All language subtitles for Castelos - Segredos, Mistérios e Lendas - S01E01 - United Kingdom

Fortress.

Prisons.

Towers.

The castles have witnessed
our history for centuries.

In Europe, over 100,000
are still standing,

thousand years later.

Let's visit the most spectacular
and most mysterious castles.

We will discover the secrets
that are hidden behind their walls.

And we will relive
their long-lasting legends.

Observing Bodiam Castle
from the sky at dawn

is one of the most beautiful
images we can contemplate.

Is this a real image,
or an illusion?

At Bodiam, nothing is
exactly what it seems.

Rising out of the water,
surrounded by reflections

that are both mysterious
and evocative,

Bodiam Castle was built in the 14th
century using a marvellous trick.

A trick that has been used
for centuries in architecture,

painting and photography,

and which goes by the name of
forced perspective.

Forced perspective is a very
clever architectural trick

which is used to make a castle
appear bigger than it actually is.

It was something that was done
by the owner,

Sir Edward Dalyngrigge,

to prove that he was bigger,
more important, perhaps,

than he actually was.

And why would anyone
want to use a visual trick,

with such a beautifully
designed castle?

So, it was using trickery
to fool advancing enemies

into thinking it was
a much bigger castle.

And we also see that it's
surrounded by a huge moat,

and again, this was reflecting back

the size of the castle
in the waters,

creating a much bigger impression
than was actually physically there.

Built in 1385,

it occupies a strategic position
in the county of Sussex.

Back then, the River Rother
was navigable up to this point.

And the kingdom lived in fear
of a French invasion.

When you see it for the first time,
the castle makes an impression.

Its imposing grey stone battlements,
surrounded by a wide moat,

in which the reflections increase
the sensation of power,

convince you that you are looking
at a redoubtable fortress.

This visual trick with the water

is enhanced by the height
of the battlements

and the fact that
they are close together.

This makes the castle seem bigger
and more robust than it actually is.

If you look at the battlements
on the top,

they're actually smaller than
they would need to be in real life,

as are the windows
on the upper storeys,

and this creates the illusion
of them being further away

and thus of the building being
higher than it actually is.

Everything is a question
of appearances,

and that is Bodiam's great secret.

It has very little
defensive capability.

When you see its battlements up
close, they are indeed small.

And its interior is more akin
to a private residence of the time

than to a fortress.

MAN: The castle itself
is actually really small.

It's a very, very minute...
almost like a manor house

but the walls cast over the water

just to give it
this full perspective

and enable the viewer to think
that it's much more big

and much more impressive
than it actually is.

However, Bodiam has
some great innovations

to make the most of its size.

Its owner, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge,

drew on his experience
in the war with France

to import a number of details.

Inside we find an extraordinary
curiosity - the water wells.

There were wells
in the centre of each tower.

One theory has it
that this was to enable access

to an abundant supply of water

for boiling and pouring over enemies
from the walls,

or from the murder-holes in the main
halls if they managed to get in.

But also for survival.

The main entrance to the castle
was not the one we see today.

The walkway started from one side,

which meant you had to turn
through 90 degrees to enter.

This prevented enemies
from attacking the main door

with burning carts
launched in a straight line.

The design of the main towers
made it possible to defend

against invaders
attacking along the walkway.

More than for its legends
or its beautiful exterior,

Bodiam has gone down in history,
according to the experts,

as the castle of false appearances.

Although there is nothing false
about its beauty.

Nestling in kilometres
of green countryside...

..with its unique pointed towers,

Glamis Castle looks
like a fairytale castle.

However, above and beyond the 1,001
luxuriously decorated rooms,

and the fact
that it has been the residence

of members of the royal family,

this fortress
conceals nooks and crannies

where demonic legends
and sinister stories lie in wait.

SAM WILLIS: Glamis Castle has
an extraordinary history.

It's one of the most haunted castles
in the British Isles.

The origins of Glamis Castle
date back to the 14th century,

after Robert the Bruce,

one of the most venerated leaders
of Scottish independence,

ceded the land to
the Bowes-Lyon family.

In the 14th century,

the Lyon family owned Glamis Castle,

but that became the Bowes-Lyon
family in the mid-18th century,

and the Bowes-Lyons
were very important.

