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In a few lines each day, William Beechey's diary records twenty years of information about the events and lives of the people of the Ruperra Estate. Read his entries in the weeks running up to Christmas in 1899.
 Route William Beechey would have taken from Ruperra Home Farm to deliver supplies to Ruperra Castle  Older William Beechey and family Read stories from the memories of people who worked on the Ruperra Estate in our book: Serving Under Ruperra by Pat Jones-Jenkins - An illustrated account taken from recorded testimonies of people who worked on the Ruperra Estate in the 19th and 20th centuries up to 1939. £6.00. Find out more about our films and books
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 This year the Trust has commissioned Haf Weighton to visualise a reborn Castle and gardens in its landscape setting. Haf is a Cardiff-based artist who works with paint, print and stitch, her portraits of architecture convey a sensitivity and connection to place. Find out more about artist Haf Weighton
In preparation for the piece Haf has created sketches of Ruperra Castle buildings and gardens to inform the final embroidered piece in 2022. She has turned the sketches into a beautiful desk calendar which is available to purchase for £7.50. The calendar measures 21 x 15cm. If you would like to purchase a calendar please email [email protected] We have a limited number available on a first come first served basis. We will deliver locally for free. Any profits go to the Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust. 6 December marks 80 years since Ruperra Castle was gutted by fire during the second world war. To commemorate the event we are telling stories from our book, Ruperra Castle War and Flames 1939-46. People know that soldiers were at the castle when it burnt down but over the years all sorts of myths have grown up. It is often said with great confidence that the Americans were responsible. However, the fire was raging on the night of the 6 December when Japanese planes started their journey to Pearl Harbour. It was only then that America entered the war. Italian prisoners of war have also been blamed but it is doubtful if there were ever any Italian prisoners of war at Ruperra. They were at Castleton later. The Dutch were also blamed, but as we have seen they left the Castle in in October 1940. When Tony Friend wrote his book, 'Lord Tredegar's Ruperra Castle' in 1985 he received a letter from Lance Robinson, one of the 307 Searchlight Regiment which explains everything:
“The fire started in the ceilings. They were falling in and everybody was trying to get down the stairs. That’s why Cecil Hogg and me and my brother jumped out through the windows. There was a scatter, just a big scatter. A fellow came in to where the men were sleeping or playing cards and said in Geordie ‘Away - the hiss took a hardin!’ which means ‘Get out, the house is on fire’. There was a cockney lad who used to do all the cleaning, who went round throwing pieces of coal in through the windows of the separate rooms of officers and sergeants. The rest of us had been together in the large rooms. “The whole aim was to get everybody outside and then see what you could do. You couldn’t do anything inside. There was a roll call to check that everyone was out. It was probably about 9 or 10 o’clock when the fire started and by 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning it was well away, burning itself out. It was dark you know and people could see the flames all around the area. There were some hoses got out of the outhouses and we were told to hold on to them tight because they kick. But there was no water coming out of them. "The fire brigades came from Cardiff, Newport, all over the place, but they couldn’t all get through. And when they did, it was too late. The following day Lord Tredegar came in his brass hat - he wasn’t in a proper army dress, it was an honorary one. He said he was very glad that we’d all got out. “The only casualty was Lieutenant Barker, a very nice fellow, who went in to rescue the mascot dog, a bulldog, called Tyne. It was frightened by the fire and went back into the Castle. There were friction hoists above the windows which he used to lower the dog down so then he couldn’t use it for himself and had to jump from the second floor. He broke both his legs and of course that finished him in the Army. He was a good Rugby player too.
“Ruperra had been really something for someone like me to see. The rooms there were fancy and there was a sprung floor in the hall on the first floor. We’d seen castles before, we’ve got a lot of castles up here on Tyneside you know, but this was really beautiful. And I’ve never forgotten the chandelier. When it was all over I was really upset. The surroundings were so nice, the gardens and the trees. I enjoyed it there and I’m sorry for those who never had the chance to see it as it was." South Wales Argus 9 December 1941:  80 years on and Ruperra Castle is still a ruin at risk of collapse - help Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust save the Castle and surrounding buildings and gardens by campaigning to secure them to use for community benefit, and to ensure a better future for our precious local heritage. Help us secure a future for this important monument - become a member before the end of 2021 and we will send you a free copy of our book – Ruperra Castle War and Flames 1939-46. You can also buy the book separately for £6.
6 December marks 80 years since Ruperra Castle was gutted by fire during the second world war. To commemorate the event we are telling stories from our book, Ruperra Castle War and Flames 1939-46. So many people remembered exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news that Ruperra Castle was on fire. The following morning came the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
"Of course there was a black out as well and there were fire engines stuck all over the fields without getting to the castle. They drained all the water in the ponds as well. It is a myth that there was a huge fire extinguishing system in the castle, a huge water tank in the roof with chains hanging down the walls to release the water when pulled, but nobody knew about it, although the chains had been noticed previously. Whether rusted up or never been checked. In any case, they didn’t save the Castle anyway.”
Although Game Keeper Blackburn had gone up from his house to the castle and told the driver of the first engine to follow him to the pond on the drive from the Cardiff road, the reflection of the light of the fire in the water had attracted them to cut off across the grass. Stuck in the soft earth they could not go further.
80 years on and Ruperra Castle is still a ruin at risk of collapse - help Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust save the Castle and surrounding buildings and gardens by campaigning to secure them to use for community benefit, and to ensure a better future for our precious local heritage. Help us secure a future for this important monument - become a member before the end of 2021 and we will send you a free copy of our book – Ruperra Castle War and Flames 1939-46. You can also buy the book separately for £6.
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