Cleddon Hall, formerly known as ''Ravenscroft'', is a 19th-century Victorian country house in

Trellech Trellech (occasionally spelt Trelech, Treleck or Trelleck; cy, Tryleg) is a village and parish in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales. Located south of Monmouth and north-north-west of Tintern, Trellech lies on a plateau above the Wye Valley on t ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, Wales. In the later 19th century it was owned by

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

and Lady Amberley, and their youngest son, the philosopher

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ar ...

, was born at the hall on 18 May 1872.

History and description

Cleddon Hall stands in the

Wye Valley The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; cy, Dyffryn Gwy) is an internationally important protected landscape straddling the border between England and Wales. The River Wye ( cy, Afon Gwy) is the fourth-longest river in th ...

, south of

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. ...

, between the village of

and the A466 at

Llandogo Llandogo ( cy, Llaneuddogwy) is a small village in Monmouthshire, south Wales, between Monmouth and Chepstow in the lower reaches of the Wye Valley AONB, two miles north of Tintern. It is set on a steep hillside overlooking the River Wye and acro ...

. In 1870 the hall, then known as ''Ravenscroft'', was purchased by

John Russell, Viscount Amberley John Russell, Viscount Amberley (10 December 1842 – 9 January 1876), was a British politician and writer. He was the eldest son of John Russell, who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and father of the philosopher Bertrand ...

and his wife

Katharine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Chris ...

. Russell, the eldest son of

Earl Russell Earl Russell, of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 July 1861 for the prominent Liberal politician Lord John Russell. He was Home Secretary from 1835 to 1839, Foreign ...

, twice

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

, and his wife, daughter of the 2nd Baron Stanley, were highly unconventional for their times. The antiquarian and genealogist

Joseph Bradney Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, (11 January 1859 – 21 July 1933) was a British soldier, historian and archaeologist, best known for his multivolume ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present T ...

, in his ''

A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time'' is a study of the county of Monmouthshire written by Sir Joseph Bradney and published by Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke of London between 1904 and 19 ...

'', described the couple as "possessed of views on life in strange discord to those of the simple-minded people among whom they settled". Religious sceptics, and supporters of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnan ...

, they lived in an

open marriage Open marriage is a form of non-monogamy in which the partners of a dyadic marriage agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded by them as infidelity, and consider or establish an open relation ...

at the hall with their children's tutor,

Douglas Spalding Douglas Alexander Spalding (14 July 1841 – 1877) was a British biologist who studied animal behaviour and worked in the home of Viscount Amberley. Biography Spalding was born in Islington in London in 1841, the only son of Jessey Fraser and ...

. On 18 May 1872 their son,

Bertrand Bertrand may refer to: Places * Bertrand, Missouri, US * Bertrand, Nebraska, US * Bertrand, New Brunswick, Canada * Bertrand Township, Michigan, US * Bertrand, Michigan * Bertrand, Virginia, US * Bertrand Creek, state of Washington * Saint- ...

was born at Cleddon. Within three years of his birth, his parents were dead and he was sent to live with his grandparents in London. Although initially unconvinced when her husband suggested buying the estate, Katharine Russell came to appreciate Cleddon, becoming "quite enchanted with the wildness and beauty of the place". In his autobiography published in 1967, her son described the hall's isolated setting as "very lonely". Cleddon is not listed by

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

and the architectural historian John Newman does not mention the house in his ''Gwent/Monmouthshire'' volume of the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series. The house is recorded by the

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; cy, Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectur ...

in their National Monuments of Wales (Coflein) database. Cleddon Hall remains a private home.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{Cite book , last=Shuttleworth, first=Kay , editor=Juliet John , title=Oxford Handbook of Victorian Literary Culture , chapter=Science and Periodicals: Animal Instinct and Whispering Machines , url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Victorian_Literar/lVpnDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=katharine+russell+douglas+spalding&pg=PA421&printsec=frontcover , year=2016 , location =Oxford , publisher=

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, isbn=978-0-199-59373-6 Country houses in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Bertrand Russell