That's because
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

was actually the mother
of Queen Elizabeth II of England.

As the centuries went by,

the humble original tower
was extended until it became

the fortress we see today,

which still belongs
to the same family.

One of Glamis's most harrowing
legends dates back 200 years,

with the birth of the first son
in the family line.

What should have been happy news
became a dark, tragic story.

MAN: Thomas Lyon-Bowes was born
as the master of Glamis,

which is the title
of the eldest son,

in 1821,

and on his records,

it says he was born and died
on the same day.

And there's been a suspicion
that actually he didn't.

The dark recesses of Glamis Castle

still conceal this secret
in their depths,

the story of what became known
as The Monster of Glamis,

a child who, it seems,
may have been born with a deformity.

And that there was a hideous birth

and that they tried to disguise this
but kept him alive.

LEO RUICKBIE: Why he was imprisoned?

Some say it was because
he was born deformed.

Somebody even described him
as being half man, half frog.

And this terrible creature
was kept locked up in the castle

so as not to come into
its true inheritance.

Glamis became immersed in darkness
and the most deathly silence.

It is not easy to hide something
like this in a castle of this size

which, despite having many lounges,
staircases and rooms,

also has a lot of serving staff.

And so the legend grew
and became an open secret.

SAM WILLIS: It's possible
that this human prisoner,

this Monster of Glamis,

was once discovered by a maid,

but to prevent her
from telling anyone,

she had her tongue cut out,

and she's said to be seen
walking the grounds

holding on to her mutilated mouth
dripping with blood.

Glamis has an imposing presence.

Its carefully tended gardens
have an elegant appearance,

but every turn
may conceal a chilling tale.

Glamis Castle has a reputation

of one of the most haunted castles
in Scotland,

perhaps even in the world.

And there's so many legends
connected with it,

it's difficult to choose
any particular one.

One of these macabre legends
is that of Earl Beardie,

a cruel aristocrat
known for his love of gambling.

Beardie is said to have been
a violent and a dangerous man.

He was also an alcoholic
and a gambler.

One night he was gambling at cards
with a friend of his, Earl Crawford,

and the night was getting late.

His steward warned him and he said,
"Sir, it is nearly midnight,

"and tomorrow is the Sabbath."

Beardie knew that he shouldn't
gamble on a Sunday

but he said, "I will gamble
until doomsday.

"I will even gamble
with the devil himself."

The legend has it that the devil did
indeed appear to play cards with him.

When the clock struck midnight,
there was a knock at the door,

and a tall stranger appeared.

The steward left them to it,
and there was soon noises -

shouting, violence and struggle.

He came down in the morning - the
stranger was still there, watching -

and Earl Beardie and Earl Crawford

had been engulfed
in a ball of flame.

It's said that that stranger
really was the devil

and that Beardie and Crawford
had gambled away their souls.

The castle has been haunted
to this very day

with the sounds of Beardie and
Crawford struggling with the devil.

Some people claim that,
centuries later,

the devil and Earl Beardie

are still playing in a secret room
in Glamis Castle,

and that the impassioned screams
of a card game

whose stakes were life and death

can still be heard.

How many generations
of earls and countesses

have heard the truculent
stories of Glamis?

How many secrets have been told
in hundreds of aristocratic dinners?

The walls of Glamis
are full of secrets,

and they will continue to be
for a few centuries more.

In our imaginations,

we probably all make a very direct
link between medieval castles,

knights, invaders, and legends.

Bamburgh Castle
is the perfect example.

(GRAND MUSIC)

Bamburgh, built in the northeast
of England in the 5th century,

overlooking the North Sea,
has witnessed Viking invasions

and wars for power.

The history of Bamburgh
goes right back,

and in 547,

Ida, who was king of the Bernicians,
conquered Bamburgh,

and he probably conquered it
from the islands off the shore -

Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands -

and he made a stockade there.

Then 50 years later or so,

his descendant King Aethelfrith
gave it to his wife, Bebba,

and it's from her name
that we get Bamburgh.

"Bebbanburg" gives us Bamburgh.

