Find out more about the history of the Castle and gardens.
Jacobean and Georgian
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Ruperra Castle was built by Sir Thomas Morgan, one of the most powerful men in Wales at that time, as steward to the Earl of Pembroke. As Surveyor of the Wood to King James I, he had been knighted in 1623. The revenue from these occupations, together with a favourable marriage, enabled him to complete the building of his house at Ruperra in 1626 probably on the site of an earlier mediaeval house. The architect is unknown.
Ruperra was deemed 'fit for a king' in 1645 when King Charles I stayed from 26th -29th July, longer than at Tredegar House or Llancaiach Fawr - gathering support in South Wales after his defeat at the Battle of Naseby. Sir Thomas' grandson, was host on this occasion and the royal coat of arms was added to the decoration on the South Porch. The present public footpath from the Rudry approach to the Castle is still known as the 'King's Drive.' |
In 1684 the Lord Lieutenant of North and South Wales, the Duke of Beaufort, then Lord President of the Council of the Marches, stayed at Ruperra with a large retinue while inspecting the militia during his ‘official progress’ through Glamorgan. Thomas Dineley, the artist, in the service of the Duke, made a famous sketch of the south elevation and mentioned the 'majesty of the old oaks' and the 'proud park of deer'.
A century later Ruperra Castle was destroyed by fire. Thomas Hardwicke was employed to rebuild it and the earlier gables were replaced by flat battlements, depicted in an engraving by A S Neale in 1820. Benjamin Malkin, the antiquary, collecting material for his new book published in 1803 described as 'singularly beautiful' the effect of the harvest moon shining on the Bristol Channel as he walked across the park.
A century later Ruperra Castle was destroyed by fire. Thomas Hardwicke was employed to rebuild it and the earlier gables were replaced by flat battlements, depicted in an engraving by A S Neale in 1820. Benjamin Malkin, the antiquary, collecting material for his new book published in 1803 described as 'singularly beautiful' the effect of the harvest moon shining on the Bristol Channel as he walked across the park.
Victorian and Edwardian
New lodges, namely Ruperra Park Lodge, East Lodge and West Lodge and Ironbridge Cottage were built in the Victorian era. The Iron Bridge, now listed, had been built in 1826 to take the new carriage way from the Castle through Coed Craig Ruperra and across the Rhymney River to Lower Machen Church where the family and their servants attended Sunday services.
By the end of the century the buildings at Ruperra were in need of repair. The stable block had been destroyed by fire in 1895. After the death of Colonel Frederick Morgan in 1909, his son Courtenay embarked on a programme of refurbishment to include a new east entrance porch, new stables, a new power house fitted with duplicate steam-driven generators, dynamos and boilers and a new reservoir and pump house in the deer park. The brew house, laundry and dairy range built in the 1840s, were converted to accommodate the valets, footmen, chauffeurs and garden staff.
By the end of the century the buildings at Ruperra were in need of repair. The stable block had been destroyed by fire in 1895. After the death of Colonel Frederick Morgan in 1909, his son Courtenay embarked on a programme of refurbishment to include a new east entrance porch, new stables, a new power house fitted with duplicate steam-driven generators, dynamos and boilers and a new reservoir and pump house in the deer park. The brew house, laundry and dairy range built in the 1840s, were converted to accommodate the valets, footmen, chauffeurs and garden staff.
The last 100 years
In spite of the splendid building works, Ruperra was now very much only the second home of the Morgan family. Courtenay, the current Lord Tredegar lived at Tredegar House and his son Evan did not make Ruperra his home as previous ‘sons in waiting’ had done. With only a small domestic staff installed, Ruperra was used for hunting and shooting and weekend parties. Even so the gardens were maintained to a high order, with Mr Angus McKinnon heading a large staff. Angus’ wife Agnes supervised the domestic arrangements. By 1935 the fortunes of the Morgan family had declined and the 3000 acre estate was put up for sale. But there were no offers. The contents of the Castle were disposed of in a three day sale. What remained was taken to Tredegar House, the Castle abandoned and the gardens left to go wild.
With the outbreak of World War Two, Ruperra Castle was requisitioned and from 1939 to 1946 a succession of Royal Army regiments, Signals, Mobile Bakery, Searchlights, Medical Corps, Indians, Dutchmen, were sent to Ruperra to be trained and moved on. At the end, came German prisoners of war.
On December 6th 1941 when a British regiment of Searchlights were there, a large fire broke out in the castle caused by faulty electric wiring. Flames were visible for miles around but in spite of the amount of fire engines attending, the castle was gutted by the fire.
On December 6th 1941 when a British regiment of Searchlights were there, a large fire broke out in the castle caused by faulty electric wiring. Flames were visible for miles around but in spite of the amount of fire engines attending, the castle was gutted by the fire.
In 1956, the whole of the Tredegar estates of 53 000 acres were sold off, including the now ruined castle of Ruperra. The Castle has remained in private ownership since then. However, nothing has been done to stop its continued deterioration. As a result, in 1982, the south-eastern tower collapsed. There are large cracks in the other three towers.
