23. Downstairs: The Dining Room

It wasn’t only the family who lived in this building – there would also have been about twenty indoor servants who ran the house, looking after the Bute children, cleaning and polishing as well as cooking and serving meals for up to thirty people.

The servants mostly enjoyed living at Cardiff Castle – despite the endless spiral staircases and the dark inconvenient passages. Some servants, such as kitchen maids, wouldn’t have seen grand upstairs rooms such as the Dining Room, the Library and a sitting room that was called a Drawing Room.

The rooms of the house are nearly all highly elaborate, and in a medieval style. An exception is the Drawing Room. You’ll notice it’s plainer than the other rooms, but it is actually older and was built about 230 years ago.

In the Library, Lord Bute had a collection of rare books, all displayed on the bookcases that were designed for the room by William Burges.

The re-building of Cardiff Castle took about twenty years to complete, and for many years the Bute family continued to use the Castle for just a few weeks during the year.

In 1947, following the death of the 4th Marquess, the Castle was given to the people of Cardiff as a gift. For a time, the house became a college of music and drama; but since 1974 the Castle has been recognised as an important heritage asset for the people of Wales and is now enjoyed by visitors from all over the world.