The location
of this enormous fortress

was considered a historically
strategic spot for the defence

of the island
by its different civilisations.

LEO RUICKBIE: The Normans
then built a castle on this site

and it's their tower
that forms the basis

of the modern castle
that we see today.

This presence and importance
was perhaps the reason

why Bamburgh also took centre stage

in the greatest legend
in medieval history -

the story of King Arthur
and the Knights of the Round Table.

It's also believed that Bamburgh
Castle might be the castle

that belonged to Lancelot,

one of King Arthur's Knights
of the Round Table.

It's said that Lancelot went there
and he defeated 20 other knights

and a very famous knight
called the Copper Knight,

and he named that castle
Joyous Gard.

This idea comes from the novel
Le Morte d'Arthur,

written in 1469 in prison by a knight
who had fallen from grace,

called Thomas Malory.

Since then, Bamburgh has
maintained its reputation

as an icon
of legends and mysteries,

partly because of its imposing image

in a scenario of violent winds
and storms,

and partly because of the unfolding
events witnessed within its walls.

It's said that Bamburgh Castle
is haunted by a lady in pink.

Now, this is believed to have been
a local princess

who fell in love with a boy
but her father did not approve,

and he sent that boy away
for seven years.

And then in an attempt
to help his daughter move on

and to not feel that love anymore,

he told her
that her lover had died.

This was not true.

Now, to cheer her up,
he got the castle seamstress

to make her a beautiful gown
in her favourite colour, pink.

And when she put on this dress,

she then walked to the edge
of the battlements

and threw herself off them.

And it's said that the castle
is haunted now

every seven years,

when the ghost of that lady
walks down to the seashore

and she waits for her lost lover.

Hundreds of people
visit it every day,

enjoying
its carefully tended interior...

..discovering the stories of knights
bordering on the mythological,

listening to narrations
of epic battles

against invaders from over the sea,

tragic tales of love,

and fantastic legends.

If Sir Lancelot were real,
he couldn't wish for a better castle.

Hidden among green meadows
near the village of Kemnay,

in Scotland, is a castle
with great personality.

Castle Fraser,
the castle of secrets.

A woman's blood
impregnated in the staircase.

Notes of a piano
being played at unearthly hours.

The spirit of a woman
dressed in black roaming the garden.

Fraser still conceals today
the answer to a number of mysteries

that have terrified different
generations for centuries.

This castle's unsettling personality
begins with its construction,

which gives it a very original
appearance in terms of shape.

Originally Castle Fraser was built
as a simple stone tower.

But then in the late 1500s,

Michael Fraser decided to expand it

with a tower on opposite corners.

And so it's that structure,
where you've got the central tower

and then an extra tower
on opposite corners.

That's what's called the 'Z plan'.

After that,
two long wings were attached,

which gives Fraser its most
distinctive U-shaped design

we can see today.

But if there is one thing that
endures at Fraser for ever and ever,

that is its legends,

which are just as much
a part of it as its walls.

The most well known is that of a
woman, apparently of noble lineage,

murdered in this bedchamber,
called the green room.

(GHOSTLY CHILDLIKE LAUGHTER)

This mystery has always been
shrouded in darkness because,

so the story goes,
someone entered her bedchamber,

murdered her and then
tried to hide the body.

But at any rate, her bloody body

was then dragged down
the stone stairs of the tower

in an attempt
to get rid of the body,

and these bloodstains
could not be removed.

And so they built wood panelling
around the steps,

which can still be seen today.

The legend goes that the murderer
was executed immediately,

but the attempts to erase the blood
were in vain.

The identities of those responsible
have never come to light.

Sometimes, the legends
become entwined.

Some believe that the ghost
of a woman, dressed in black,

could be that of a murdered woman,
but this is not the case.

The woman in black is actually the
spectre of Lady Blanche Drummond,

the beautiful wife of
Earl Frederick, who died in 1874.

She had consumption, which nowadays
we call TB, tuberculosis.

And so she was actually sent away
down to Bournemouth,

and she died in Bournemouth
at quite a young age.

LEO RUICKBIE: She is, however,
believed to return to the castle

in the form of a ghost,

wearing a long black gown.

And there is in fact
still a portrait of her

hanging in one of the rooms
of the castle

in her distinctive long black gown.

