Caerphilly Castle: The Leaning Tower's Ghosts

Caerphilly Castle is a colossus—the largest castle in Wales and the second largest in Britain after Windsor. Built by the powerful Gilbert de Clare to hold South Wales against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, it pioneered the concentric castle design later used by Edward I. Its famous leaning tower (more tilted than Pisa’s) and massive water defenses create an atmosphere unlike any other British castle.

The History

A Revolutionary Design

Begun in 1268, Caerphilly was revolutionary for its time: it represented the first truly concentric castle in Britain, a design featuring massive artificial lakes as defensive barriers, inner and outer walls with multiple towers, and gatehouse defenses of unprecedented sophistication.

Civil War Destruction

During the English Civil War, Parliamentary forces deliberately undermined the southeast tower, causing its famous lean. The castle was partially dismantled and left to ruin until 20th-century restoration.

The Hauntings

The Green Lady (Princess Alice)

The most famous ghost is the Green Lady, believed to be Princess Alice of Angoulême. She was the wife of Gilbert de Clare III and, according to reports, had an affair which was discovered. Her lover was hanged by Gilbert, and she died mysteriously soon after. Witnesses consistently report seeing her in a green dress, wandering the castle, and her presence brings intense cold.

The Leaning Tower Spirits

The damaged tower is particularly active, with reports of figures seen at windows that don’t exist, sounds of stonework collapsing, and even screaming from within the ruins. Some believe that Civil War soldiers are trapped in a loop of the tower’s destruction, reliving the events of its collapse.

The Phantom Army

A medieval army has been witnessed near the water defenses. Hundreds of men in 13th-century armor have been seen, accompanied by siege engines and war horses, appearing to attack the castle. The sound of battle drums and war cries is sometimes heard, likely connected to the Welsh attacks on the castle.

The Drowned Prisoners

The artificial lakes concealed a dark purpose—prisoners were drowned in them. Figures have been seen beneath the water, hands reaching up from the surface, splashing sounds with no visible cause, and muffled screaming originating from the lakes, most commonly observed on foggy mornings.

The Grey Monk

A hooded figure in grey robes walks the inner ward. He appears to be praying or performing rituals, and is often reported to vanish through walls, primarily associated with the castle’s chapel area. His identity remains unknown.

Modern Activity

Investigations have revealed significant paranormal activity throughout the castle. The Green Lady has been photographed multiple times, and EVP recordings in medieval French and Welsh have been captured. Furthermore, cold spots that follow visitors and equipment failures near the leaning tower have been documented. Cadw stewards who close the castle in winter, when the visitor numbers fall away and the great curtain walls reflect dusk across the lakes, have spoken of the particular quality of the silence in the inner court at that hour, and several long-serving staff have described unsought encounters that they generally decline to discuss with visitors but are willing to share, more privately, with paranormal researchers.

Skeptical Perspectives

Caerphilly’s atmosphere is partly a product of its geography: artificial lakes, broad ramparts, and a leaning tower whose tilt is visible from the high street of the surrounding town all contribute to a sense of the place as out of ordinary scale. Skeptics suggest that many of the reported phenomena reflect environmental effects rather than supernatural ones. Mist rising from the lakes on still mornings produces precisely the kind of figures observers later describe as drowned soldiers, while the resonance of stone chambers can amplify ordinary sounds into something that feels significant. The castle’s enormous footprint also means that any group of visitors will produce sounds that travel unexpectedly across courtyards, often arriving at empty rooms before the people who made them.

Cultural Impact

Caerphilly’s distinctive silhouette — the leaning southeast tower set against the sweep of the curtain walls and lakes — has made it a recurrent setting for British film and television production, with Doctor Who, Merlin, and several feature films using the castle as a location. That visual ubiquity has reinforced the building’s reputation in the popular imagination, and the supernatural stories attached to it have been carried, often unintentionally, by audiences who first encountered the castle as a backdrop for fiction. The Green Lady, in particular, has become one of the better-known apparitions of the Welsh tradition, frequently anthologised in collections of British castle ghosts.

Visiting

Caerphilly Castle is managed by Cadw and is one of Wales’s most visited attractions. The castle hosts various events and has been used in numerous films and television programs, including Doctor Who. Visitors who arrive early in the morning, before the first coach parties, sometimes have the great inner court briefly to themselves, and it is in such moments that the place seems most clearly to communicate the long memory implicit in its enormous walls.

Sources

• Wikipedia search: “Caerphilly Castle: The Leaning Tower”
• Historic England — Listed Buildings — Register of historic sites