Why is this Castle keep here? The MYSTERY of CHEPSTOW CASTLE 

I still can't wait until Shad sees his very first machiculation in the wild

Seeing you see castles IRL for the first time makes me feel weirdly happy.

This series actually fills a gap in RU-vid. There's plenty of castle media, but most of it is done in a very formal, historian, documentary style. This is the only channel I know of which is doing it in a more raw, content creator, fun youtuber style.

God I love these Castle videos. Would love just a whole series of you visiting castles and forts and just commenting on them.

So happy for you Shad! Thanks for taking the chance to shed a bit of educational light during your Quest for Castles.

I'm happy to see Shad back in his full element, talking about castles, their designs, and how they work.

I always feel a hint of sadness looking at architecture like these. Clearly at one time, the castle was a sight to behold in its prime. Now it's just an empty husk long abandoned.

Croeso i Gymru, Shad! If you find yourself in West Wales please visit Dinefwr Castle. It's a Welsh-built castle and a former home for the ruling dynasty of Wales (for a while). A stunning example and part o y triongl aur (the golden triangle) which includes 2 more nearby castles - the idyllically located Carreg Cennen and the enigmatic ruin of Dryslwyn. Seeing you live out one of your dreams, and starting this journey in my homeland is not only very moving, but also quite wonderful to see a sincere joy expressed in doing what you do. Diolch o galon

There’s a “castle” in Dorset called Maiden Castle. But it’s not actually a medieval castle at all, in fact it was actually an English pagan fortification on top of a hill and is said to hold back the Roman legions for a long time. The top of the hill was large enough for small farming and housing. There’s also large trench routes dug into the hill that would funnel the Roman soldiers into a bottleneck. It was eventually conquered and after the rise of Christianity it was still used and housed a church and all sorts. Now it’s mostly just a big grass hill but the trenches are still obviously and trying to run over them is exhausting enough without wearing armour whilst pagans throw rocks at you! There have been generated digital reconstruction of what it might have looked like both during the age of Christ and during its pagan days.

So cool to finally see you visiting castles in real life, and you’ve started with my home country too 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. I’m really looking forward to your Caerphilly castle video! Some suggestions for castles and other medieval sites in your area- * * *Raglan castle would be epic! Really good machicolations! And a very cool but oddly placed keep. * Castell Coch- near Cardiff, more modern but in medieval style. * Tintern abbey (not a castle but still medieval and awesome) * cosmeston medieval village near Cardiff- epic!!! * St Fagans museum- full of historical buildings * Cardiff Castle, Llandaff Cathedral , Monmouth fortified bridge and Caerleon (Roman town) would be great suggestions too. These are just a few great suggestions relatively close in South Wales. Edit: Raglan would be a really good Castle for you to visit because it’s beautiful, big, had lots of high quality machicolations!!!!! And it was the last medieval castle to be built in Wales.

Hats off to you my man, it's great to hear such a well educated yet down to earth talk on our great castles. I grew up near several castles in North Wales and spent many holidays down near Newport (between Chepstow and Cardiff) so I know these well and somewhat take them for granted - you're helping breathe new life into one of our cultural highlights showing that they're much more than just stone ruins held onto to attract tourists. Definitely looking forward to seeing the rest of your UK castle tour.

I dont think I've ever been more excited for a series of deep dives into Britannia's Castles!! Your presentations are always so wholesome. I reckon this series is gonna become some of your most golden and treasured content!! 🏞🏰🌄

Would love to see Shad having a look around Carlisle and the surrounding area, and Hadrians Wall in general. Vindulanda is well worth a visit; it’s an active archeological dig site of a Roman fort and the attached village, and it’s brilliant. They have managed to find wooden message tablets from the time where you can see the writing of actual Romans. There’s also many examples of castles and fortifications from the whole stretch of British history scattered all over the place, often adapted into modern structures and farm buildings.

Shad, I'm glad to see you in your element and happy as a clam! Your vids are really interesting to watch.

im from northern England but moved to AUS 17 years ago and the only thing i miss the the cold weather and the castles everywhere. Been a fan for years now keep up the good work

The unbridled youthful invigoration flowing through Shad seeing these castles make me smile.

Watching a hard working man achieve some of his dreams in inspiring, hart warming, and beautiful. Love to see you succeed and glad to help in my small way. I'll keep praying for good weather while you travel. "Don't care much after you leave" And say high to the NERDROTIC Team while your there.

What I would give to be on a castle-exploring trip of the UK... Absolutely amazing, Shad. I can't wait to see the next episode!

More of this 'Storytime with Shad' content, please. Fantastic vid Shad, and it's awesome to see you finally getting to visit such incredible historic sites.

