Hensol Castle (previously Hensol House) is a
castellated
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
mansion in the
gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...
style
dating from the late 17th century or early 18th century, now a wedding and conference venue for
The Vale Resort
The Vale Resort is a golf, spa and leisure hotel and resort in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It consists of a hotel, spa, restaurant, two championship golf courses, golf clubhouse and a conference centre.
History
The resort is located nea ...
. It is located north of
Clawdd Coch and
Tredodridge in the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
of
Pendoylan
Pendoylan ( cy, Pendeulwyn meaning 'head of two groves') is a rural village and community (parish) in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The village has won many awards in Best Kept Village competitions and contains 27 entries in the Council's County ...
in the
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. It is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
[
]
Architecture
This substantially extended mansion is something of an archaeological puzzle. The south range came first and is thought to be an unusually early example of the gothic revival in Britain. This may have been the work of the London architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Roger Morris. Around 1735, William Talbot, Member of Parliament and later Baron Talbot of Hensol, added the east and west wings, reportedly spending some £60,000. Samuel Richardson is said to have transformed the south front in the late 18th or early 19th century, by adding more castellations and corner turrets, but there is some doubt about this. In the 1840s Rowland Fothergill employed T.H. Wyatt & David Brandon to improve the property. They extended the house to the north, added a new courtyard, and refashioned some of the gothic into perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...
, changed the battlements and added the off-centre window bay to the south front. The interior is classical in style of various dates.
Occupants
Early history
The Hensol estate dates from at least 1419. It was owned by the Jenkins family in the seventeenth century, and the house was said to have been built by David Jenkins' great-grandfather, David Tew.
The famous judge David Jenkins (1582–1663), the son of "Jenkin Richard of Hensol in the parish of Pendeulwyn" was born at Hensol. He was described in old documents as "Counsellor at Law, and one of the judges of the Western Circuit in the reign of King Charles I". Judge Jenkins was a man of great force of character and some eccentricity, named "Heart of Oak" and "Pillar of the Law". Being a staunch royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
, he took an active part against the Parliamentarians, during the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, condemning several to death for activities deemed treasonable.[ He was captured at either Hereford or Oxford in 1645 and sent to the ]Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. On 21 February 1648 he was brought before the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
but refused to kneel at the bar. He was therefore fined £1,000 (equivalent to about £100,000 at 2009 values) for his contempt. He was impeached for high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, and when an act was passed for his trial, he met it with a declaration that he would “die with the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
under one arm and Magna Carta under the other”. After the restoration of the monarchy under King Charles II, he was liberated in 1656 and returned to his estate in Glamorgan where he subsequently died and was buried at Cowbridge
Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff.
The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council.
A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for ...
. His wife, Cecil, was daughter of Sir Thomas Aubrey, of Llantrithyd.[
The 1670 ]Hearth Tax
A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is ...
return shows that the Hensol mansion of that time possessed 18 hearths. Judge Jenkins’ son, David Jenkins was described as being “of Hensol” when he was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1685. This David Jenkins married Mary, daughter of Edward Pritchard of Llancaiach Fawr
Llancaiach Fawr Manor is a Tudor manor house near the village of Nelson, located just to the north of the site of the former Llancaiach Colliery in the heart of the Rhymney Valley in South Wales. The semi-fortified house was built on the site o ...
. They had a son, Richard, and a daughter, Cecil, who married Charles Mathew of Castell Mynach.[ They in turn had a daughter, Cecil.
An annual assembly of the ]bards
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
was for many years held under the auspices of the Jenkins family in the adjoining parish of Ystrad Owen, until the death of Richard Jenkins who was a warm admirer of Welsh poetry
Welsh poetry refers to poetry of the Welsh people or nation. This includes poetry written in Welsh, poetry written in English by Welsh or Wales based poets, poetry written in Wales in other languages or poetry by Welsh poets around the world.
...
and music, and a good performer on the harp.
Eighteenth century
The Jenkins male line became extinct with Richard Jenkins’ death in 1721 and the estate passed to Charles Talbot (1685–1737) though his marriage in 1708 or 1709 with the Jenkins heiress, Cecil (d 1720), daughter of Richard Jenkins’ sister, Cecil, and Charles Mathew of Castell Mynach. The Talbot family had come into Glamorgan through the marriage of John Ivory Talbot of Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the suppression of Roman Catholic inst ...
, Wiltshire, with Mary, daughter of Thomas Mansel, 1st Baron Mansel
Thomas Mansel, 1st Baron Mansel PC (9 November 1667 – 10 December 1723) was a Welsh nobleman and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1689 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mansel as one ...
of Margam Abbey
Margam Abbey ( cy, Abaty Margam) was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales.
