May 2024 - Location Visit - Caldicot Castle

On the Friday before the 40th Anniversary Herne's Arrow event, Lucy and I stopped off at Caldicot Castle whilst travelling and had lunch there, intending to check out some of the local locations used in Robin of Sherwood.

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Caldicot Castle is an extensive stone medieval castle in the town of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, southeast Wales, built near the site of Harold Godwinson's former Saxon castle by the Norman earls of Hereford from about 1100. From its Norman origins it evolved into a stronghold in the Middle Ages, fell into neglect and then was later restored as a Victorian family home, the castle has a romantic and colourful history spanning centuries. Caldicot Castle is set within a wooded country park and contains tranquil gardens.

Having a free car park and no entrance fee makes the location a perfect stopping point after a long car journey. It also benefits from loos and a nice coffee shop with local ice cream and cider and at reasonable prices (unlike convention bars! ) The location also seems popular with locals for picnics and the walking of dogs. Much more peaceful than your typical motorway services. It was also helped that on the day we visited, it was a lovely sunny, warm late spring day.

The Castle itself features in two Robin of Sherwood stories.

The Swords of Wayland (Part 2)

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and

Time of the Wolf (Part 1 and 2)

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NB.

The fan publication Trail of Robin of Sherwood (and other sources) claim the curtain wall that Will climbed in the Inheritance was filmed at Caldicot. However, this is not correct. The Inheritance was largely filmed at the nearby Chepstow castle. The section of wall that Scarlet scaled is in-between two towers that can be clearly identified towards Chepstow Castle's 'rear' section. The same is true for the shooting star scene, also at Chepstow.

For The Swords of Wayland, Caldicot's gatehouse was used for Castle's Gwydion's gatehouse. It appears in several scenes as our characters enter and leave the castle. The camera setup was just opposite the main entrance about 20 metres or so within the treeline. Note the drainpipe in shot for the Swords of Wayland footage!

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Caldicot Gatehouse - 2024

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Episode - The Swords of Wayland

With the filming for The Swords of Wayland, a banner was used to hide the modern window above the gate and wooden boards to obscure the Victorian windows at the side. The woodland used by the outlaws was probably at another location.

For The Time of the Wolf, the land to the left of the Gatehouse was used as the monastery allotment area and the gatehouse itself was used as the main entrance to Grimston Abbey. Most battlement scenes are also located at this front gatehouse.

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Caldicot Entrance with grassy interior courtyard and the promise of tasty refreshments!

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Grimston Abbey with the fake inner doorway and steps!

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Another shot of the fake interior, it looks pretty convincing, hats off to the set people!!!

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Fake entrance close up - this was in reality just a facade within the inner grassy courtyard area!

For this episode a set was built to obscure the grassed courtyard. This set piece was large and was modelled to present an secondary abbey door for the interior. This set was then re-purposed for the internal scenes at Pro-Cathedral in Bristol. The gateway exterior itself is used for several scenes with the arrival of the Wolves, Gisburne and the departure of the Sheriff, Gisburne and Robin later on.

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Monk tossed from the bridge at the front.

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More peaceful times...

The area of ground to the left of the entrance and in front of the moat was used for the Monk's allotment gardens. This also features in a number of tracking shots with the arrival and departure of characters.

Allotment Gardens (Left of Entrance)
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The moat area to the front, side and rear of the castle was used for the fight and chase scenes, with the outlaws planning their attack and the running, chasing and galloping horse sequences. Also the scene with Gisburne demanding the surrender whilst pointing at the battlements where the prisoners were displayed from a tower at the rear of the castle. The same tower features Grendel giving a welcome to Grimston Abbey at the end of The Time of the Wolf part 1.

Moat (Left of entrance looking towards entrance bridge)
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Robin seeks entry to Grimston Abbey

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Location shot showing ramparts and lower wall where Grendel spies Robin and the Merries making their approach

The chase scenes around the rear with this distinctive earthworks, although some 40 years later some of the surrounding vegetation makes it difficult to determine precise camera locations!

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Then

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Now

The tower where the prisoners are exhibited is quite distinctive though. The door at the bottom of the tower is also where Grendel appears. This tower is located almost opposite the front entrance at the rear.

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Stop! or the prisoners will die!!!

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Welcome to Grimston Abbey!

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Today... time for an ice cream?

All these locations can be seen from outside Caldicot castle, and can be appreciated by walking around the castle in a clockwise direction starting from the gatehouse. Most scenes can be recreated by standing in the moat. However, the castle interior is also worth a visit if you can manage it, it is open from Tuesday to Sunday at the time of writing this post. Dogs are welcome on leads and there is a coffee shop and seating if you want to picnic. Do check out the novelty bicycle parking rack within the courtyard as well!!