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Historic Buildings of Cardiganshire, Wales
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Image right - Aberystwyth Castle
See Table of Welsh Place names (Table listing where places are in Current [Post 1974/1996] Welsh Counties/Historic Counties
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If you have information about any of the Buildings mentioned below please share it here. If you have ancestors linked to any of the places please add them to the project. The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in the county of Cardiganshire, with links to sub-projects for specific buildings as appropriate. GENi profiles of people associated with those establishments can be linked to this project and/or to individual projects where they have been set up.
Castles, Baronial and Historic houses
... in alphabetical order
❊ Indicates an available image in Gallery attached to the project
Including Castles, Abbeys, Manor Houses, Mansions, Stately Homes, Country houses, Estate houses, Courts, Halls, Parks and other listed buildings of historic interest
Bold links are to GENi projects and profiles; others are to external websites
A
- Aberystwyth Castle see sub-project (Welsh: Castell Aberystwyth) is an Edwardian fortress located in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion - built during the First Welsh War in the late 13th century. It was begun during Edward I's first Welsh campaign at the same time as work started at Flint, Rhuddlan and Builth Wells.
C
- Cardigan Castle - was built by Robert Montgomery in 1093 after the Norman army had conquered Ceredigion. A walled settlement developed around the castle and after much unrest and violence over the years, the Norman invaders were defeated. The Lord Rhys instituted the very first eisteddfod in the more peaceful times of 1176. Competitors came from all over Great Britain and Ireland to compete for chairs in music and poetry. The forerunner of the present castle was built by Gilbert Fitz Richard Lord of Clare after the former was destroyed. The castle was handed down to Gilbert's son, Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke in 1136. The same year, Owain Gwynedd led the defeat of the Norman rulers in the town of Cardigan at the Battle of Crug Mawr. The town was taken and burnt, though the castle was successfully defended by Normans commanded by Robert fitz Martin. The castle was later recaptured by the Normans, and was held for Earl Roger of Hertford. In 1166 it was captured by Rhys ap Gruffydd, who rebuilt it in stone in 1171. On Rhys's death in 1197 his sons, Maelgwn and Gruffydd, disputed their inheritance resulting in Maelgwn surrendering Gruffydd to the Normans and selling the castle to King John. The castle was later held for William Marshall. Llywelyn the Great captured it in 1215 and at the parliament held at Aberdovey in 1216 made it over to the sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth, but in 1223 William Marshall the Younger recaptured it. In 1231 the castle was again captured for Llywelyn by Rhys Gryg and his allies. Llywelyn held it until his death in 1240. On Llywelyn's death it fell back into Norman hands, and in 1244 Earl Gilbert of Pembroke rebuilt it with town walls for added protection. It is the remains of this building that still stands overlooking the river. It was badly damaged during the English Civil War in Wales and until the 18th century it was only used as a prison. Sometime between 1805–08 the castle owner, John Bowen, arranged the construction of Castle Green House within the castle walls. The front range was added in 1827. In 1940 the castle and house was bought by Barbara Wood, daughter of a shipping magnate, who moved into Castle Green House with her mother. This fell into disrepair in the 1940s and was allowed to decay further by the owner to the extent that the outer walls needed supporting. Miss Woods continued to occupy the castle for almost 60 years, despite attempts by the local authority to take over the castle in 1971 and Castle Green House being declared unfit for human habitation in 1984.
- Castell Cadwgan, - 12th-century ringwork fortification around a probable wooden structure, was located by the shore at Aberaeron, but has long since been claimed by the sea. Few traces remain today apart from some mounds of earth, the remains of the enclosure bank, most of the site having been eroded. In Wales Illustrated in a Series of Views by Henry Gastineau, published in 1810, it states: "Near the town are some remains of an ancient fortress called Castell Cadwgan, thought to have been erected by king Cadwgan, about the year 1148." In A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, published in 1833, Samuel Lewis similarly wrote: "On the sea-shore, near the village, is a circular encampment, designated Castell Cadwgan, and supposed to have been constructed by Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, about 1148." However, Cadwgan is recorded as having been killed in 1111.
- Castell Pistog fortified mound in the parish of Llandyfriog.
- Cwrt Mawr, where antiquary John Humphreys Davies assembled a valuable collection of Welsh-language manuscripts known as the Cwrtmawr manuscripts, which Davies gave to the National Library of Wales and now forms part of its manuscript collection.
P
- Pigeonsford, a local mansion in Llangrannog
- Pont Steffan ("Stephen's Bridge") - Norman castle - occupied a strategic position beside the River Teifi. It was destroyed in 1187 after it had been conquered by Owain of Gwynedd. The castle's remains later became the foundations for C R Cockerell's college building and still form part of the university campus.