Earl Fraser remarried, and it is said
that his second wife

was always extremely jealous
of the beauty of Lady Blanche,

whose portrait hung
in the earl's favourite room.

She installed curtains over it

so that whenever she was
sat in the room,

she wouldn't have to be confronted
with the beauty of Blanche

that she was so jealous of.

On many evenings, the castle's
silence is broken

by notes being played on a piano.

(MELODY ON PIANO PLAYS)

It is said that it is Lady Blanche
playing them

on some of the different pianos
to be found in the castle.

The melody can be heard
in the surrounding area

and along the main drive.

The Fraser family took 60 years
to refurbish this solid construction,

but never imagined that it would be
known for its mysteries and ghosts

that climb up and down stairs...

..play the piano...

..and call the servants.

Does it have more secrets
hidden behind its walls?

Located on the island of Anglesey
in Wales,

surrounded by beautiful marshes
from which it gets its name,

Beaumaris Castle is impressive
for many reasons.

And some mysteries.

The destiny of Beaumaris was to be
the finest castle in the world.

The best-designed castle
in the United Kingdom.

To be an impregnable bastion.

King Edward I
was determined to create

the finest military structure
of its time.

Beaumaris is almost
the perfect castle.

It's entirely symmetrical,

and it was built as huge bastion
for Edward I

in his invasion and conquest
of the Welsh.

Beaumaris is a huge, almost
perfectly symmetrical fortress.

It has several concentric rings
of imposing defences.

The moat has its own dock.

Supplies could be brought in by water
from the nearby estuary.

The external walls

were prepared with 300 ingenious
arrow slits for archers.

And all the entrances
have murder-holes

that could be used by its defenders
to pour boiling water or oil.

Beaumaris is very often seen as
the ultimate castle -

perhaps the best castle
in terms of military defence

that was created in Europe
in the Middle Ages.

Certainly the most powerful castle
in Britain,

even though it was never finished.

The man responsible
for its construction

was the royal architect
James of St George,

who also created Conwy
and Caernarfon castles.

At Beaumaris he drew on all his
military knowledge of the age,

which in turn required
a great investment of funds.

Edward spent
a lot of money on Beaumaris,

and it was possibly the most
expensive project that he had.

It should have been the crowning
glory of all his Welsh castles.

It should have been
the crowning glory

of the career of his architect.

But in the end, he just didn't give
the final bit of money

that was needed
to complete his work.

Despite that, it's still the most
impressive military architecture

I think in the whole country
from the Middle Ages.

Thousands of labourers worked from
dawn till dusk to build these walls.

The health of many of them suffered
with every stone they laid.

So, the construction of Beaumaris
required thousands of labourers,

and there is a legend that their
chants and their work songs

can still be heard reverberating
around the castle walls to this day.

This legend has various versions
nowadays.

It is said that these chants

are actually the heart-rending
laments of the exhausted labourers.

THOR EWING: Almost always
when you build a large castle,

then you're going to
displace people.

And so yes,
they will have moved people,

and there'll have been
a lot of resentment

because King Edward I
had just conquered Gwynedd.

And it was the last stronghold
in Wales.

It was the last part of Wales
that held out against English rule.

Today, Beaumaris is a haven
of peace and tranquillity.

At those times when the only sound
is the leaves in the trees

being swayed by the breeze,

it is said that steps can be heard
coming from the walls.

Could it be the ghosts
of those stonemasons

trying to tell us something?

If the Middle Ages have
bequeathed something to us,

it is stories and legends of war,

played out by characters
with a strong personality.

The historical epic in this imposing
castle goes by the name of a woman.

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd.

Here, at Kidwelly Castle
in south Wales,

the beautiful princess Gwenllian
was decapitated

during the fight to expel the Normans
from this fortress,

a struggle worthy of
those medieval stories.

And the legend has it
that her headless body

roams tirelessly around passageways,
towers and the surrounding area.

LEO RUICKBIE: Kidwelly
is said to be haunted

by a headless ghost.

This is believed to be Gwenllian,

and she was a warrior princess

who was forced
to raise her own army

to defend her people
against the invading Normans.