As someone from the uk Im so glad you get to see some castles in the uk I’ve seen them all my life and loved it every time it’s not only just plain cool but a snapshot into history, the way people lived, the things they valued and genius they had. If you sit and appreciate it for a moment you can realy get a sense that your family and mine lived this time, it makes me feel connected to my ancestry and give me something that makes me proud to be from the uk a feeling rarely get under its current management. Anyway glad your here and glad you get to see this stuff. Also German castles are awesome

In terms of castle design, a really cool thing that Shad could look into is the staggeringly superflous grandeur of Hyrule Castle, specifically from _Breath of The Wild._ As you might expect of a fantasy fortiffication, this thing really pulls out all the stops, but because you can only explore it 100 years after it's destruction, it feels weridly like visiting a modern castle ruin and has all the recognizible structures. Lots of research went into making this thing feel like a real castle without necessarily being accurate, and I think that would be really interesting to discuss. It would be amusing just to contemplate would it would take for such a thing to have actually existed. It's got a huge moat, multiple gatehouses, a baily holding the town, multiple tiers of cliffs with staggered entryways perched on narrow slopes leading up to a keep that looks more like a cathedral with dozens of towers connected by flying buttressess surronging a complex of spires. Basically, you have a curtain wall, another curtain wall, a gatehouse acting as a keep blocking the pathe further up the meandering slope. Another gatehouse acting as as another keep, then a final fortified church that honestly doesn't look all that resiliant to attack, but it's parctically perched on the peak of a mountain inside a lake anyway. But it doesn't stop there; there's not only dungeons but mines and a secret bay concealed withing the moat which grants access to the outside for sorties. A library, and a n extra tower just for Zelda and her studies.

Never thought you'd go to Chepstow! I went there super recently, it's very near where I live. Surreal

Shad going around the world discussing and showcasing fortifications and castles would be a great series.

I love having you tour us through the castles of Britain thank you! It is a pity that youtube has shut your out reach for your videos, God willing your views will go back up. I will pray for you and your livelyhood.

So nice to see your passion really shine through being able to perform one of your dreams. Keep up the good work in education and debate on medieval topics.

Shad, I am so thrilled that you got to go here and witness such a huge part of your passion and identity in person, immersed in the history!

A month definitely isn't going to be long enough 🙂 Love this return to castle content! I could watch Shad talk about every castle in the UK and Ireland, and then do the continent... that should keep you busy for the next twenty years or so!

Fun fact: after the battle at Tewksbury, Edward IV sent Roger Vaughan to deal with the Lancastrian Jasper Tudor. Instead, Jasper captured Vaughan, and had him beheaded at Chepstow Castle. Seems Vaughan had been the man to decide to behead Jasper's father Owen, after the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, ten years before. Jasper never sought or could have been pardoned. And he could never have trusted a pardon by Edward IV. Thanks, Shad, for all your work.

of course there were earlier fortifications the saxon burh's were often in stone as time went on plus towns were somtimes walled

Hope you are enjoying your holiday in the UK. So many castles so little time.

Shad's enthusiasm is infectious. He's like an avuncular university professor gleefully taking the students through history.

It's great you have finally been able to see the castles in person. The history squad did a fantastic tour of this place, and that's another great video to watch.

Shad is basically a historian when it comes to medieval castles.

amazing thanks Shad. Very informative and just for me as I am also heading to the UK in 3 weeks time from Melbourne and looking forward to the castles and other ruins as well.

As a Newport chap born and bred i am loving seeing these videos. I suppose I've always taken it somewhat for granted the wonders on my doorstep. Ive gone past them daily for 30 odd years and always look. Keep it up Shad. There so much more for you to see.

This castle is such a good example of the continuous development of castles over time. It makes me interested in how castle development can be effected by the staging of the building of a castle. I could use these ideas in a fantasy novel.

Love that Shad is so passionate about seeing castles "in the wild". Enjoy the journey, Shad and Lady!

Ah. I missed hearing Shad talk about castles.

To be fair, the expanded defenses around the castle make it a stronger defensive position, just not the most optimized position. The outer walls are great for projecting force over the cliff faces, which seems to be their main purpose. Without the outer curtain walls, someone could climb up the cliffs relatively sheltered from shooting and then attack the keep, but with the expanded walls and towers, scaling the cliff face would be extremely difficult.

There are a few Norman castles in Ireland, built about 100 years after Chepstow. Carrickfergus Castle is probably the biggest still standing in Ireland. Highly recommend a visit, it’s a beautiful castle.

Keep giving videos like this, explaining the history and why of the castles, love it. Glad you are living your dream.

