens at Raglan Castle," Monmouthshire Antiquity 6, pp. Even today, the ruined castle evokes some of the magnificence and grandeur of its heyday - back in the c17th. This castle-palace of the Somersets, Earls of Worcester (and later Dukes of Beaufort) was the center of a vast estate, with an annual rental of L24,000. Despite a garrison of 800 men and one of the longest sieges of the Civil War, it fell to parliamentary forces and was deliberately destroyed. Some historians, such as John Kenyon, suspect that an early motte and bailey castle may have been built on the Raglan site during this period: the location had strategic importance and archaeologists have discovered the remains of a possible bailey ditch on the site.