Unfortunately, she lost the battle
and had her head cut off,

and ever since,
people have claimed to have seen

her headless ghost looking on the
battlefield for her missing head.

10th-century scribes
left a written testimony

of the heroic deed of this
young Welsh princess

who, in her husband's absence,
tried to support the local revolts

against the Norman invaders.

Accompanied by two of her sons,
she laid siege to Kidwelly,

one of the most emblematic
and carefully constructed fortresses

of its time.

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
was a local Welsh princess.

She was fiery,
she was trained as a warrior,

and she decided
to attack Kidwelly Castle

with another Welsh prince.

But that other Welsh prince,
he betrayed Gwenllian

and he told the Normans
of her position.

She was outside the castle,
blocking off a road

into which supplies to the castle
would come.

The Normans rode out
and they attacked her army,

and in front of her eyes
they rode down and killed her son,

named Morgan.

And then she was seized
from her own horse,

taken back with the Normans,

and the Norman lord,
Maurice de Londres, beheaded her.

And her headless ghost has been said
to haunt the castle ever since.

The castle had
all the elements necessary

to make it difficult to conquer.

Portcullises
on the only two entrance gates.

Carefully designed arrow slits
that covered all the angles.

Towering walls at the steepest part,

and a semicircular wall
at the weakest part

to make it easier to defend
against any attack.

The Normans locked any Welshman
that they were suspicious of

in the dungeons -
another feature of the castle.

The prisoners never re-emerged
from there,

although the castle
had its secret passageways.

Sally ports were one of the most
cutting-edge designs in castles.

It was a secure exit from which
people inside the castle

could then leave

and attack those that were
laying siege to their castle.

Gwendllian was captured and executed,

together with two of her sons,
very near the castle.

It is said that there,
in the village of Carmarthen,

the wizard Merlin was born.

But that's another story.

Seen from a distance,
it is impossible to predict

that this elegant castle,
situated in Aberdeenshire,

is the standard bearer
of Scotland's enchanted castles.

Fyvie Castle is exactly that -
an enchanted fortress.

We are going to tell you the story

of the most tragic and spine-chilling
events that surround Fyvie.

Apart from murders,
secret chambers...

..curses and legends,

it is said that up to
nine different ghosts

have been either heard or spotted
in spectral form

in its elegant rooms.

Lady Lilias Drummond
was the beautiful lady of the castle.

She had married the earl,
Alexander Drummond Seton, in 1592.

A happy marriage.

But then the children arrived -
or rather, the daughters.

Lady Lilias gave birth to five girls.

Like all the noblemen of the period,
the earl craved a male heir

to continue his line.

He sought solace
in the arms of a lover,

and focused his rage on Lady Lilias.

Fyvie Castle is said to be haunted
by Lady Lilias,

who is known to have been kept
prisoner and punished by her husband

for failing to provide him
with an heir.

A rescue attempt was launched
but it failed

and she was punished again by having
members of her family murdered

and their body parts
thrown past the window.

Eventually, she starved to death
in that very room.

Legend has it that
Lady Lilias died of starvation,

but it is also said
that she was murdered,

and that the blood spilt in the room
where she was locked away

has never been erased.

He remarried not that long after.

He married Grizel Leslie,
who was the cousin of Lilias.

It seems that in the bedchamber

where the earl and his new wife
were celebrating their wedding night,

sighs and strange noises
could be heard.

It was a night of panic and terror.

The following morning
when they looked out of the window

they saw the name of
Lady Lilias Drummond

etched into the stone windowsill.

It is still there today.

It is said that the ghost
of the countess appears often,

wearing a green dress,

and that it keeps the other
Fyvie ghosts in check.

One of them is Annie,
the girl on the stairs.

SAM WILLIS: Some say that actually
she's been captured on film.

Others say they've seen
a ghostly adult

walking away with her up the stairs.

In fact, it's even claimed that
she's been made contact with,

and when asked if she minded
visitors to the castle,

she said no, because she had
someone to play with.

Nobody knows who she is.

It is not known

whether it is the soul of
one of Lady Lilias's daughters,

or some other unexplained death.

THOR EWING: I don't think anyone
really knows who she is,

or who she was,

but she seems to be
a friendly ghost.

