Glen Johnson – Castle Historian

Glen is a volunteer at Cardigan Castle who plays a pivotal and integral role in the Castle’s life and its continuing development. He has over forty years’ experience of volunteering at the Castle and sees researching the castle’s history as “trying to complete an infinite jigsaw. You know you’re never going to see the full picture but sometimes you’ll find a key piece and things get clearer and clearer all the time.”

Since the days of Miss Wood, Glen has spent the years uncovering the mysteries hidden inside the walls of Cardigan Castle.

He first became interested in the site’s 900 year history when he was given a school project as a 14-year-old. “Most children chose subjects that had already been well researched like the Tudors or World War I, but even at that age I was keen on history and wanted more of a challenge, I remember thinking ‘everyone in Cardigan knows of the Castle but no one really knows anything about the Castle’”

He recalls how he met Miss Wood “A boy in the year above me in school had become friendly with Miss Wood; she wasn’t in the greatest health and he would help her out by offering guided tours of the site. He arranged for me to visit.” In the spring of 1985, Miss Wood asked Glen to become the site’s ‘tour guide’.

“It was a real honour, so me and a small group of friends became the ‘Cardigan Castle Volunteers’ and we’d spend our free time looking after the site, clearing the overgrown gardens and so on.”

In 1987, at the age of just 17, Glen published his first book called ‘The Forgotten Castle of Cardigan’. The following year he left for university but never lost interest in the site. He would often lecture on its history and even wrote a discussion document when he was a member of Cardigan Town Council in 1996.

Years later, this document was used by officers of Ceredigion County Council as an argument for preserving the site when its future was being considered.

“I was flattered to play a small part in the discussions that saved the Castle” but Glen is keen to emphasise that the Castle was saved by “a cast of thousands and I’m proud to have done my bit alongside everyone else.”

In 2003, following a community campaign launched and supported by the local newspaper, the castle was purchased by the local authority and the first steps were taken towards its refurbishment. Thanks to partner funding and the support of the local community, Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust – the Charitable Trust set up to save the Castle went on to secure the £11m of investment needed to restore the site, completing the work and opening to the public in  spring 2015.

As well as restoring the Castle, Castle Green House and the other buildings on site to their former glory, the project has seen the creation of a permanent exhibition centre, an events garden, restaurant, luxury heritage accommodation and wedding venue, to ensure a sustainable future.

The ‘Castle Collection’ website of which Glen is co-editor is the next step in safeguarding the future of the legacies which have been entrusted to the Castle to share with future generations.