Makes me happy knowing you've visitied one of my local castles. I also hope youre able to visit the uk and europe more in the future shad. Side note you called it chapstow a lot here. Its pronounced chep like prep

Can’t wait to see your reaction to Caerphilly Castle and it’s three-walled defence. It’s wonderful to watch someone’s genuine and infectious enthusiasm for British History. It’s also refreshing to hear someone from another nation who values their British ancestry.

It's genuinely great to hear Shad talk about castles again! I'm happy he's getting to live a dream of his, it's super inspirational for me to work harder!

I always liked your videos on medieval architecture, and it's nice to see you getting to visit these bad boys in person. Edit: get yourself to York if you can, the roman city walls are still standing in many parts and there are medieval/early modern guildhouses you can visit, as well as a lot of ollllld buildings being used as shops and whatnot.

Seeing Shad with these castles is so awesome, I really love this for him.

Roman, eh? There's a massive Roman city running almost from Chepstow to Newport! I think it's only recently we figured out it was all part of the same thing, or perhaps it's sort of suburbs of one settlement. Lots of Roman ruins around Caerwent and Caerleon. The Roman baths in Caerleon are now a museum, there's an amphitheatre and barracks you can fully explore just over the road, too.

I really loved this video. The narrative, the shot of the castle, the music, just 10/10. More of this please, Shad!

This is the content I've missed! More castles, please! I really hope you go to Caernarfon! And you need to see MACHICOLATIONS!

I did a course on the Normans, about their castles, where they built them, how they built them, and what their purpose, and your videos just complement what I learnt. The cathedrals also had their purpose too, and not just religious ones. William I basically brought over Norman culture to England and the impact it had is still felt today. History is just fascinating stuff.

I love this series. Not just because I enjoy the content and education but also it's so nice to see shad finally living out s dream of his.

I’m really loving these videos! Classic Shadiversity. Just a man teaching us about what he loves.

This is what I love about living in the UK, we have such a rich history with so much to learn.

I love that you're actually there doing these castle explanations instead of just showing videos of other people's drones or artwork made a thousand plus years ago. You should make a trip to Germany next and do those castles too! Need another million subscribers so you can afford it! Let's go!

Considerably good production in an outdoors setting; well done Shad! Great content too 😀

Can't wait for the next video. Gosh, I've missed these types of vids and this is Shadiversity 2.0 because you're actually there.

I again am excited that you are there and doing a historical account of this castle. This makes my day!

This is reminiscent of old shad and I love it. Lately the videos have been too goofy, this is filled with historical discussion and no skits, goofy tests, etc. I really hope there are more videos like this!

I love these vlog videos. it feels like vintage shad

I'd love more videos dedicated to analysis and history of specific real world castles like this and like those of fictional castles from earlier on the channel !!

Shad, these architectural videos are just awesome. I remember watching one of yours where you were explaining about cathedrals in Australia. Great video. I hope you get to visit other medieval structures there in Britain as well alongside with the castles. There isn't much detailed information about those buildings on the internet, specially concerning more of the individual particularies and circunstances that make each specific structure having its own characteristics and composition which helps to explain many things we otherwise wouldn't be able to get with the more general information. Kind regards!

Honestly its so nice just seeing you over here to be in the presence of these structures. I truly hope you enjoyed your visit, and hope you do return soon :)

I just saw a documentary on this very castle... excited to see your take on this.

As to Norman era, the percentage of castles fitting the standard motte and bailey as seen in text books, is surprisingly few. A good one is Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. Many have two baileys such as Windsor, or, like Lincoln and Lewes that have two Mottes. One motte built and then the Normans thinking, "Actually we can do better" and they build another next door. Then you have the use of previous roman defence walls such as Pevensey that used to be a small island in the middle of marshland, hence no big straight roman walls. Plus there are others that use the lay of the land, like Edinburgh on an extinct volcano. In addition, you have to think of supply. Chepstow is a key one for supply issues and the vital aspect to keeping Chepstow would have been supply from the River Wye. Supplying Chepstow by land, you have the massive River Severn to get round and then the River Wye. So looking at it purely from the ground, it would be easy to bottleneck and besiege Chepstow. That is where the importance of the river and supplies comes in. After all that, you also have the half done castles. Tonbridge in Kent was built around 1066 onwards, has a bailey and it has a mound, but no Motte!! All you will find at the top of the mound is a well and relatively tiny defences. The main structure at that castle is the gatehouse. Artists over the years have design some quite grandiose mottes for Tonbridge, but in reality there was very little there. Maybe, just enough to defend the well. Alas, we all have to be careful of the fanciful imaginations of historians put on the spot. For standard Roman style, Burgh Castle near Norwich in East Anglia is a lovely example. Be careful though as there is a later brick built Caister castle not far away. Also Framlingham Castle is a wonderful example. Funnily "Caister" translates to castle, so it is literally called castle castle. Just like "Ouse" and "Avon" is river, so River Ouse is river river and River Avon is river river. Corfe, which I think you plan on visiting in Dorset is a good example of a "slighted" castle, blown up during the civil war.