She's a little girl
that likes to play on the stairs

and likes to have people about

because they're friends
that she can play with.

Another of the Fyvie legends
revolves around a trumpet player

called Andrew Lammie.

SAM MILLER:
He fell in love with the local
miller's daughter

called Agnes Smith,

but the local laird
had ALSO fallen in love with her

and he made sure that Lammie
was sent away in slavery

to the West Indies.

She died - according to the story,
she was...

..she was actually beaten up
by her brother

and that was what killed her.

And her grave
is still in the churchyard.

Lammie eventually escaped
and came back to discover

that Agnes had died.

And upon HIS death,

he then said that the castle
would be cursed

with the sound of trumpets

that would always foretell
the death of the castle's laird.

Some claim to have heard
heart-rending trumpet melodies

while strolling around the gardens
at Fyvie -

the same gardens where one
of the three weeping stones,

another of this castle's famous
legends, is supposed to be buried.

This relates to the period
when it was built,

and comes from the Middle Ages.

Fyvie Castle was built with stones
taken from church lands,

and Thomas the Rhymer said
if those stones were not replaced,

then there would be a curse
on the castle.

It would never pass down the male
line for more than two generations.

Two of those three stones
have been discovered,

and it's said that they weep -
that they produce water

whenever a tragedy
is about to befall the owners.

Hence the name "weeping stones".

And it is true that,
for generations, the heirs of Fyvie

have never lived in the castle.

Perhaps they would find it
unpleasant to live in a residence

which still has a woman's skeleton
within its walls,

a skeleton that was uncovered 100
years ago during renovation work.

This was in the 1920s, and they
buried it in the churchyard.

But after they buried it, then
strange knocks and noises were heard

and you couldn't get peace
in the castle at all.

And so they had it disinterred again

and put back into the same place
where it had come from,

and everything returned to normal

and everything was peaceful again
in the castle.

The possible identity of this woman
has never come to light,

nor even the exact spot
where she is to be found.

It is said that there is a dungeon
in the basement

that might be
the skeleton's resting place,

and that anyone opening the door
will be cursed.

Two earls of Fyvie died
after doing so,

and their wives
went practically blind.

This is the outline of Fyvie Castle,
Scotland's most enchanted fortress.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

Standing before us
is the largest castle in Wales,

the second-largest
in the United Kingdom

and one of the largest in Europe.

Caerphilly Castle.

It has one of the largest-known
water defence systems.

A peculiar leaning tower.

And a ghost dressed in green
that transforms into ivy.

Red Gilbert was given this nickname
because of his red hair.

A man with a fiery temper
and violent character,

he had Caerphilly built in 1268

in a display of power

that can be seen from the large area
of land it occupies,

and from its enormous moat,

which was a real feat of engineering
for the period.

JAMES WRIGHT: Caerphilly has an
enormous system of water around it.

It's a whole sequence
of moats and lakes and meres

to create this enormous
aquatic landscape

which is partly there
to defend the castle

but also to demonstrate
just how powerful its builder was

by being able to tame the landscape
in such a way.

SAM WILLIS: The design of
Caerphilly Castle is remarkable.

It's one of the earliest concentric
castle designs in the country.

That means that there's
an outer ring of defence

which mimics the inner ring,

creating an area where an attacker
would be exposed to fire.

From the air we can see Caerphilly's
defensive rings perfectly.

The moat, although not particularly
deep, prevented enemy troops

from advancing in
the conventional way.

We can also see
from various perspectives

the inclination
of one of its towers -

the so-called Leaning Tower.

The tower has a leaning angle of more
than 10 degrees, which is even more

than the famous tower in Italy.

It was said that it may have
resulted from an explosion

or an artillery attack.

One of the towers at Caerphilly
is leaning over

at quite a crazy angle.

It's sometimes rumoured

that this was a result of slighting
during the civil war.

It's almost certainly
a result of subsidence

after the moat was drained
and the land has actually moved,

creating that lean in the tower.

The castle is impressive
when seen close up.

From its entrance towers
with their imposing portcullis

to its huge, powerful walls...

..everything in this fortress
in south Wales

is a demonstration
of its robust construction.

