About
Raglan Castle, Castell Rhaglan, crowns a ridge above the Usk valley in Monmouthshire and is, in Cadw's words, the grandest castle ever built by Welshmen. Sir William ap Thomas, the blue knight of Gwent, raised the moated Great Tower in 1435, and his son William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, added the gatehouse with its flared machicolations for raining missiles on attackers. Built after the heyday of castle-building, it was designed to impress as much as to intimidate, and the earls of Worcester gave it a long gallery and one of the finest Renaissance gardens in Britain. Despite a garrison of 800 and one of the longest sieges of the Civil War it fell to Parliament and was deliberately wrecked. Look for the Pitched Stone Court, the Fountain Court and looted Tudor panelling rescued from a cow shed. Reviewers praise the volunteers and the picnic benches on the bowling green and allow about 45 minutes; the cafe is 300 m away. Dogs on short leads may explore the ground floor.
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- Raglan Castle09:30 – 17:00last admission 16:30
Opening times may change at short notice.
Open daily all year: 1 March to 30 June 9.30am to 5pm; 1 July to 31 August 9.30am to 6pm; 1 September to 31 October 9.30am to 5pm; 1 November to 28 February 10am to 4pm. Last admission 30 minutes before closing. Closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. Cadw may close monuments at short notice in extreme weather; check its social media before travelling.
Conservation notice (October 2026): the bridge into the Great Tower is being repaired, with scaffolding expected for about 16 weeks, and visitors get 10% off general admission from 8 October 2026 while the work lasts. Cadw does not say whether the tower itself is closed.
Terrain level 3, moderate: lawns, gravel and cobbles, with steps into some ground-floor areas, a few steps to the gatehouse rooms, and stone steps, a wooden bridge and a long spiral stair up the Great Tower; limited wheelchair access and the surface can defeat some mobility scooters. The visitor centre door is power-assisted. Main toilets are down three steps and across grass, with one accessible toilet at the rear of the visitor centre and baby changing. Portable induction loop, water refill station, defibrillator, dog bowl, benches round the site and picnic tables on the bowling green. Gift shop with guidebooks; no cafe on site (the independent Raglan Castle Cafe is about 300 m away). Free Cadw Wi-Fi. Drones are not permitted.
Dogs: Dogs on short leads are welcome on the ground floor of the site only; towers and upper levels are for assistance dogs. The lawns, courts and garden terraces inside the paid site are ground level and open to dogs on short leads; a ticket or membership is needed. A dog bowl is available and Cadw asks that dogs do not eat the vegetation.
Photo: The Great Tower and the machicolated gatehouse of Raglan Castle seen across the lawn from the castle grounds. Niki.L, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raglan_Castle_Sept18.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Walking routes1 route
Tregare and Penrhos, Monmouthshire's Medieval Parishes (Pathcare route 25)(opens the full route on the National Trust site)
WalkDog access not confirmed8 km distance2hr30 to walk
