Insole Court ( cy, Cwrt Insole) is a

Grade II* Listed 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 ...

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

Llandaff Llandaff (; cy, Llandaf ; from 'church' and '' Taf'') is a district, community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, whose ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, built for wealthy businessman

James Harvey Insole James Harvey Insole JP (30 April 1821 – 20 January 1901) was an English businessman who consolidated and developed the extensive South Wales coal mining and shipping business begun by his father George Insole. Insole became ...

(1821

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

- 1901 Llandaff) and dating back to 1855. The mansion and Stable Yard are operated by a registered charity, the Insole Court Trust, who began operating the site in 2016. After an extensive refurbishment, the ground floor of the mansion reopened to the public in September 2017. In 2018, the first floor opened to the public for the first time, with an exhibition, 'This House is a Stage' that tells the story of the Insole family. The site hosts daily classes and activities, as well as a The Potting Shed Café and room hire facilities. The mansion is free to visit and is open every day.

Insole family

The Insole family lived on the site from 1856 to 1938. They had extensive coal-mining interests across the

South Wales Coalfield The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, espec ...

, particularly the colliery at

Cymmer, Rhondda Cynon Taf Cymmer ( cy, Y Cymer) is a village and community in the Rhondda Valley, Wales. It is so named because of being located at the 'confluence' of the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach river valleys. Several collieries were opened here in the middle part ...

, and were closely involved in the development of the

Barry Railway Company The Barry Railway Company was a railway and docks company in South Wales, first incorporated as the ''Barry Dock and Railway Company'' in 1884. It arose out of frustration among Rhondda coal owners at congestion and high charges at Cardiff Dock ...

and the associated docks. Their growing prosperity enabled them to invest in land, including a site within the ancient

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

-city of Llandaff, between roads leading to Fairwater and

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

Building

The original building was designed by W G & E Habershon and built in 1855 for James Harvey Insole, who commissioned a modest double-fronted building, named Ely Court. There was also a lodge built on Fairwater Road to house the family's coachman and his family. But as the family's fortunes rose, reflecting those of Cardiff itself, two major extensions developed the building into the modern Insole Court. In the 1870s James Harvey commissioned George Robinson and Edwin Seward to change the appearance of the building into the

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

-led works reminiscent of those of

Lord Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

's architect

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle ( cy, Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top ...

. These works also included the addition in 1874 of a neo-Gothic tower, similar to the clock tower which Burges had added to the castle in 1869. Insole's tower contained a smoking room at the very top. The second development in 1906 - the height of the family's fortune - was undertaken on the instructions of George Frederick Insole (James Harvey's son, usually known as Fred), to extend and modernise the building. Rooms were enlarged and panelled, a new guest wing erected, central heating and electrical distribution inserted, and a large carriage porch was added. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in the light of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

's decision to change the firing of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

to oil and the loss of many European markets, the South Wales coal industry began to decline. The family's fortunes suffered a similar downturn, with the deaths of Fred, in 1917, and his son Claud, in 1918 whilst on war service in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The house passed to Eric, who lived there with his mother, Jessy, and sister, Violet (who died in 1932). In the 1930s

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dinas a Sir Caerdydd) is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

were looking to develop an orbital road system around the city. To facilitate the creation of Western Avenue the Council bought the entire -acre estate in 1932 for £26,250 under a

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

. The remaining family members were allowed to continue living in the house as tenants. However, the Council redeveloped much of the estate lands as

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

, leaving just the mansion and ornamental gardens. With

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

fast approaching, the last of the Insoles - Eric and his mother Jessy - finally vacated the property in March 1938. During World War II Insole Court was the regional

Air Raid Warden Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s an ...

HQ, and housed the

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December ...

and

Auxiliary Fire Service The Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) was first formed in 1938 in Great Britain as part of the Civil Defence Service. Its role was to supplement the work of brigades at local level. The Auxiliary Fire Service and the local brigades were superseded i ...

for Cardiff district. After the war, the upper floors were converted into self-contained flats and let to council employees and others. The ground floor housed a branch library, and a wide variety of adult education classes and community activities. The Insole Court house became Grade II* heritage listed in 1992, the Stables Grade II and the gardens included on the Welsh Register of Historic Gardens as Grade II*.

21st century

Slowly falling into disrepair, despite restoration in 1995, the entire property was closed on health and safety grounds in November 2006. The Council undertook a major restoration of the ground floor, and the house reopened in November 2008. Insole Court has been used for a variety of classes and societies, and has been open to view by the public on certain days. It has large gardens which are also open to the public. Until June 2014 the building was also home to the head office of the

Wales Co-operative Centre Wales Co-operative Centre is a non-profit co-operative development agency in Wales. It is the largest co-operative development body in the UK, managing several major initiatives in Wales. It delivers a range of projects to promote social, finan ...

. The Insole Court Trust was awarded £2m funding from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and £750,000 from the

Big Lottery Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...

and

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

, to restore and redevelop Insole Court into a visitor attraction. The £4 million project started in December 2014. During restoration, beautiful stencilling and decoration was found on the walls throughout the house, which were believed to date to the 1870s. Newly built room hire facilities, 'The Stable Yard' and the Potting Shed Café opened in September 2016. On 23 September 2016 Cardiff Council transferred the lease of Insole Court to the Insole Court Trust, a charity created to manage and protect the house. At the time, this was the largest Community Asset Transfer in Wales. The mansion reopened to the public on 22 July 2017. Currently, the ground floor is open to visitors for free and includes a shop and a Reading Room in the former Smoking Room. The upper floor has an immersive walk-through 'play for voices' which dramatises the family history from their first arrival in Cardiff to the last members departing in the 1930s. Ongoing conservation and restoration work of other parts of the upper floors is continuing.

References

External links

Insole Court @ Cardiff CouncilInsole Court WebsiteFamily of James Harvey Insole (1821–1901)
{{coord, 51.4939, -3.2264, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Gardens in Wales Grade II* listed buildings in Cardiff Grade II* listed houses Registered historic parks and gardens in Cardiff Houses completed in 1855 Houses completed in 1875 Houses in Cardiff Historic house museums in Wales Llandaff Gothic Revival architecture in Wales Country houses in Wales