History of the gardens
A document of 1559 refers to 'Rhiw'r perrai' the 'hill or slope of pear trees' but their exact location is not known.
The first Sir Thomas enlarged the 16th century deer park at Ruperra and there were still deer on the park at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1699, William Winde, the famous gardener, records in a letter to Lady Bridgeman, that he had moved trees of ‘considerable bigeness withe good suckcess’ at Ruperra.
The 1764 estate map shows a formal landscape style which may date from a century earlier, with its 'lights' and terraces. The remains of those historic terraces may still be present under the grass to the east of the present stables.
In a recent investigation of the first summerhouse on the mound at Craig Ruperra, the foundation bricks were found to be of the same date as those used to build the castle.
The first Sir Thomas enlarged the 16th century deer park at Ruperra and there were still deer on the park at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1699, William Winde, the famous gardener, records in a letter to Lady Bridgeman, that he had moved trees of ‘considerable bigeness withe good suckcess’ at Ruperra.
The 1764 estate map shows a formal landscape style which may date from a century earlier, with its 'lights' and terraces. The remains of those historic terraces may still be present under the grass to the east of the present stables.
In a recent investigation of the first summerhouse on the mound at Craig Ruperra, the foundation bricks were found to be of the same date as those used to build the castle.
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Explanation and Reference
A Mansion House built between 1616 and 1626
B Approach by road from Newport C Entrance into to the terraced courts in front of the house leading to the porch which was originally the chief entrance to the house opening into the lower side of the hall behind the screen and below the music gallery having the great hall on the right hand and the Kitchen Buttery and offices on the left D A square court on the side of the house called the Deer court E. The Garden F Stables and outdoor offices. G Lights cut through the wood from the walk H A semi circular arbour of yew trees by the side of the walk having a break light cut in the front of it. I. The upper summerhouse - the same is an ancient British or Welsh castle consisting of a flat topped conical mound surrounded by a fosse the summit of which was most probably occupied by some timber structure protected by pallisades in its original condition but in later times probably early in the last century the top was surrounded by wall within which was built a square summerhouse of two storeys where the family used to drink tea in the summer time |
By the end of the 18th century the new informal style had taken over. The 'lights' disappeared and the enclosing structures in the castle grounds were removed. The formal gardens became lawns and were enclosed by a curved fence.
The splendid Edwardian gardens, contemporary with the building works of Courtenay Morgan, are still remembered today, as is the head gardener, Angus McKinnon. The listed glasshouse, the only one in Wales built by the famous Mackenzie and Moncur of Edinburgh, has survived since 1913 in amazingly good condition, half hidden now by thick brambles.
After the end of the war the gardens and parklands were left to return to nature, but even now many of the features could be restored in a way which would enhance the wonderful historic setting of the Castle.
The splendid Edwardian gardens, contemporary with the building works of Courtenay Morgan, are still remembered today, as is the head gardener, Angus McKinnon. The listed glasshouse, the only one in Wales built by the famous Mackenzie and Moncur of Edinburgh, has survived since 1913 in amazingly good condition, half hidden now by thick brambles.
After the end of the war the gardens and parklands were left to return to nature, but even now many of the features could be restored in a way which would enhance the wonderful historic setting of the Castle.
The Vanished Gardens of Ruperra - as well as the Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade 2* Listed Ruperra Castle - deserve a better future. The film demonstrates why, and shows what has been achieved at Aberglasney. We would like to acknowledge the support of the Sustaining Caerphilly's Landscape Project, and the funding received from the EU Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and Welsh Government.
History of the family
David
One pedigree states that David's lineage is from Cradoch y fraech fras, Knight at the Round Table of King Arthur. David was also the ancestor of Thomas of Llanbradach.
Gwilym
The first of Rhiwperra and may have built the first house. He had 15 children, and several illegitimate children.
Llwellyn
ap Gwilim = Catherine, daughter of Thomas ap Gwilim Jenkin of Glyn Nedd.
Thomas
ap Llewellyn = Margaret daughter of Sir John Morgan of Pencoed.
Lewis
ap Thomas = Jane Bowles daughter of Sir Thomas Bowles of Penhow.
Thomas
ap Lewis = Elizabeth daughter of Sir Edward Stradling of St. Donats. She was the widow of John Morgan of Pen Cerrig, by whom she had a daughter Mary who married Henry Morgan of Penllwyn. By Thomas of Rhiwperrau she had six children.
Thomas ap Lewis took the surname Lewis. After the death of Thomas, she took a third husband, Edward Morgan of Penllwyn, by whom she had Sir Rowland Morgan of Bedwellty.
Rowland
Lewis = Catherine Mathew daughter of William Mathew of Radyr. Some pedigrees state that Rowland was the younger brother of Thomas.
Thomas
Lewis (son of Thomas and Elizabeth) = Martha, daughter of Rowland Morgan of Machen. He was sheriff in 1599.