This is the type of stuff I want to see on the history Channel

Shad is in Wales? Should pop in and say hi to MauLer.

Great analysis! I love that you look at how and when parts of the castle and fortifications were built to explain their position. Its such a writerly thing to do to put yourself in their place and think 'why this and that' and 'what would i do in different situations' and honestly it adds so much life to your commentaries because its as much about the people building and using the structures as the structures themselves. It makes them so much more lively when you picture it that way and I love it!

Something magical about seeing Shad actually at castles 🎉🎉🎉 ❤

I know I said this in another video, but it makes me so happy to see Shad getting to visit actual castles. Great video that does explain a lot.

I love me a good Norman keep. I enjoyed visiting Peveril Castle. Very small but very cool defensible location, and keep and defensive wall still mostly intact. And can also visit the Devils Arse while you're there in Castleton...of all places.

I've lived in Chepstow my whole life and have learned a lot about the castle and history of the town but this video still taught me stuff I didn't know thank you !

12:00 Our forefathers weren't stupid. They simply had to make do with what they had at the time. Truly astounding in every sense of the word.

Hey Shad! It was great to see you at the medieval festival. I didn’t even know you were going to be there but what a great surprise it was to turn up and my favourite historical RU-vidr is there doing a meet and greet. I had a proper fanboy moment to which my sister and fiancé can both attest to

With all the people walking behind you as you're discussing the castle, I have to wonder if you managed to collect a crowd while recording and gave them an unofficial castle tour.

I live very close to Chepstow and it’s very awesome to see Shad visit castles that I’ve vistited all my life

I really enjoy these in person castle videos - keep up the great work, Shad!

Keep them coming! Hope you get up to Conwy, and the Roman walls at Chester.

I think this is interesting to me, for my friends and I came across the same problem when building a base in 7 Days to Die. The original layout had the strongest structure in the back left corner, so we built from there and had to add more walls surrounding that corner - and eventually that corner ended up being the center of the base.

Very cool. Enjoyed the information. I visited Chepstow Castle in mid August. But luckily for me it's only 2hrs away not 24+ hours of travel!

Castle videos are 100% my favorite!

You'd be a great tour guide and the information here is great, you're pointing out details that nobody locally has ever done. I live in Chepstow and for residents 'its just a castle' for the most part.

We are going to have Shad in the UK videos filling our feed for months and that is a very good thing indeed. All the castles he gets to visit should have their tour guides lined up behind the camera listening to every word he says. Given how paranoid the UK is about pointy sharp cutty/pokey/stabby things, I wonder how he's managing to stroll around rocking a broadsword?

Shad, I hope you are recording the reactions to you seeing these castles for the first time, because last video made my yeah to see the genuine excitement

We need more castle video like those :) been waiting for years to see Shad doing that hahaha, thanks for all these years of amazing content and so happy for you to realize your dream Shad.

Now, this is an interesting video! It's great to see Shad in his element like this!👍

Can you make a series, in which you describe the pros and cons of different individual castles and rate their defensibility?

I’m gonna be sad when the castle content is over. I’ve waited for this all week.

if your in chepstow you should pop down the road and check out monmouth castle

I am an old man, but I can remember reading The Adventures of King Arthur by torch under my bedsheets late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. I grew out of such silly things, but you did not, Shad...Bless you for that.

For a poorly designed castle, it really fits in the world of Monty Python!

So happy to see you visiting a real castle and getting to enjoy your knowledge on the subject. Shad's pilgrimage is what I think this is.

Shad, any issues with people over carrying that sword around in England?

Life in a Medieval Castle by Josegh and Frances Geis is all about Chepstow. Thanks for the video, Shad.

Yep, that's Britain, alright. Look at that sky.

Nice seeing Shad being released into his natural habitat.

Are you enjoying the UK shad

Finally. Classic Shad castle videos again. Hope there are many more to come.

I would guess the stone was most likely pilfered from the Roman Fortress at Caerleon, Isca Augusta, just down the road from Chepstow. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your time in King Arthur territory, that’s the part of Wales he was from. King Arthur of Gwent and Morgannwg (Glywysing), Arthrwys ap Meurig, Meurig being the Uther Pendragon, an epithet and military title. Uthyr meaning Terrible as in someone who Terrified and Pendragon being Pen (Head) Dragon (Leader) the commander in chief, the generalissimo, the chief leader.

I have been watching your videos for years. Seeing you in my area in the castles I have grown up around is amazing

Just a comment for the algorithm