Craig-y-parc House is a country house in

Pentyrch Pentyrch (sometimes ; ) is a village and community located on the western outskirts of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The village gives its name to a Cardiff local authority electoral ward, Pentyrch, which covers the village and immediate ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. Dating from 1914 to 1918, it was built for Thomas Evans, a colliery owner, by

Charles Edward Mallows Charles Edward Mallows FRIBA (5 May 1864 – 2 June 1915), often known as C. E. Mallows, was an England, English architect and landscape architect. He is considered to be part of the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Craft movement in British a ...

. The house reputedly cost £100,000. Craig-y-parc is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The garden and park surrounding the house has its own Grade II* listing on the

Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and ...

, is a designated

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

and contains a number of listed structures. The house now operates as a residential school for children and young adults with disabilities.

History

Thomas Evans began his career as a railwayman. Known as "Small Coal Evans", he reputedly made his fortune by collecting coal that had fallen from coal trucks operating on the railways in the

South Wales Coalfield The South Wales Coalfield () 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, especially in the South Wales ...

. By 1940, he held a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, was the Chairman of the Cardiff Coal and Shipping Exchange, Vice-chairman of the

Ocean Coal Company Ocean Wilsons (Holdings) Limited is an investment holding company based in Hamilton, Bermuda. It is the course of disposing of its maritime services business based in Brazil. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and became a constituent of t ...

and a Justice of the peace for Glamorganshire. In 1914, Evans commissioned

to build a house some seven miles north of Cardiff in woods close to the village of

. Mallows, who died the year after work had begun, was an architect in the

Arts and Crafts style The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

, much influenced by

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

. His major work was Tirley Garth in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, another Lutyenseque house for another rich industrialist. Mallows also had full responsibility for the design of the gardens surrounding the house, which he laid out to an Arts and Crafts-influenced design. The whole reputedly cost Evans a sum in excess of £100,000. Following Evans' death in 1943, Craig-y-parc came into the possession of the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

before being sold in 1954 to the

Spastics Society Scope (previously known as the National Spastics Society) is a disability charity in England and Wales that campaigns to change negative attitudes about disability, provides direct services, and educates the public. The organisation was found ...

which opened a residential school at the site in 1955. The school continues to provide residential care for children and young adults with disabilities, operated by Salutem Healthcare.

Architecture and description

Craig-y-parc is a large mansion with the entrance front to the north, and the garden front, onto which all the main receptions rooms face, to the south. The architectural historian John Newman, in his ''Glamorgan'' volume of the Buildings of Wales, notes the strong influence of Lutyens. This is seen particularly in the

lodge Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one. Lodge or The Lodge may refer to: Buildings and structures Types * Lodge, a dwelling for a beaver, an aquatic mammal * Lodge, a building for t ...

, and in the north frontage, which Newman compares to

Little Thakeham Little Thakeham is an Arts and Crafts style, Grade I listed private house in the parish of Thakeham, near the village of Storrington, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. Designed by architect Edwin Lutyens in 1902, the house was one ...

. He admires Mallow's originality on the garden front, where a row of columns forms an arcade. The house is constructed of locally quarried stone, with

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

dressings. The house is listed at

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. The gardens are also listed at II*, on the

. The listing record notes their "strongly axial design" and considers them "a very good example of narchitectural Edwardian garden". The

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...

, and the garden terrace have their own Grade II* listings, while the lodge, and the walls and gate piers at the courtyard entrance are listed Grade II.

References

Sources

External links

*{{cite web , title=Craig-y-Parc School , url=https://www.craigyparc-school.co.uk/ Grade II* listed buildings in Cardiff Country houses in Wales Craig-y-parc Grade II* listed houses in Wales Houses completed in 1918 Registered historic parks and gardens in Cardiff