Archaeologists will be on site at Swansea Castle this week to start the process of opening up the attraction for the first time in decades.
Experts are due to start clearing soil and debris from the courtyard area to help enable visitor access in the future and reveal the castle’s medieval layers.
Swansea Castle dates back to the early 12th century and its surviving ruins and green spaces are together recognised as a scheduled ancient monument.
Some of the building remains include an historic tower with views over the city centre and coast but part of the ground floor that leads to it has been obscured by earth over time.
A lighting scheme is also planned, grassed areas will be tidied up and safe and secure openings to ground floor rooms will be put in place.
Funding for the works has come from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Strategic Regeneration Area programme and historic environment service Cadw.
The archaeological work will take about five weeks to complete and a blog will be made available online to keep the public updated with progress and any items of historical importance that may be unearthed.
Cllr Chris Holley, Swansea Council Leader, said: “This is the first phase of a project aimed at making our terrific city centre castle accessible to the public once again and the possibilities for the future are plentiful.
“The castle has a hugely colourful history and many people mightn’t realise how extensive a feature it actually is.”
Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley are continuing to put together a development plan on behalf of Swansea Council and the Welsh Assembly Government to explore ways of making the most of the castle as a tourist, commercial and educational feature.
Among the ideas is the potential to regenerate the area around Worcester Place and the Strand to develop a Castle Quarter that could become a visitor gateway into the city centre.
Cllr Holley said: “Swansea Castle is a terrific feature of our city centre that could become a centrepiece for regeneration in the area.
“It’s important we conserve our history but some exciting ideas could be in the pipeline that would combine heritage and tourism and boost visitors to the city as well as local residents and traders.”
A town hall was located in the area in the front of Swansea Castle in the sixteenth century before the building later served as a police station, a drill hall and a barracks.
The area then made way for an ornate post office in the 1850s before new buildings were added at the start of the twentieth century when the post office became part of the Evening Post and Herald operations.
The building was badly damaged during the three-night blitz of 1941 and was cleared about 35 years ago to leave the site we see today.