Margaret (Mary or Catherine ?) Lewis = Thomas Morgan in 1596, the third but only son of Edmond Morgan of Penllwyn Sarth by his third wife, Elizabeth Carne of Nash.
Thomas Morgan was baptised at Machen in 1564. His father, Edmond Morgan was the fourth son of Sir John Morgan of Machen. He was steward to Henry, second earl of Pembroke and sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1617. Knighted at Wilton by James 1 in 1623, he finished building Ruperra in 1626 on the site of the mediaeval house. He also built the Red House in Cardiff which became the Cardiff Arms. He died in 1642. Some pedigrees state that Captain John Morgan was one of his younger sons.
14 other children including Cadwgan
He was an illegitimate son of Gwilym of Ruperra. GT Clark in Limbus Patrum says; Cadwgan built and died in the tower long called after him at Rhiwperra. An article in Country Life 1986 Oct. 23 pp 1277-9 quotes a letter of one Rev. W Watkins ca. 1762, recording the bizarre discovery of an erect skeleton in a room 2.5m square during the digging of the foundations of a summerhouse at Ruperra. (Catalogue of MSS Relating to Wales in the British Museum, ed. Edward Owen(1922), IV p.847. Was this Cadwgan?
Lewis Morgan
Lewis Morgan was knighted by Charles 1 in 1629. Sir Lewis died before his father in 1629. He was a proté eacute of the Puritan earl of Pembroke. His wife Anna was the daughter of Sir Charles Morgan of Pencarn and his wife Elizabeth the daughter of Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde, a prominent Dutch nobleman. Sir Charles was a soldier who had joined the Dutch Service to defend international Protestantism against the Catholics, a mercenary! Her second husband was Walter Strickland, one of Oliver Cromwell's inner cabinet.
Anna died in 1687 and was buried with her mother at Delft. Lewis Morgan had 6 brothers and 5 sisters, of whom Sir Phillip Morgan of Usk and the Inner Temple, the eldest, leased the Rhiwperra estate after his death. It was Sir Philip Morgan who entertained Charles I at Rhiwperra between 25 and 29 July 1645.
Thomas
Morgan Sister Elizabeth Morgan = Edmund Thomas
Thomas Morgan had died unmarried abroad in 1654. His sister and heir married Edmund Thomas of Wenvoe in 1652. Edmund, born 1633, was the son of William Thomas of Wenvoe by Jane, the eldest daughter of Sir John Stradling of St Donats. Jane's sister married Michael Oldisworth, secretary to the puritan Earl of Pembroke. His elder sister Elizabeth, born 1631, was the eventual heir of Wenvoe and Rhiwperra.
He was the Cromwellian lord Edmund, and died in 1677. His sister Elizabeth married General Edmund Ludlow, a firm republican who signed the death warrant of King Charles I and spent the last 30 years of his life in exile after the Restoration. Edmund Ludlow died in 1692. Edmund Thomas had one son, William, by his wife Elizabeth.
William Thomas = Mary Wharton
William Thomas was born 1655 and married Mary Wharton, a daughter of Philip, fourth Lord Wharton, in 1673. Lord Wharton was staunchly Parliamentarian and a close friend of Oliver Cromwell. His friendship with Edmund Thomas survived the Restoration and politically correct marriages were arranged for his daughters. William Thomas died in 1677, as did his father, leaving two children, Edmund and Anna. His wife Mary at the age of 28 inherited the Wenvoe and Rhiwperra estates. In 1678 she married Sir Charles Kemeys (1650-1702) of Cefn Mabli, the neighbouring estate. His family were staunch Royalists and supporters of the Stuart cause. The marriage made economic sense, even if Lord Wharton and the Thomas family were not pleased. By Sir Charles she had four children. Her children by William Thomas both died in 1693 and 1694 before the age of 21, first Edmund and then Anna. After the death of Mary Wharton in 1699, the estates were inherited by Elizabeth Ludlow, who had married Sir John Thomas of the Wenvoe family, 35 years her junior, to ensure their descent.
Edmond and Anna
Morgan the Merchant Anna Thomas left a will in which she made various bequests to her Kemeys siblings. The estate had been inherited by Elizabeth Thomas, formerly Ludlow, and mortgaged with John Morgan the Merchant, son of Thomas Morgan of Machen and Tredegar. Sir Charles Kemeys began a protracted legal action, which was decided in his favour, and the bequests plus interest were ordered to be paid out of the Rhiwperra estate. As the sum total of the mortgage, bequests and charges were more than the value of the Rhiwperra estate, the estate was sold to John Morgan. He died unmarried and without issue in 1715, leaving the whole of his estate to his nephew. His fortune had been made in trade, in shipping and the iron industry
One pedigree states that David's lineage is from Cradoch y fraech fras, Knight at the Round Table of King Arthur. David was also the ancestor of Thomas of Llanbradach.
Gwilym
The first of Rhiwperra and may have built the first house. He had 15 children, and several illegitimate children.
Llwellyn
ap Gwilim = Catherine, daughter of Thomas ap Gwilim Jenkin of Glyn Nedd.