The peace and tranquillity that
pervades Caerphilly contrasts

with a certain coldness
in its interior.

Perhaps this sensation
is transmitted by a tragedy

that remains alive in the memory -

a love drama that ended
in the worst possible way.

Its protagonist
is a lady dressed in green.

Alice de Angouleme,
the French wife of Red Gilbert.

Caerphilly is also famous
for its green lady.

According to the legend,
this was Red Gilbert's wife,

Princess Alice.

And she apparently had an affair.

He, when he found out,
had her sent back to France,

and the unfortunate man
she was having an affair with

was captured and executed.

Then triumphantly
he tells Alice in France

that his lover has been murdered.

Alice falls dead on the spot,

and it's said that her ghost
haunts the walls of Caerphilly

and that she wears a green dress -

green for the envy of her husband.

It is also said
that the ghost of the lady in green

is given this name
because it can transform itself

and appear in the form
of the vegetation

that is permanently present
in Caerphilly.

Nowadays, wandering around
Caerphilly Castle

produces a flood of sensations,

although some send a shiver
down your spine.

In the estuary of the River Conwy,
on the north coast of Wales,

this impressive fortress bearing
the same name rises above the water.

It was intended to control
the coastal areas

and prevent incursions into
the territory along the river.

Conwy forms part
of the group of castles

built on the orders of King Edward I

after conquering Wales
at the end of the 13th century,

like Beaumaris and Caernarfon.

Of all of them,
Conwy was the most expensive.

It is said that the king invested
almost 20,000 pounds at the time

in creating this defensive wall,
fearing a Welsh revolt.

As part of Edward I's invasion
and conquest of Wales,

he built the iron ring
around north Wales -

a system of castles, which included
the castle of Conwy.

THOR EWING: So he built
these three castles,

and Conwy is one of
the most impressive.

And it's a concentric castle,
like the others,

and it's the work of his great
mason, James de St George.

The royal architect
looked to take advantage

of the rock
on which the castle stands

to prevent tunnels being built
by possible attackers.

It has two wards -
an inner one and an outer one,

which overlooks the coast.

Its eight towers have walls
more than four metres thick.

The castle is also built on two
levels, thanks to the land

and the design of its walls.

Conwy Castle
has an outer curtain wall

and then inside that,
you have another castle.

And so when people
take the outer wall,

then they've still got a castle
to take inside that.

And the relative heights are such
that you can shoot down

from the inner castle
onto people in the outer castle.

Unlike other castles in Wales,
Conwy's construction was adapted

to the land, and thus did not
have a concentric floor plan,

and also lacks an imposing entrance.

Access to it was over a bridge
crossing the estuary,

which gave it an extra
element of security.

So, Conwy has a very, very elaborate
defensive system

which involves gate
after gate after gate,

with portcullises and arrow slits
and fields of fire

to ensure that it was an incredibly
difficult castle to take.

The siege to which King Edward
was subjected in Conwy
by the Welsh years later

meant that it was adapted to his
presence for a number of years,

notably the religious part.

It's said that the castle
was once built near a monastery

and in spite of all of this
enormous military architecture,

that sense of the place being
religious has never left,

and it's known to be haunted
by monks.

And it is said that today
the monks can still be seen,

and remarkably,
they seem to be levitating monks.

People have seen them
rising up into the air.

This is not the only legend
that is alive and well in Conwy.

Its location in a sea port

is part of a story
told with great conviction

because of its consequences.

One of the stories
that survives around Conwy

concerns a mermaid that was
discovered by fishermen

and she was paraded
through the town,

but that led to her death

because she needed to
go back in the water,

and she cursed the town.

And then recently,
on the very spot where the mermaid
was said to have died,

the town hall was destroyed by fire.

And that was replaced by a library,
and that also burned to the ground.

Perhaps because of the fear that
took hold of Conwy's inhabitants,

the castle gradually fell
into disrepair over the years.

One of its last owners

even decided to sell off the castle's
iron and lead,

and the fortification became the ruin
that we see today.

A gloomy, desolate ruin,

perfect for telling stories
of cursed mermaids and ghostly monks.

Captions by Red Bee Media
(c) SBS Australia 2021