Ruperra Castle or Rhiwperra Castle () 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 ...

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, visu ...

, situated in Lower Machen in the county borough of

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

, Wales. Built in 1626, the castle is in a ruinous condition as at 2023. Its grounds are listed 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 ...

Morgan ownership

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 Roundhead, Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Sir Th ...

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

Rudry Rudry () 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 at the 2 ...

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 becoming home, especially in the 19th century, to the heir of the estate.

Godfrey Morgan ''Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery'' (, literally ''The School for Robinsons''), also published as ''School for Crusoes'', is an 1882 adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel tells of a wealthy young man, Godfrey Morgan, who, ...

, who was the second son of the 1st Baron Tredegar, was born at Ruperra, and went on to survive the Charge of the Light Brigade. It was during his tenure of Ruperra that he undertook significant 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 The Rhymney River () is a river in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales, flowing through Cardiff into the Severn Estuary. The river formed the boundary between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire until in 1887, the parishes ea ...

to Lower Machen Church, where the family and their servants attended Sunday services. After the death of army officer turned politician Colonel Frederic Morgan in 1909, his eldest 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. Early life Morgan was born on 10 April 1867 at Ruperra Castle near Newport, Monmouthshire.Published under Association of Cri ...

, 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

brewhouse A brewhouse is a building made for brewing beer and ale. This could be a part of a specialized brewery operation, but historically a brewhouse is a private building only meant for domestic production. Larger households, such as noble estates, o ...

, laundry and dairy range were converted to accommodate the estate's staff. As Courtenay also succeeded to his uncle's estates in 1913, taking up residence at

Tredegar House Tredegar House (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Tŷ Tredegar'') is a 17th-century Charles II of England, Charles II-era mansion in Coedkernew, on the southwestern edge of Newport, Wales. For over five hundred years it was home to the Morgan family, late ...

, his son, Evan Morgan (later the second Viscount Tredegar), became a potential occupier of the property. A poet and noted eccentric with links to

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

, Lord Alfred Douglas,

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 Sarg ...

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 Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

, Evan preferred his London home, leaving Ruperra to deteriorate. Having grown up at Ruperra, Evan Morgan allegedly refused to sell it to

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

, 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 left the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...

, wanted a home in South Wales. By 1935, the Morgan fortune was in decline. Despite having invested heavily in the property, the Morgan seat and main home remained Tredegar House, 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 a three-day auction. Unstaffed and effectively abandoned, at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, under whose control in 1941 it was destroyed by another fire. Post-war, it was left to deteriorate. In 1956, John Morgan, 6th Baron Tredegar, sold the Castle along with its surrounding agricultural land to Eagle Star Insurance Company for around £800,000 (accounting for inflation) during his liquidation of the Morgan estates.

Later ownership

Ashraf Barakat bought the castle in 1998 and tried to revive the sport of

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

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 bat The lesser horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus hipposideros'') is a type of small European and North African insectivorous bat, related to its larger cousin, the greater horseshoe bat. As with all horseshoe bats, the species gets its name from its dist ...

s 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), and it was sold in about July 2014. It remains privately owned and its condition continues to deteriorate. A charity, the Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust, has been established which is working towards the building's restoration. In 2022

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

designated the castle gardens and park Grade II on the

. In November 2023, inspectors found the building was structurally unsound and in imminent danger of collapse.

Footnotes

References

* * * * *

RCAHMW The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; ; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectural and historic environment of Wales. ...

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

Notes

External links