Thomas
ap Llewellyn = Margaret daughter of Sir John Morgan of Pencoed.
Lewis
ap Thomas = Jane Bowles daughter of Sir Thomas Bowles of Penhow.
Thomas
ap Lewis = Elizabeth daughter of Sir Edward Stradling of St. Donats. She was the widow of John Morgan of Pen Cerrig, by whom she had a daughter Mary who married Henry Morgan of Penllwyn. By Thomas of Rhiwperrau she had six children.
Thomas ap Lewis took the surname Lewis. After the death of Thomas, she took a third husband, Edward Morgan of Penllwyn, by whom she had Sir Rowland Morgan of Bedwellty.
Rowland
Lewis = Catherine Mathew daughter of William Mathew of Radyr. Some pedigrees state that Rowland was the younger brother of Thomas.
Thomas
Lewis (son of Thomas and Elizabeth) = Martha, daughter of Rowland Morgan of Machen. He was sheriff in 1599.
Margaret (Mary or Catherine ?) Lewis = Thomas Morgan in 1596, the third but only son of Edmond Morgan of Penllwyn Sarth by his third wife, Elizabeth Carne of Nash.
Thomas Morgan was baptised at Machen in 1564. His father, Edmond Morgan was the fourth son of Sir John Morgan of Machen. He was steward to Henry, second earl of Pembroke and sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1617. Knighted at Wilton by James 1 in 1623, he finished building Ruperra in 1626 on the site of the mediaeval house. He also built the Red House in Cardiff which became the Cardiff Arms. He died in 1642. Some pedigrees state that Captain John Morgan was one of his younger sons.
14 other children including Cadwgan
He was an illegitimate son of Gwilym of Ruperra. GT Clark in Limbus Patrum says; Cadwgan built and died in the tower long called after him at Rhiwperra. An article in Country Life 1986 Oct. 23 pp 1277-9 quotes a letter of one Rev. W Watkins ca. 1762, recording the bizarre discovery of an erect skeleton in a room 2.5m square during the digging of the foundations of a summerhouse at Ruperra. (Catalogue of MSS Relating to Wales in the British Museum, ed. Edward Owen(1922), IV p.847. Was this Cadwgan?
Lewis Morgan
Lewis Morgan was knighted by Charles 1 in 1629. Sir Lewis died before his father in 1629. He was a proté eacute of the Puritan earl of Pembroke. His wife Anna was the daughter of Sir Charles Morgan of Pencarn and his wife Elizabeth the daughter of Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde, a prominent Dutch nobleman. Sir Charles was a soldier who had joined the Dutch Service to defend international Protestantism against the Catholics, a mercenary! Her second husband was Walter Strickland, one of Oliver Cromwell's inner cabinet.
Anna died in 1687 and was buried with her mother at Delft. Lewis Morgan had 6 brothers and 5 sisters, of whom Sir Phillip Morgan of Usk and the Inner Temple, the eldest, leased the Rhiwperra estate after his death. It was Sir Philip Morgan who entertained Charles I at Rhiwperra between 25 and 29 July 1645.
Thomas
Morgan Sister Elizabeth Morgan = Edmund Thomas
Thomas Morgan had died unmarried abroad in 1654. His sister and heir married Edmund Thomas of Wenvoe in 1652. Edmund, born 1633, was the son of William Thomas of Wenvoe by Jane, the eldest daughter of Sir John Stradling of St Donats. Jane's sister married Michael Oldisworth, secretary to the puritan Earl of Pembroke. His elder sister Elizabeth, born 1631, was the eventual heir of Wenvoe and Rhiwperra.
He was the Cromwellian lord Edmund, and died in 1677. His sister Elizabeth married General Edmund Ludlow, a firm republican who signed the death warrant of King Charles I and spent the last 30 years of his life in exile after the Restoration. Edmund Ludlow died in 1692. Edmund Thomas had one son, William, by his wife Elizabeth.
William Thomas = Mary Wharton
William Thomas was born 1655 and married Mary Wharton, a daughter of Philip, fourth Lord Wharton, in 1673. Lord Wharton was staunchly Parliamentarian and a close friend of Oliver Cromwell. His friendship with Edmund Thomas survived the Restoration and politically correct marriages were arranged for his daughters. William Thomas died in 1677, as did his father, leaving two children, Edmund and Anna. His wife Mary at the age of 28 inherited the Wenvoe and Rhiwperra estates. In 1678 she married Sir Charles Kemeys (1650-1702) of Cefn Mabli, the neighbouring estate. His family were staunch Royalists and supporters of the Stuart cause. The marriage made economic sense, even if Lord Wharton and the Thomas family were not pleased. By Sir Charles she had four children. Her children by William Thomas both died in 1693 and 1694 before the age of 21, first Edmund and then Anna. After the death of Mary Wharton in 1699, the estates were inherited by Elizabeth Ludlow, who had married Sir John Thomas of the Wenvoe family, 35 years her junior, to ensure their descent.
