- Tredegar House
Tredegar House in
Newport , set in the beautiful 90acre (360,000 m²)Tredegar Park , is one of the best examples of a17th century Charles IIcountry house mansion in theUnited Kingdom .The home was originally built of stone and was very grand indeed, grand enough for King Charles I to visit, however in the 1660s William Morgan decided to rebuild the house on a larger scale from red brick which was a rare building material in Wales at the time.
The earliest surviving part of the building dates back to the early
1500s . For over five hundred years, it was home to one of the greatest of Welsh families, the Morgans (the same family as Captain Morgan) - later Lords Tredegar - until they left in 1951. The Morgan family has since spread far and wide and some have since changed their names through marriage or for reasons of anonymity. There are families with the titles of Lord/Lady that are likely to be descendant of the Morgan line living in Cardiff, Gloucester/Cheltenham and Dorset, Others which have kept the Morgan name are easier to track.The house was then home to St. Joseph's R.C. School until it was bought by the council in 1974, giving rise to its present status as "the grandest council house in Britain"!
The council provide guided tours of most of the house, covering many major rooms, the vast kitchens, the history and the personalities involved.
There is an annual Tredegar House
vintage car rally in the grounds every year to raise funds forLeukaemia Research . The first Rally was held in October 1980 and raised £635. In 2007 the event raised nearly £45,000 bringing the total amount raised by the Rally since 1979 to nearly £576,000.The House is also approved for marriages and civil ceremonies.
External links
* [http://www.tredegarhouserally.co.uk Tredegar House Vintage Car Rally]
* [http://www.tredegarhouse.blogspot.com Tredegar House Blog]
* [http://www.friends-of-tredegar-house.co.uk/ Friends of Tredegar House]
* [http://www.newportcitynews.com/ Newport City News]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/panoramics/pages/tredegar_house.shtml BBC Wales panoramic view of Tredegar House]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.