St Fagans National Museum of History

St Fagans Castle in the St Fagans Museum

St Fagans National Museum of History (Welsh: Sain Ffagan: Amgueddfa Werin Cymru) is an extensive open-air museum, spread over a hundred acres, by the village of St Fagans in Glamorgan, to the west of Cardiff.

The museum chronicles the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Welsh people. The museum is part of the wider network of 'Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales'.

It consists of more than forty re-erected buildings from every county in Wales, and is set in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, a Grade-I-listed Elizabethan manor house. In 2011 Which? magazine named the museum the United Kingdom's favourite visitor attraction.

A six-year, £30-million revamp was completed in 2018 and in 2019 the museum was named the Art Fund Museum of the Year.

Location

• Location map: 51°29’13"N, 3°16’21"W

The museum covers an estate of a hundred acres, which was the estate of St Fagans Castle. It is to be found at St Fagans, just outside the urban edge of Cardiff, four miles west of the city centre.

History

The museum was started in 1946 following the donation of the castle and lands by the Earl of Plymouth. It opened its doors to the public in 1948, under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum. The museum's name in Welsh (also meaning "Welsh Folk Museum") has remained unchanged since that date, whereas the English title was revised to Museum of Welsh Life, thereafter St Fagans National History Museum, and again to its current title.

The brainchild of Iorwerth Peate, the museum was modelled on Skansen, the outdoor museum of vernacular Swedish architecture in Stockholm. Most structures re-erected in Skansen were built of wood and are thus easily taken apart and reassembled, but a comparable museum in Wales was going to be more ambitious, as much of the vernacular architecture of Wales is made of masonry.

A redeveloped main reception building was opened in July 2017. The six-year £30m redevelopment of the site, which was funded by a number of sources, notably the taxpayers' money and the National Lottery money, was completed in October 2018.

The £30-million redevelopment project provided many benefits, including three new galleries showcasing Wales’ history, improvements to buildings such as Iron Age farmstead, Bryn Eryr, and a Mediæval Prince’s court (Llys Llywelyn), as well as a refurbished main entrance building and a new restaurant, play area and learning spaces. One of the new buildings, Gweithdy (workshop) features stone age tools and stick chairs.

In June 2019, St Fagans was named the United Kingdom’s Museum of the Year 2019 by the Art Fund, which cited the facility's "exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement". The Art Fund is a charity which helps to support museums and galleries.

Buildings and exhibits

Interior of late-19th-century terraced house (Rhyd-y-Car ironworkers' cottages)

The museum includes more than forty buildings which represent the architecture of Wales, including a nonconformist chapel (in this case, Unitarian), a village schoolhouse, a toll road tollbooth, a cockpit, a pigsty (below), and a tannery.

The museum holds displays of traditional crafts with a working blacksmith forge, a pottery, a weaver, miller, and clog maker. It also includes two working water mills: one flour mill and one wool mill. Part of the site includes a small working farm which concentrates on preserving local Welsh native breeds of livestock. Produce from the museum's bakery and flour mill is available for sale.

The mediæval parish church of Saint Teilo, formerly at Llandeilo Tal-y-bont in west Glamorgan (restored to its pre-Reformation state), was opened in October 2007 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and still serves as a place of worship for Christmas, Easter, and Harvest Thanksgiving. A Tudor merchant's house from Haverfordwest, opened in 2012, is the latest building to be added to the museum's collection. Future plans include the relocation of the historic Vulcan public house from Newtown in Cardiff.

Although the museum was intended to preserve aspects of Welsh rural life, it now includes several buildings that depict the industrial working life that succeeded it, that being almost extinct in Wales. There is a row of workers' cottages, depicting furnishing from 1800 to 1985, from Rhyd-y-car near Merthyr Tydfil (below), as well as the pristine Oakdale Workmen's Institute. A post-war prefabricated bungalow represents later domestic lifestyles.

From 1996 to 2012, the museum hosted the Everyman Summer Theatre Festival when it re-located from Dyffryn Gardens. This festival, which includes a Shakespeare play, a musical, and a children's show has become part of the theatrical calendar since its founding at Dyffryn in 1983.

Scenes from the Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were filmed at the museum.

Based on archaeological findings, a reconstruction of Llys Rhosyr, a thirteenth-century court of the princes of Gwynedd, was completed and opened to the public in October 2018. Called Llys Llewelyn ('Llewelyn's Court'), it was opened with the intention that schoolchildren would be able to stay in the buildings overnight, from spring 2019.

The Gweithdy ('Workshop'), a sustainable building designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, was first opened in July 2017; a café was later added. The new gallery was opened in October 2018, housing improved facilities for visitors, supporting the study of collections and hosting demonstrations and workshops by traditional craftsmen.