Edmond and Anna
Morgan the Merchant Anna Thomas left a will in which she made various bequests to her Kemeys siblings. The estate had been inherited by Elizabeth Thomas, formerly Ludlow, and mortgaged with John Morgan the Merchant, son of Thomas Morgan of Machen and Tredegar. Sir Charles Kemeys began a protracted legal action, which was decided in his favour, and the bequests plus interest were ordered to be paid out of the Rhiwperra estate. As the sum total of the mortgage, bequests and charges were more than the value of the Rhiwperra estate, the estate was sold to John Morgan. He died unmarried and without issue in 1715, leaving the whole of his estate to his nephew. His fortune had been made in trade, in shipping and the iron industry
Thomas Morgan
His father received Charles I at Tredegar on 16 and 17 July 1645. Thomas Morgan of Machen and Tredegar, born c. 1590, was sheriff in 1661 and died 1664. He married first Rachel Hopton and then Elizabeth Windham of Sandhills, Somerset. By his second wife he had fifteen children. His fourth son John, of London, the merchant, was sheriff in 1697 and M.P. for the county in 1701.
William Morgan
He married Blanch Morgan of Dderw, Brecon, by whom he had five children. Blanch Morgan died 1673 and he married Elizabeth Dayrell, the widow of Sir Francis Dayrell, and a daughter and co-heir of Edward Lewis of Van. However this was a troubled marriage with problems arising over the sanity of Elizabeth Dayrell.
Whist they were still at school, a marriage was arranged between his eldest son Thomas (1664-1699) and Martha, daughter of Sir Edward Mansel of Margam. It was also agreed that his daughter Blanch would marry Edward Mansel, the eldest son of Sir Edward, but she died in 1682, aged 13 years. William Morgan had died in 1680 and his trustees decided that these weddings would still go ahead, but with another daughter in place of Blanch.
Thomas Morgan
Thomas Morgan, the eldest son of William Morgan and his wife Blanch, was born 7 September 1664. He was M.P. for the County of Monmouthshire. All his children by his wife Martha predeceased him, and Thomas died in 1699, leaving his younger brother John as his heir.
John Morgan
John Morgan, born 4 March 1672, married Martha Vaughan, daughter of Gwyn Vaughan of Trebarried. He was M.P. for the Monmouthshire Boroughs in 1701 and for the county in 1708, Lord-Lieutenant of Monmouth and Brecon in 1715. He died 7 March 1719 and was buried at Machen. He inherited the Rhiwperra estate from his uncle in 1715. To provide for his children, John passed on his lands and possessions as settled estates, his sons being tenants for life.
William inherited the Tredegar Settled estate for his lifetime and Thomas the Rhiwperra Settled Estate, together with some other lands acquired in Glamorganshire, for his lifetime. His Aunt Katherine, John the Merchant sister, was grantedthe profits of the Rhiwperra estate until her death. She died in 1724 at Rhiwperra. An apocryphal tale is that her body was being taken to Machen for burial, but the party had to return as the River Rhymney was in flood, when she was found to be still alive.
Sir William Morgan (Brother Thomas Morgan)
William Morgan was born in 1700 and his brother Thomas in 1702. He embarked on a flamboyant life style, his annual expenditure in 1725 being over £37,000.
He married Rachel, the daughter of William, Duke of Devonshire, in 1723 and died in 1731, leaving his wife with four young children. None of the male line survived, the second son dying in 1763 and Lady Rachel in 1780 at the age of 83. The Tredegar Settled Estate was inherited by William younger brother Thomas, who had married Jane, a daughter and co-heir of Maynard Colchester of Gloucester. Thomas Morgan died in 1769. By Jane he had six children, of whom the eldest son Thomas died in 1771, the second son Charles in 1787 (who complained in 1773 that the Rhiwperra estate was worth only £7,000 per year, and the rental collection was lower than that), and the third son John in 1792, all without issue, and the male line was extinct.
During this period, Rhiwperra Castle burnt down in 1783 and was rebuilt by 1792. A result of a long and costly legal battle between Lady Rachel Cavendish and Thomas Morgan was the effective reuniting of the settled estates of Tredegar and Rhiwperra. The estate was inherited by his daughter Jane (1731-1797), who had married Charles Gould of Pitshanger Manor, Ealing. Thomas Morgan had been Judge Advocate General, and his deputy was King Gould, father of Charles Gould. A condition of John Morgan's will was that Sir Charles Gould had to change his name to Morgan, which he did by deed patent in 1792.
Sir Charles Morgan
Charles Morgan son of Jane Morgan and Charles Gould was born 1760. He was an enthusiastic agriculturalist. He married Margaret, daughter and heir of Captn. George Stoney, R.N. They had Charles Morgan Robinson, George Gould, (who lived at Rhiwperra until the death of his father,) Charles Augustus Samuel who became Rector of Machen (Rev. Augustus Morgan) and lived at Machen House, Octavius Swinnerton who became M.P. for Monmouthshire and lived at the Friars, Newport.
