St Fagans Castle
| St Fagans Castle Welsh: Castell Sain Ffagan | |
| Glamorgan | |
|---|---|
 The approach to St Fagans Castle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST11997715 |
| Location: | 51°29’11"N, 3°16’8"W |
| Village: | St Fagans |
| History | |
| Built c. 1580s | |
| Country house | |
| Elzabethan | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | National Museum Wales |
St Fagans Castle is an Elizabethan mansion in Glamorgan, found in St Fagans to the west of Cardiff. It dates from the late 16th century.
The grounds of St Fagans Castle now contain St Fagans National Museum of History.
The house and remaining mediæval fortifications are Grade I listed.[1]
History
A mediæval castle dating from the 13th century previously existed on the site. By 1536 it lay in ruins. By 1563 the site had been sold to a Dr John Gibbon. A new house was built on the site either by Gibbon or by Nicholas Herbert, who bought the site from Gibbon in 1586.[2]
Part of the D-shaped mediæval boundary fortifications remain, forming a wall around the current house.[3]
Sir Edward Lewis of The Van, Caerphilly, bought the house in 1616 and the interior dates partly from then and partly from after 1850, when it became the summer residence of the Windsor-Clive family.[4] The property was part of the estate of the Earls of Plymouth and, in 1833, was inherited by Lady Harriet Clive who proceeded to restore the building.[5] The sequence of terraces in the gardens was created for the Windsor-Clives in 1865–6 and extended in the early 20th century.[4] The house became a convalescent hospital for soldiers during the First World War, with the banqueting hall containing a ward of 40 beds.[6]
In 1947 the Windsor-Clives gave the house and grounds to the National Museum of Wales, and the grounds subsequently became the site of the Welsh Folk Museum, now St Fagans National Museum of History.[7]
Listing
St Fagans Castle became a Grade I listed building in 1977. The lead water cistern in the courtyard of the castle is Grade II* listed,[8] while a number of features in the gardens are listed as Grade II.[9]
Gallery
-
Courtyard and lead cistern -
North facade and gardens -
Western wall -
Part of west wall and old fortifications -
Stable block -
Gardens and mediæval ponds
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St Fagans Castle) |
- St Fagans Castle and Gardens, St Fagans National Museum of History
References
- ↑ St Fagans Castle - British Listed Buildings
- ↑ Site details: St Fagans Castle (RCAHMW)
- ↑ Browne, D. M.; Griffiths, Prof R. A. (2000), Glamorgan: Later Castles, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, pp. 341–345, ISBN 1-871184-22-3, https://books.google.com/books?id=mhnYtVAUhQEC&pg=PA341&dq=st+fagans+castle&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AdoyUrGFI6Sx0QW_8oDwBw&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=st%20fagans%20castle&f=false
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Newman, John (1995), Glamorgan, The Buildings of Wales, London: Penguin
- ↑ "Death Of The Baroness Windsor". The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian: p. 5. 13 November 1869. http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000914%2f18691113%2f039.
- ↑ "St Fagans 'hidden' gems give World War I insight", BBC News, 21 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-12.
- ↑ Glamorgan: The Greater Houses, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, 1981, p. 246, ISBN 0-11-700754-4, https://books.google.com/books?id=lm4CmIvbAa4C&pg=PA243&dq=%22st+fagans+castle%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=q9oyUvriAeSA0AXGwYGgDw&ved=0CGMQuwUwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ Site details: Lead Cistern in the east forecourt of St Fagans Castle (RCAHMW)
- ↑ Coflein Search: St Fagans Castle