Ruperra Castle

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The ruin of Ruperra Castle. Photography from 2011

Ruperra Castle is the ruins of a mansion in Caerphilly in Wales . The ruin, protected as a Grade II * cultural monument and a Scheduled Monument , is about 2.5 km east of the village of Rudry between the cities of Caerphilly and Newport .

history

The mansion was originally built around 1626 by Sir Thomas Morgan , steward of the Earl of Pembroke . During the English Civil War , King Charles I visited the manor after his defeat in the Battle of Naseby . After the death of John Morgan in 1715 whose eponymous nephew inherited John Morgan the property, which then owned by the family Morgan of Tredegar remained. From around 1782 it served as the residence of the heir to the family estates. In 1785 the building was badly damaged by fire and then rebuilt under the direction of Thomas Hardwick . From the 1920s the mansion was only rarely used. British troops were housed in the house after the evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II . In December 1941 the property burned down. In 1962 the ruin and the property belonging to it, which was now used for agriculture, was sold. The ruins of the manor house have been protected as a cultural monument since May 8, 1964, but are still falling into disrepair. Most of the southeast tower collapsed in 1982. The Ruperra Castle Conservation Trust has been trying to preserve the ruins and the surrounding park since 1996 .

investment

Mansion

The mansion is on a hill above the Rhymney Valley . The almost square complex with crenellated, round corner towers is one of the last mansions to be built as a castle-like property in the Jacobean style , and one of the most important Renaissance buildings in south Wales. The design is similar to that of Wollaton Hall in Northamptonshire, built around 1580 and Lulworth Castle in Dorset, built around 1608 . As one of the first buildings in Glamorgan , the manor was built largely from bricks, which were later plastered and are not visible from the outside. The facades of the three-story mansion each have five regular window axes, with the windows varying in height and width. The main entrance on the south side is emphasized by a two-storey entrance porch, faced with Bath Stone and decorated with a coat of arms and cornice. After the fire of 1785, the gables on the south and east facades were replaced by crenellated roof parapets. After 1909, Courtenay Morgan had additional porches built on the east and west facades. Due to the fire and the following years of decay, only a few remains of the interior, such as a fireplace in the kitchen, have survived.

Garden and park

In the 17th century the property was surrounded by a hunting park. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the manor house was surrounded by a garden that turned into a landscaped park of over 64 hectares . Sightlines lead south and east over the Rhymney Valley to Tredegar House , the former headquarters of the Morgan family near Newport. In the north of the manor there is a wooded area in which Ruperra Motte , a medieval castle site, is to the northeast . A summer house was built on the top of the castle hill in the 18th century.

Farm buildings and stables

To the north of the manor house are the former farm buildings, which were probably built after 1785, but were considerably rebuilt around 1910. The two-storey complex, built on a U-shaped floor plan, is protected as a Grade II cultural monument. After the old stables were destroyed by fire in the 1890s, the new stables and a carriage house were built north of the farm buildings around 1910. The two-storey, four-wing complex was built around an inner courtyard into which a barrel-vaulted passage leads. The passage is gabled, the roof above has a ridge turret. To the east of the stables was the walled kitchen garden. The former stables, protected as a Grade II cultural monument, are unused and neglected.

Web links

Commons : Ruperra Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Visit Caerphilly: Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
  2. ↑ British listed Buildings: Ruperra Castle. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
  3. ^ John Newman: Glamorgan (Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan) (The Buildings of Wales; 3). Penguin, Harmondsworth 1995. ISBN 0-14-071056-6 , p. 546
  4. ^ British listed Buildings: Former Dairy and Laundry to north of Ruperra Castle. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
  5. ^ British listed Buildings: Stable and coach-house courtyard ranges to north of Ruperra Castle. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′ 13.1 ″  N , 3 ° 7 ′ 37.6 ″  W.