In the nineteenth century, Rhiwperra became the home of the eldest son and heir of Tredegar, or for his brother after he had inherited the Tredegar estate.
Sir Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan married Rosamund Mundy, daughter of Major-Gen. Mundy. He was created Lord Tredegar in 1859. They had 3 sons and 4 daughters. Their eldest son Godfrey was at Rhiwperra when news was brought of the Chartist attack on the Westgate Hotel in Newport in 1839, but he was said to have been more interested in shooting rabbits in the cabbage patch. Sir Charles died in 1875.
Godfrey
Charles Morgan (Brother Frederick Courtney Morgan).
Godfrey is famed for his presence at Balaclava and the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. He was made the 1st Viscount Tredegar in 1905. Godfrey began to modernise Rhiwperra after the death of his brother Frederick in 1909, as Col. Freddy Morgan did not want any disturbance in his last years. Godfrey, like his brother Freddie, was well regarded by his tenants. He sincerely believed that with great personal wealth came social obligation and was a generous public benefactor, always willing to support good causes. There is an equestrian statue of him in Cathays Park in Cardiff.
Courtney Morgan 3rd Baron (Son of Colonel Freddie and brother of Frederick George Morgan).
He was married to Katherine Carnegie and after his uncle Godfrey death in 1913, he inherited the estate and continued the modernisation of Rhiwperra, hoping that his son Evan would live there after his marriage. Courtenay (1867-1934) was more interested in sport than agriculture and the estate suffered somewhat. One of his plans was to link Rhiwperra Castle with the adjoining domestic quarters by a billiards hall. He owned the steam yacht Liberty, which opened the Alexandra Docks, Newport, in 1906 and served as a hospital ship during the First World War. He was created a Viscount in 1926.
Evan Morgan
To meet death duties of 30% on an agricultural estate, the trustees of the settled estate put the Rhiwperra estate up for sale in 1935. Any purchaser had an option to purchase a total of 3,000 acres of land, being the rump of the Cefn Mably estate purchased in 1920. In the end, the trustees decided only to sell the contents of the house and close it. Evan Morgan had no interest in the land, being more interested in social, literary, philosophical and mystical matters.
He married twice, his second wife being Princess Olga Dolgorousky. Evan died in 1949 and the estate was inherited by his uncle.
Colonel Frederick George Morgan.
To avoid further death duties, the estate was immediately handed over to his son John, who sold Tredegar House in 1951 and the agricultural estate in 1956. A quick sale was made to meet death duties, and the estate was purchased by the Eagle Star Insurance Company for £800,000, other properties having been sold for £1 million a week earlier. James Lees-Milne in his book Midway on the Waves 1985, describes a visit to Ruperra with John Morgan after the Second World War This fine morning we motored to Ruperra Castle which the Welsh (sic) want to buy from John as a memorial to Welshmen killed in the war and vest in the Nat. (sic) Trust. I could not see any point in it at all. From vestiges of remains it must have had rather nice Adam decoration.
Colonel Freddie Morgan
Colonel Freddie was MP for Monmouthshire and lived at Ruperra until his death in 1909. William Beechey, his farm bail who lived at Ruperra Home Farm, entered in his diary on 2 October 1900, 'The Colonel returned to Parliament unopposed. Went up to the castle to hear him speak. A lot of people up there singing and dancing. Been in Parliament about 26 years.' Then on 4 September 1901 'The Colonel got rheumatic in his arm. September 26. The Colonel not very well'
Bert Stradling
Working on the estate as a young boy of 14 in 1906, he said 'The Colonel and his daughter Mrs Munday, Violet used to hunt a lot. They were always in front of all the others. She used to come down in front of the house over that stile and up the field. She could ride and the old boy too! That what ended his days. He stop in the saddle all day getting soaking wet and he had rheumatic then poor old boy.'
His daughter Blanche wedding in 1883 is recorded in the Monmouthshire Merlin. 'The newly wedded pair and their friends afterwards drove by way of the Draythen road to Ruperra Castle, where about eighty ladies and gentlemen sat down to the wedding breakfast. Marquees were erected on the lawn.'
His father received Charles I at Tredegar on 16 and 17 July 1645. Thomas Morgan of Machen and Tredegar, born c. 1590, was sheriff in 1661 and died 1664. He married first Rachel Hopton and then Elizabeth Windham of Sandhills, Somerset. By his second wife he had fifteen children. His fourth son John, of London, the merchant, was sheriff in 1697 and M.P. for the county in 1701.
William Morgan
He married Blanch Morgan of Dderw, Brecon, by whom he had five children. Blanch Morgan died 1673 and he married Elizabeth Dayrell, the widow of Sir Francis Dayrell, and a daughter and co-heir of Edward Lewis of Van. However this was a troubled marriage with problems arising over the sanity of Elizabeth Dayrell.
Whist they were still at school, a marriage was arranged between his eldest son Thomas (1664-1699) and Martha, daughter of Sir Edward Mansel of Margam. It was also agreed that his daughter Blanch would marry Edward Mansel, the eldest son of Sir Edward, but she died in 1682, aged 13 years. William Morgan had died in 1680 and his trustees decided that these weddings would still go ahead, but with another daughter in place of Blanch.
