File:Raglan Castle - 41635877115.jpg

English: Raglan Castle, Gwent, South Wales, 2 June 2018. Built by Sir William ap Thomas, of minor Welsh gentry, in the 1420's & 1430's, his son, also William, dropped the ap Thomas and became William Herbert. He fought in France the Hundred Years War and supported the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses. He became the first Welshman to join the English Nobility, being made Earl of Pembroke and remodelled the castle in the 1460's. He became the ward of the young Henry Tudor (later Henry VII). In 1492 the castle passed to the Somersets, who were also granted the Earldom of Worcester, and redeveloped the castle to be more a residence. During the English Civil War, Henry Somerset was promoted to Marquess of Worcester and strengthened the defences of the castle. It was the last Royalist castle to hold out against the Parliamentarians after a very long siege in 1646. After its fall, General Fairfax ordered the castle to be 'slighted', that is reduced to a state where it would be no military value, but its structure proved too strong to be totally destroyed. Pictured is the Great Hall.