History
The abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester ...
, Glamorgan. John Ivory Talbot's daughter inherited Lacock Abbey. Her son, William Davenport Talbot, was the father of William Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE Royal Astronomical Society, FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the Salt print, salted paper and calotype processes, precursors t ...
of photographic fame.
Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot
Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, (168514 February 1737) was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1733 to 1737.
Life
Talbot was the eldest son of William Talbot, Bishop of Durham, a descendant ...
served in Robert Walpole's government becoming Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
in 1733 and taking the title Baron Talbot of Hensol. His son, William Talbot (1710–1782) was elected Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for Glamorgan in 1734. His opponent, Bussy Mansel of Margam (later Lord Mansel) contested the result despite having initially received 823 votes against Talbot's 678; but 247 were struck off from Mansel, and only 21 from Talbot. The sheriff, William Basset of Miskin, was accused of great partiality. Charles Talbot died in February 1736/37, William becoming the 2nd Baron Talbot. Bussy Mansel was then elected MP. William Talbot became Earl Talbot in 1761. In 1765 he leased some land near Merthyr Tydfil to Anthony Bacon and William Brownrigg at £100 p.a. for 99 years without royalty payments. This contained both coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
and iron ore and was used to develop the Cyfarthfa Ironworks
The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales.
The beginning
The Cyfarthfa works were begun in 1765 by Anthony Bacon (by then a merchant in L ...
, that became the largest in the world and was later run by another resident of Hensol Castle, William Crawshay II
William Crawshay II (27 March 1788 – 4 August 1867) was the son of William Crawshay I, the owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
William Crawshay II became an ironmaster when he took over the business from his father. He wa ...
. A large tablet inside the north wall of Pendoylan Parish Church commemorates a gift of £50 from Earl Talbot, the interest of which was to be given to the poor of Pendoylan. In 1770 it was matched by a further £50 given by Philip John, and in 1871, a row of six charity houses were built which stand as Church Row to this day.
The present house was either newly built, or was an extensive remodelling of the manor of the Jenkins family, in around 1735.[ In 1780, William Talbot, 2nd Baron Talbot of Hensol, later 1st Earl Talbot, was created the 1st ]Baron Dynevor
Baron Dinevor, of Dinevor in the County of Carmarthen (usually spelt Dynevor or Dinefwr), is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 17 October 1780 for William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, with remainder to his daughter, Lady C ...
with a special remainder in favour of his only child, a daughter, Cecil Rice, and "the heirs male of her body". She had married George Rice of Newtown House, Dinefwr Park, Llandeilo
Llandeilo () is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated at the crossing of the River Towy by the A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. Its population was 1,795 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to the westernmost point of the ...
. In 1782 William Talbot died, the Earldom became extinct, and the barony of Talbot of Hensol passed to his nephew, John Chetwynd Talbot (1749–1793), for whom the title Earl Talbot
Earl Talbot is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. This branch of the Talbot family descends from the Hon. Sir Gilbert Talbot (died 1518), third son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. His great-great-great- ...
was revived. The title Baron Talbot of Hensol is still held by the Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...
, the premier earl in England and Ireland.
In 1789 the estate was sold by the Talbot family to Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...
(1739–1824),[ a banker, who may have modified the south front of the house, and who was ]High Sheriff of Gloucestershire
This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire, who should not be confused with the Sheriffs of the City of Gloucester.
The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (in England and Wales the office previously kn ...
in 1787 and of Glamorgan in 1798. He is said to have been a pioneer in agriculture and made many improvements to the Hensol estate, including land drainage and introducing the threshing machine.[
Samuel Richardson left in 1815,][ and Hensol was purchased by Benjamin Hall (1778–1817),][ son of Dr Benjamin Hall (1742–1825) Chancellor of the ]diocese of Llandaff
The Diocese of Llandaff is an Anglican (Church in Wales) diocese that traces its roots to pre-Reformation times as heir of a Catholic bishopric. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Pet ...
. Benjamin Hall had married Charlotte Crawshay (1784–1839), second daughter of Richard Crawshay
Richard Crawshay (1739 – 27 June 1810) was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster; he was one of ten known British millionaires in 1799.
Early life and marriage
Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of ...
(1739–1810), ironmaster
An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain.
The ironmaster was usually a large ...
of Cyfarthfa, in 1801 and had been elected MP in 1806. Their first son was another Benjamin Hall (1802–1867) and he also became an MP, was made baronet in 1838 and in 1859 became Baron Lanover.[ In 1855, as Sir Benjamin Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Board of Works, he oversaw the later stages of the rebuilding of the ]Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
, including the installation of the 13.8-tonne hour bell, " Big Ben", in the clock tower. He was a tall man and many attribute its name to him, but this is questionable.