Thomas Morgan
Thomas Morgan, the eldest son of William Morgan and his wife Blanch, was born 7 September 1664. He was M.P. for the County of Monmouthshire. All his children by his wife Martha predeceased him, and Thomas died in 1699, leaving his younger brother John as his heir.
John Morgan
John Morgan, born 4 March 1672, married Martha Vaughan, daughter of Gwyn Vaughan of Trebarried. He was M.P. for the Monmouthshire Boroughs in 1701 and for the county in 1708, Lord-Lieutenant of Monmouth and Brecon in 1715. He died 7 March 1719 and was buried at Machen. He inherited the Rhiwperra estate from his uncle in 1715. To provide for his children, John passed on his lands and possessions as settled estates, his sons being tenants for life.
William inherited the Tredegar Settled estate for his lifetime and Thomas the Rhiwperra Settled Estate, together with some other lands acquired in Glamorganshire, for his lifetime. His Aunt Katherine, John the Merchant sister, was grantedthe profits of the Rhiwperra estate until her death. She died in 1724 at Rhiwperra. An apocryphal tale is that her body was being taken to Machen for burial, but the party had to return as the River Rhymney was in flood, when she was found to be still alive.
Sir William Morgan (Brother Thomas Morgan)
William Morgan was born in 1700 and his brother Thomas in 1702. He embarked on a flamboyant life style, his annual expenditure in 1725 being over £37,000.
He married Rachel, the daughter of William, Duke of Devonshire, in 1723 and died in 1731, leaving his wife with four young children. None of the male line survived, the second son dying in 1763 and Lady Rachel in 1780 at the age of 83. The Tredegar Settled Estate was inherited by William younger brother Thomas, who had married Jane, a daughter and co-heir of Maynard Colchester of Gloucester. Thomas Morgan died in 1769. By Jane he had six children, of whom the eldest son Thomas died in 1771, the second son Charles in 1787 (who complained in 1773 that the Rhiwperra estate was worth only £7,000 per year, and the rental collection was lower than that), and the third son John in 1792, all without issue, and the male line was extinct.
During this period, Rhiwperra Castle burnt down in 1783 and was rebuilt by 1792. A result of a long and costly legal battle between Lady Rachel Cavendish and Thomas Morgan was the effective reuniting of the settled estates of Tredegar and Rhiwperra. The estate was inherited by his daughter Jane (1731-1797), who had married Charles Gould of Pitshanger Manor, Ealing. Thomas Morgan had been Judge Advocate General, and his deputy was King Gould, father of Charles Gould. A condition of John Morgan's will was that Sir Charles Gould had to change his name to Morgan, which he did by deed patent in 1792.
Sir Charles Morgan
Charles Morgan son of Jane Morgan and Charles Gould was born 1760. He was an enthusiastic agriculturalist. He married Margaret, daughter and heir of Captn. George Stoney, R.N. They had Charles Morgan Robinson, George Gould, (who lived at Rhiwperra until the death of his father,) Charles Augustus Samuel who became Rector of Machen (Rev. Augustus Morgan) and lived at Machen House, Octavius Swinnerton who became M.P. for Monmouthshire and lived at the Friars, Newport.
In the nineteenth century, Rhiwperra became the home of the eldest son and heir of Tredegar, or for his brother after he had inherited the Tredegar estate.
Sir Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan married Rosamund Mundy, daughter of Major-Gen. Mundy. He was created Lord Tredegar in 1859. They had 3 sons and 4 daughters. Their eldest son Godfrey was at Rhiwperra when news was brought of the Chartist attack on the Westgate Hotel in Newport in 1839, but he was said to have been more interested in shooting rabbits in the cabbage patch. Sir Charles died in 1875.
Godfrey
Charles Morgan (Brother Frederick Courtney Morgan).
Godfrey is famed for his presence at Balaclava and the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. He was made the 1st Viscount Tredegar in 1905. Godfrey began to modernise Rhiwperra after the death of his brother Frederick in 1909, as Col. Freddy Morgan did not want any disturbance in his last years. Godfrey, like his brother Freddie, was well regarded by his tenants. He sincerely believed that with great personal wealth came social obligation and was a generous public benefactor, always willing to support good causes. There is an equestrian statue of him in Cathays Park in Cardiff.
Courtney Morgan 3rd Baron (Son of Colonel Freddie and brother of Frederick George Morgan).
He was married to Katherine Carnegie and after his uncle Godfrey death in 1913, he inherited the estate and continued the modernisation of Rhiwperra, hoping that his son Evan would live there after his marriage. Courtenay (1867-1934) was more interested in sport than agriculture and the estate suffered somewhat. One of his plans was to link Rhiwperra Castle with the adjoining domestic quarters by a billiards hall. He owned the steam yacht Liberty, which opened the Alexandra Docks, Newport, in 1906 and served as a hospital ship during the First World War. He was created a Viscount in 1926.