T
- Trawsgoed Estate and Mansion - located eight miles east of Aberystwyth that has been in the possession of the Vaughan family since 1200. The family are descended from Collwyn ap Tangno, founder of the fifth noble tribe of North Wales, Lord of Eifionydd, Ardudwy, and part of Llŷn, who had his residence on the site of Harlech Castle. The estate came into the Vaughan family by the marriage of Adda Fychan with Tudo, daughter and heiress of Ifan Goch of Trawsgoed, 'Evan the Red'. The founder of the modern estate was the parliamentarian and lawyer, Sir John Vaughan, who was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas by Charles II. It was Sir John Vaughan who acquired from the Earl of Essex much of the former monastic lands of the Cistercian abbey Strata Florida. At the same time further land was added to the estate through his marriage to Jane Stedman, daughter of John Stedman of Ystrad Fflur and Cilcennin. The estate has been passed down in the landed family from father to son in a direct line since it was acquired by marriage in 1200. The Vaughans are one of the few aristocratic families who have retained possession of a house since first taking it on in the Middle Ages. Trawsgoed became an estate in the English sense of the word in the 16th century. Strata Florida Abbey was given to Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex to broker during the Reformation and dissolution of the monasteries, and he sold much of it to the Stedman family. Sir John Vaughan married the Stedman heiress and his brother, Henry, her sister. So almost all the abbey estate was taken over by the Vaughans. In 1695, John Vaughan of Trawsgoed, the grandson of Sir John Vaughan, was created Viscount Lisburne in the peerage of Ireland. during the Civil War he married Malet, daughter of the poet and courtier, the Earl of Rochester, and granddaughter of the Cavalier, Sir Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, the victor of the Battle of Roundway Down. The Vaughan family was granted the title Earl of Lisburne in 1776 and remained at Trawsgoed mansion over successive generations. The family at one time owned estates in Northumberland and at Mamhead in Devon. In 1947 the mansion house became the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Wales, and the home farm is still occupied by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and managed by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research. The mansion house at Trawsgoed was sold in 2007. The new owners seek to restore the oldest parts of the house. However, the Vaughan family own over 5,000 acres of the original estate that includes farmland, uplands and Common Land and they retain the use of an apartment in the mansion house at Trawsgoed. Shooting rights on adjoining Forestry Commission woodlands and fishing rights on the River Ystwyth have also been preserved. The house is set in listed parkland and gardens and is some eight miles inland from Aberystwyth. The last remaining Vaughan member to be in residence at the house was the Honourable John Edward Malet Vaughan, born 3 Oct 1952. He is the youngest child of John David Malet Vaughan, 8th Earl of Lisburne and Shelagh Macauley. Formerly a Director of Savills, John Vaughan acts as land agent to the Trawsgoed Estate. The estate manager is Mr. M.C. Lewis.
Y
- Ystrad Meurig was the site of a Grammar School founded by Edward Richard (1714-1777) in about 1734. It subsequently offered pupils a course which included significant elements of Classics and Divinity. The school was thereby enabled to provide a basic training for many Welsh-language speakers who wished to enter the ordained ministry - being one of the few establishments licensed for the purpose by the Bishop of St David's. Several former pupils were later to achieve considerable distinction within the Welsh church. This arrangement continued until the 1820s, when the existing school was finally superseded by a newly established college, which has since been transformed into the current University. The Grammar School later reverted to a more modest status as a school for the village and for the surrounding area, although it eventually adopted the name St. John's College, before finally closing in 1973. After lying almost derelict for some years, the building was more recently restored as a centre for the local community. It is a grade II* listed building
References and Sources
Cardiganshire Specific
General
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monastic_houses_in_Wales
- http://www.castlewales.com/listings.html
- http://www.scottishcastlesassociation.com/
- http://www.stravaiging.com/history/castles
- http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Main/HomePage
- http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk
- http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/
- http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
- http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_houses_in_the_United_K...
- http://www.britainsfinest.co.uk/historichouses/
- http://www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/historic_house...
- http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/
- Historic Houses Association - represents 1,500 houses in the UK
- Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens - UK - guidebook of over 2,000 houses open to the public
- The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses - database of over 7,000 houses
- Lost Heritage - A Memorial to the Lost Country Houses of England - list of over 1,700 houses
- National Trust for Historic Preservation - online database of historic houses in the United State
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Houses_Association - http://www.hha.org.uk/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Houses_of_England
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