Nineteenth century
Following the early death of the second Benjamin Hall in 1817, Hensol was put on the market in 1824 and passed to his widow's Crawshay family, Hensol being bought by her nephew, the "Iron King" of Merthyr Tydfil. William Crawshay II
William Crawshay II (27 March 1788 – 4 August 1867) was the son of William Crawshay I, the owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
William Crawshay II became an ironmaster when he took over the business from his father. He wa ...
(1788–1867), who later built Cyfarthfa Castle
Cyfarthfa Castle ( cy, Castell Cyfarthfa; ) is a castellated mansion that was the home of the Crawshay family, ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a view of the valley and the works, which ...
.[ William Crawshay was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1829.
Another ironmaster, Rowland Fothergill (1794–1871) of Abernant bought Hensol in 1838,][ and soon employed T.H. Wyatt and David Brandon to remodel it.][ Despite being a county magistrate, he was convicted in 1844 of inflicting a serious injury with a pitchfork on a Mr. Brown, the superintendent of his farms. The plaintiff was awarded £500 damages. Fothergill was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1850.][ In 1853 he commissioned David Brandon to rebuild Pendoylan Parish Church.
On Fothergill's death the estate passed to his unmarried sister, Mary (1797–1887). She built and endowed a new school building for Pendoylan in his memory in 1873. On her death, Hensol passed to her sister Ann Tarleton-Fothergill (1802–1895), the estate passing to her daughter, Lady Isabella Elizabeth Price Fothergill (1839–1918), who had married Sir Rose Lambart Price 3rd Baronet (1837–1899) in 1877. Major Sir Rose Lambart Price travelled in America and published two books on his observations.
]
Twentieth century
Their first son, Lieutenant Sir Rose Price (1878–1901) was killed in action at Villesdorp in the Anglo-Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
. Their third son Lt. William Rose Price (1882–1907) also died in South Africa, whilst serving in the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. Lady Price Fothergill died of pneumonia following influenza on 30 November 1918. Their second son, Sir Francis Caradoc Rose Price (1880–1949) then inherited Hensol, but in 1923 he put it up for sale and was quoted in The Times newspaper as follows. The old place requires a lot of money to maintain it. Income-tax and supertax have almost trebled since the war, and the cost of upkeep has considerably increased. These heavy burdens make careful consideration of one's position necessary, and there is a duty to younger children. If I died to-morrow, heavy death duties would make it impossible for them to live here. I can go on, but they could not. By the time one has paid all Imperial and local dues in the way of taxation there is not much left now, and for that reason I have decided to put the estate up for sale.
In November 1926 he sold the castle and estate of to Glamorgan County Council
Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local ...
for the sum of £36,500 for use as a County mental hospital. Part of the estate was divided up into smallholdings.
Hensol hospital was opened in July 1930 as a "colony" for 100 men with learning disabilities
Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...
("mental defectives" in the terminology of the time). New blocks were built in the grounds in 1935 to accommodate up to 460 men, women and children and in 1937 it was visited by Sir Kingsley Wood
Sir Howard Kingsley Wood (19 August 1881 – 21 September 1943) was a British Conservative politician. The son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, he qualified as a solicitor, and successfully specialised in industrial insurance. He became a membe ...
, Minister of Health. At that time it housed 343 inmates and the Minister was reported as saying that he hoped to take back to his work in London fresh ideas which one could never obtain from minutes and records. Further building and expansion took place with the advent of the National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
in 1948. Latterly in the 20th century, with the move towards community care for people with learning disabilities, the number of patients progressively decreased. In the 1980s the ground floor of the house became a conference centre and, from 1992 to 2002, the upper two stories housed the Wales School of Occupational Therapy.
The hospital closed in 2003 and the castle and grounds were bought by local businessman Gerald Leeke, chairman of the Leekes group of companies who had previously built the 145-bed Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort on adjacent land. Some of the former hospital buildings have been converted into apartments.
The interior of Hensol Castle was used to stand-in for parts of Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
in the 1992 film ''Rebecca's Daughters
''Rebecca's Daughters'' is a 1992 Welsh and German comedy adventure film about the Rebecca Riots, directed by Karl Francis.
The film was based on a story by Dylan Thomas. The screenplay was originally written in 1948 by Thomas, and was publi ...
'' and was used for scenes set in 10 Downing Street for the '' Doctor Who'' episodes " Aliens of London", "World War Three
World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...
" and "The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is the twelfth episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007. It is the second of three episodes that form a linked narrati ...
".10 Downing Street (interior) BBC Wales Dr Who
/ref>
References
External links
* {{Official website
Grade I listed buildings in the Vale of Glamorgan
Grade I listed houses
Country houses in Wales