Evan Morgan
To meet death duties of 30% on an agricultural estate, the trustees of the settled estate put the Rhiwperra estate up for sale in 1935. Any purchaser had an option to purchase a total of 3,000 acres of land, being the rump of the Cefn Mably estate purchased in 1920. In the end, the trustees decided only to sell the contents of the house and close it. Evan Morgan had no interest in the land, being more interested in social, literary, philosophical and mystical matters.
He married twice, his second wife being Princess Olga Dolgorousky. Evan died in 1949 and the estate was inherited by his uncle.
Colonel Frederick George Morgan.
To avoid further death duties, the estate was immediately handed over to his son John, who sold Tredegar House in 1951 and the agricultural estate in 1956. A quick sale was made to meet death duties, and the estate was purchased by the Eagle Star Insurance Company for £800,000, other properties having been sold for £1 million a week earlier. James Lees-Milne in his book Midway on the Waves 1985, describes a visit to Ruperra with John Morgan after the Second World War This fine morning we motored to Ruperra Castle which the Welsh (sic) want to buy from John as a memorial to Welshmen killed in the war and vest in the Nat. (sic) Trust. I could not see any point in it at all. From vestiges of remains it must have had rather nice Adam decoration.
Colonel Freddie Morgan
Colonel Freddie was MP for Monmouthshire and lived at Ruperra until his death in 1909. William Beechey, his farm bail who lived at Ruperra Home Farm, entered in his diary on 2 October 1900, 'The Colonel returned to Parliament unopposed. Went up to the castle to hear him speak. A lot of people up there singing and dancing. Been in Parliament about 26 years.' Then on 4 September 1901 'The Colonel got rheumatic in his arm. September 26. The Colonel not very well'
Bert Stradling
Working on the estate as a young boy of 14 in 1906, he said 'The Colonel and his daughter Mrs Munday, Violet used to hunt a lot. They were always in front of all the others. She used to come down in front of the house over that stile and up the field. She could ride and the old boy too! That what ended his days. He stop in the saddle all day getting soaking wet and he had rheumatic then poor old boy.'
His daughter Blanche wedding in 1883 is recorded in the Monmouthshire Merlin. 'The newly wedded pair and their friends afterwards drove by way of the Draythen road to Ruperra Castle, where about eighty ladies and gentlemen sat down to the wedding breakfast. Marquees were erected on the lawn.'
Architectural Importance
Thomas Morgan built Ruperra Castle when the ideas of the European Renaissance, promoted by the new profession of architect, had already swept into England. He thus put Wales on the European architectural map. The great English Elizabethan and Jacobean houses like Woolaton, Hardwicke Hall and Lulworth in England are in a special class and the design of Ruperra had a sophistication not previously seen in Wales. The houses of the Welsh gentry in Wales at this time were late medieval semi-fortified manorhouses to all intents and purposes. However the Welsh new rich who had flocked to the court of the Tudors wanted to emulate the great English landed gentry. Unlike some, Thomas Morgan built his great house in Wales. The architect's name unfortunately is unknown.
Houses no longer looked inwards to a courtyard in the Tudor style but out onto the beautiful parklands. Private rooms no longer opened off one another and the fireplaces were now placed centrally instead of around the outside wall
Houses no longer looked inwards to a courtyard in the Tudor style but out onto the beautiful parklands. Private rooms no longer opened off one another and the fireplaces were now placed centrally instead of around the outside wall
Ruperra is a typical Jacobean pretend castle unique in Wales and marks the transition from medieval to modern design.
Although the houses no longer needed to be defended from attack as in mediaeval times (indeed their walls were not strong enough), their design showed a nostalgia for the towers and battlements of times gone by, which were proudly added to the square building. Heraldry, once intended to distinguish friend from foe, now became a means of expressing pride of pedigree. Hence the heraldic decoration on Ruperra’s south porch.
Thomas Hardwicke designed the building replacing the earlier one destroyed by fire in 1785.
Lulworth Castle in Dorset is very similar to Ruperra - a pageant castle built in the 1600s which was damaged in the following century and was rebuilt, then a fire in the last century. Lulworth was restored with funding from English Heritage and, with its surrounding parkland, is open to the public at certain times of the year. Ruperra Castle has not been so fortunate.
Although the houses no longer needed to be defended from attack as in mediaeval times (indeed their walls were not strong enough), their design showed a nostalgia for the towers and battlements of times gone by, which were proudly added to the square building. Heraldry, once intended to distinguish friend from foe, now became a means of expressing pride of pedigree. Hence the heraldic decoration on Ruperra’s south porch.
Thomas Hardwicke designed the building replacing the earlier one destroyed by fire in 1785.
Lulworth Castle in Dorset is very similar to Ruperra - a pageant castle built in the 1600s which was damaged in the following century and was rebuilt, then a fire in the last century. Lulworth was restored with funding from English Heritage and, with its surrounding parkland, is open to the public at certain times of the year. Ruperra Castle has not been so fortunate.
