Ruperra Castle or Rhiwperra Castle is a Grade II*

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 I ...

and

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

, situated in

Lower Machen Lower Machen ( cy, Machen Isaf) is a small hamlet of 19 houses on the A468 road at the very western edge of the city of Newport, South Wales. Machen itself lies further west in the county borough of Caerphilly, although both lie within the hi ...

in the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wi ...

, Wales. It was built in 1626, now it is in a ruined condition.

History

Built in 1626 by Sir Thomas Morgan,Ruined castle goes on market for £1.5 million (From South Wales Argus)
/ref> Steward to the

Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...

, it was one of the first of the 'mock' castles to be built in Wales. King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

spent two nights at Ruperra Castle in 1645 shortly after the

Battle of Naseby The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main ...

. Resultantly the royal coat of arms was added to the decoration on the South Porch, and the present public footpath from

Rudry Rudry ( cy, Rhydri) is a small village and community located to the east of Caerphilly in Wales. As a community Rudry contains not only the village of Rudry, but also the villages of Draethen, Garth and Waterloo. The population of the community ...

to the Castle is still known as "King's Drive." It was bought as his home by wealthy John Morgan "the merchant" for 12,400 pounds. He was unmarried and it was consolidated on his death in 1715 into the Tredegar estates of the Morgan family. It was destroyed by fire in 1785, and rebuilt, resultantly became home, especially in the 19th century, to the heir of the estate. Godfrey Charles Morgan, 2nd Baron, 1st Viscount Tredegar, who was a captain in the

17th Lancers The 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1759 and notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. The regiment was amalgamated with the 21st Lance ...

during the

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to ...

at the Battle of

Balaklava Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Cri ...

in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, was born at Ruperra. It was during the early Victorian age that he undertook a lot of development, adding three new lodges as well as in 1826 a now listed iron bridge, allowing a carriage way through Coed Craig Ruperra and across the Rhymney River to Lower Machen Church where the family and their servants attended Sunday services. After the death of army officer turned politician Colonel

Frederick Courtenay Morgan Colonel Frederick Courtenay Morgan (24 May 1834 – 8 January 1909) was a Welsh Army officer and Conservative politician. Biography Morgan was the son of Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar, 3rd Bt., by his wife Rosamund Mundy. Morgan was commi ...

in 1909, his son

Courtenay Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar Courtenay Charles Evan Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, CBE, KStJ, VD (10 April 1867 – 3 May 1934), was a Welsh peer. Morgan was born at Ruperra Castle near Newport, Monmouthshire, and educated at Eton College.Published under Association of Cr ...

, embarked on a programme of refurbishment. Minor adjustments were made to the main house, but his major improvement was the building of a new stable block to replace the one destroyed by fire in 1895, a new reservoir and pump house in the deer park, and a new power house fitted with duplicate steam-driven generators, dynamos and boilers. The 1840s brew house, laundry and dairy range were converted to accommodate the estates staff. Courtenay's son, Evan Morgan, 4th Baron, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, poet and noted eccentric with links to

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

, Lord

Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homo ...

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarge ...

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

and H. G. Wells, then owned Ruperra. He grew up there and, apparently, refused to sell it to

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

, whose lover, the actress

Marion Davies Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...

, wanted a home in South Wales. Later, after Davis saw photographs of

St Donat's Castle St Donat's Castle ( cy, Castell Sain Dunwyd), St Donats, Wales, is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, about to the west of Cardiff, and about to the west of Llantwit Major. Positioned on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Channel, the si ...

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 ...

in '' Country Life'' magazine, that property was bought and revitalised by Hearst in 1925 as a gift to Davis. But by 1935, the Morgan fortune was in decline. Despite having invested heavily in the property, the Morgan seat and main home remained

Tredegar House Tredegar House ( Welsh: ''Tŷ Tredegar'') is a 17th-century Charles II-era mansion on the southwestern edge of Newport, Wales. For over five hundred years it was home to the Morgan family, later Lords Tredegar; one of the most powerful and influ ...

, with Ruperra used as a weekend hunting lodge. The entire estate was put up for sale, with the contents either moved to Tredegar House or sold in three-day auction. Un-staffed and effectively abandoned, at the start of

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, like many other large estate houses, it was taken over by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

, under whose control in 1941 it was destroyed by another fire. Post-war, the entire estate was sold onwards as farm land, with the castle left as a decaying ruin, the status in which it remains today. Ashraf Barakat bought the castle in 1998, and tried to revive the sport of

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small ha ...

in Wales. After failing in a planning permission application to construct nine residential flats within the building, following the discovery of roosting Greater and Lesser horseshoe bats on the premises, he applied to demolish it to build housing; planning permission was refused. In September 2010, Barakat put the castle up for sale, at a price of £1.5M for 14 acres (with an optional further 16 acres), which was sold in about July 2014.Ruperra Castle blog article on 9 Jan 2015
/ref>

References

* * * *

RCAHMW 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, architectura ...

, (1981), ''Glamorgan: The Greater Houses'' HMSO, pp262–8, pls and ills.

Notes

{{reflist

External links

Ruperra Castle Preservation TrustRuperra Castle on Youtube
Castles in Caerphilly County Borough Mock castles in Wales Houses completed in 1626 Country houses in Wales Castle ruins in Wales Grade II* listed buildings in Caerphilly County Borough Scheduled monuments in Caerphilly 1626 establishments in Wales Elizabethan architecture Jacobean architecture Caerphilly

History

See also

References

Notes

External links