Ruperra Castle 300 years ago.
By 1700, Sir Thomas Morgan’s family had no heir to inherit. Charles I had stayed at Ruperra Castle in 1645, but no Morgan was living there in 1654 when young Ludovic Heugens visited. (See the Open Doors Video on You Tube) It was purchased for £12,400 (in today’s money £124,000) from the mortgage holders, the Kemys Tyntes of Cefn Mably, by a Morgan relative, known as John Morgan the Merchant.
He was the fourth son of one of the Morgans of Plas Machen. He had moved away as a young man with an inheritance of only £50 and he had had to make a career for himself. He acquired a huge fortune in trading in the Mediterranean and the West Indies. So far we don’t have documentary evidence of what the trade was. However he was determined to return to the beautiful green countryside of Machen and Ruperra. He died unmarried on January 1st 1715, and was buried at (Lower) Machen Church, leaving his properties of Ruperra and Tredegar to his nephew, another John Morgan
However he too died shortly after and in 1719 was also buried at (Lower) Machen Church. To provide for his children, John passed on the Tredegar Estate to his son William and the Ruperra Estate to his son Thomas, both as separate estates.
In his will, their Great Aunt Katherine, John the Merchant’s sister, was granted the profits of the Ruperra Estate where she lived until her death in 1724. It seems that her body was being taken to (Lower) Machen Church for burial, but the party could not cross the old bridge in Draethen as the River Rhymney was in flood. (The Ironbridge would not be built for another 100 years.) On return to Ruperra Castle, her coffin was laid down in Hall, when she was found to be still alive!
Look out for a Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust walk to Lower Machen Church and the Ironbridge after Covid.
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