List of structures

Image	Name	Date	Re-erected	Original site	County	Listing
	Main entrance and administration offices (Percy Thomas Partnership architects).	1968–74	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan
	St Teilo's Church	1100–c. 1520 c. 1100–c. 1520 (present form: c. 1520)	2007	Llandeilo Tal-y-bont, near Pontarddulais	Glamorgan	—
	Cilewent farmhouse	1470 !begun 1470 (present form: 1734)	1959	Cwmdauddwr	Radnorshire	3 !Grade II
	Tudor Trader House	1501–1600 !16th century	2012	Haverfordwest	Pembrokeshire	—
	Hendre'r Ywydd Uchaf farmhouse	1508	1962	Llangynhafal, near Llandyrnog	Denbighshire	3 !Grade II
	Y Garreg Fawr farmhouse	1544	1984	Waunfawr	Caernarfonshire
	Stryd Lydan barn	1550 c. 1550	1951	Penley	Flintshire	3 !Grade II
	St Fagans Castle	1580	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan	1 !Grade I
	Dovecote	18th century	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan	3 !Grade II
	Hendre Wen barn	1600 c. 1600	1982	Llanrwst	Denbighshire	—
	Hawk and Buckle Inn cockpit	1601–1700 !17th century	1970	Denbigh	Denbighshire	3 !Grade II
	Kennixton Farmhouse	1610	1955	Llangennith	Glamorgan	3 !Grade II
	Lead cistern in east forecourt of St Fagans Castle	1620	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan	2 !Grade II*
	Abernodwydd farmhouse	1678	1955	Llangadfan	Montgomeryshire	3 !Grade II
	Smithy	1701–1800 !18th century	1972	Llawryglyn	Montgomeryshire	3 !Grade II
	Tannery	1750–1800 !late 18th century	1968	Rhayader	Radnorshire	3 !Grade II
	Esgair Moel woollen mill	1760	1952	Llanwrtyd	Brecknockshire	3 !Grade II
	Llainfadyn cottage	1762	1962	Rhostryfan	Caernarfonshire	3 !Grade II
	Nant Wallter cottage	1770 c. 1770	1993	Taliaris, near Llandeilo	Carmarthenshire	—
	Southgate tollhouse	1772	1968	Penparcau, Aberystwyth	Cardiganshire	3 !Grade II
	Pen Rhiw Unitarian chapel	1777	1956	Dre-fach Felindre	Carmarthenshire	3 !Grade II
	Cae Adda byre	1778–1900 !18th–19th century	2003	Waunfawr	Caernarfonshire	—
	Pigsty	1800 c. 1800	1977	Hendre Ifan Prosser	Glamorgan	—
	Rhyd-y-Car ironworkers' cottages	1800 c. 1800	1986	Rhyd-y-Car, Merthyr Tydfil	Glamorgan	—
	Llwyn-yr-Eos farmhouse	1820 !begun 1820	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan	3 !Grade II
	Gorse mill	1842 !after 1842	1983	Dôl-wen	Denbighshire	—
	Melin Bompren corn mill	1852 !begun 1852	1977	Cross Inn	Cardiganshire	—
	Hayshed	1870	1977	Maentwrog	Merionethshire	—
	Summer House	1880 c. 1880	1988	Bute Park, Cardiff	Glamorgan	—
	Gwalia Stores	1880	1991	Ogmore Vale	Glamorgan	—
	Maestir School	1880 !in use 1880–1916	1984	Maestir, near Lampeter	Cardiganshire	—
	Sawmill	1892	1994	Tŷ'n Rhos, near Llanddewi Brefi	Cardiganshire	—
	Tailor's shop	1896 (extended 1920s)	1992	Cross Inn	Cardiganshire	—
	Ewenny Pottery	1900 c. 1900	1988	Ewenny	Glamorgan	—
	Derwen bakehouse	1900	1987	Thespian Street, Aberystwyth	Cardiganshire	—
	Urinal	1901–10 c. 1901–10	1978	Llandrindod railway station	Radnorshire	—
	Oakdale Workmen's Institute	1916	1995	Oakdale	Monmouthshire	—
	Saddler's workshop	1926	1986	St Clears	Carmarthenshire	—
	Blaenwaun Post Office	1936	1992	Blaenwaun, near Whitland	Carmarthenshire	—
	Newbridge War Memorial	1936	1996	Caetwmpyn Park, Newbridge	Monmouthshire	—
	Anderson air raid shelter	1939–45 c. 1939–45				—
	Prefab bungalow	1948	1998	Gabalfa, Cardiff	Glamorgan	—
	House of the Future/ Ty Gwyrdd	2000	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan
	Bryn Eryr Iron Age roundhouses		2015 (Reconstruction)			—
	Gweithdy	2016 (opened 2018)	—	St Fagans	Glamorgan	—
	Llys Llewelyn, 13th century royal court	1200s	2016–18 (Reconstruction)	Rhosyr	Anglesey	—
	The Vulcan Hotel	1853	in progress	Adamsdown, Cardiff	Glamorgan	—

Minor exhibits

• 
  Tŷ-Bach (Little House). Toilet in the garden of Rhyd-y-Car ironworkers' cottages
• 
  A Cardiff refreshment kiosk

Future developments

• The Vulcan Hotel will be rebuilt on the site. Originally located in Adam Street, Cardiff, the hotel first opened in 1853. It closed in May 2012 and was dismantled in 2013 to be placed in storage. It is hoped to restore the building as it would have looked in 1915.

• The rebuilding of the Victorian police station from Taff's Well, Glamorgan.
• In 2012 it was announced that Raglan railway station would be rebuilt at the museum.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St Fagans National Museum of History)

• National Museum Wales: St Fagans
• The buildings of St Fagans
• Everyman Theatre
• Celebration of St Dwynwen's day in Wales