RUPERRA CASTLE OVER THE CENTURIES

Ruperra Castle 200 Years Ago

You would be wrong to think that John Morgan the Merchant of Machen and his nephew John had secured the separation of the two estates, giving Tredegar to William and Ruperra to his younger brother Thomas, then just 19 years old.

Disaster struck! The glamorous Sir William Morgan died young leaving four children but only a daughter survived to adulthood. His widow, Lady Rachel pursued a hugely expensive legal battle for the inheritance, but in the end the settlement gave both estates to Sir Thomas of Ruperra. He, by now, was the wealthy “Judge Advocate General” but he knew his three aged sons would die unmarried!

The Morgan family name was saved by Sir Thomas’ daughter Jane, whose marriage to the amazing Sir Charles Gould had already produced several children. To preserve the Morgan name, Sir Thomas insisted that Charles’ name should be changed to Charles Gould Morgan which he did by royal decree at great speed.

Meanwhile the “Judge Advocate General” whose London home was his office at 12 Downing Street, was proudly caring for the gardens and landscape of Ruperra, planting an avenue of oaks known as the General’s Walk from what is now a dairy farm on the Cefn Mably road to the Castle. A two-story summer house was built on the top of Coed Craig Ruperra with walks to enhance the view of the estate.

His son in law’s life was a success story. A long serving president of the newly set up Equitable Life Insurance Company, he invested in coal mines and ironworks, while his “Golden Mile” provided lucrative tolls on every ton of coal travelling to Newport Docks between Pye Corner in Bassaleg and Ebbw Bridge, in Tredegar Park. 

 

When Sir Charles’ daughter married Samuel Homfray, owner of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr, he gave his son in law a favourable lease of mineral land along the Heads of the Valleys to found a new ironworks. And so the town of Tredegar was born.

Thus the wealthy Morgan family could employ the famous architect Thomas Hardwick to design the rebuilding of Ruperra Castle, after a fire which had burnt out the interior in 1792. J P Neale’s etching in 1820 placed them amongst other owners of great houses, showing the new fashionably ‘Gothick’ appearance. Was the delicate charm of the original design lost?

Jane Morgan lived to see the castle restored but her husband Sir Charles Gould Morgan died before achieving his heart’s desire – to become a lord.

 

RUPERRA CASTLE OVER THE CENTURIES

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.

RUPERRA CASTLE OVER THE CENTURIES

 

Ruperra Castle 400 years ago

In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the night sky, discovering several planetary behaviours which changed our understanding of the far reaches of our solar system.

Thirteen years later, in 1623, two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, traveled together across the sky. Jupiter caught up to and passed Saturn, in an astronomical event known as a “Great Conjunction.” To people on earth the planets may have looked as though they were colliding and there was just one great star lighting up the sky!

This spectacle is very rare because it only occurs every 400 years. And more spectacular still is that it only occurs AT NIGHT every 800 years. This year 2020 was one of those years! The 23rd December is also the longest night of the year, so people all round the world will have had a great chance to go outside and see the solar system. I wonder do you know anyone who did.

1623 is the year that Thomas Morgan of Machen was well on the way to finishing the building of Ruperra Castle. Unfortunately on that date in December the “Great Conjunction” happened in the day time!

I wonder did Sir Thomas know anything about it? He had been knighted in 1623 by King James I and had held an important position as steward to the Earl of Pembroke in Salisbury, mixing with many cultured and well traveled people like the Welshman Inigo Jones. They would surely have known about Galileo’s discoveries.

Here is a link to the happening. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-great-conjunction-of-jupiter-and-saturn

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust

Ymddiriedolaeth Diogelu Castell Rhiw’rperrai

Patron / Nodwr  Jack Hanbury Deputy Lieutenant of Gwent.

President / Llywydd  Jeff Cuthbert Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent.

RE: 19/0788/LBC and 19/0787/COU: Conservation repairs and conversion of ancillary listed buildings consisting of the Former Dairy and Laundry 19/0790/LBC and 19/0789/COU : Carry out conservation repairs, conversion and change of use of ancillary curtilage building consisting of a former Greenhouse store to provide an alternative bat roost at Ruperra Castle Rudry Road to Craig Llan, Rudry.

You may have already sent in an objection to the above applications, but if you haven’t please could you do so now? Even if you have objected previously, , there is no harm in adding extra points.  We are also writing to the heritage experts who have helped us in the past.  We find it incomprehensible that Cadw has said that it has no objection to the planning applications, so we feel we must stand up for the Castle as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and 2* Listed Building.  We hope you agree and that you will use some or all of the following points in your email or letter:

1. There is no mention of repair to the Castle in these applications despite the numerous designations that are supposed to protect the area and its precious heritage assets; 

2. NRW has lodged a holding objection to the applications subject to more surveys being undertaken of the protected species on the site - including a nationally important maternity roost of Greater Horseshoe Bats in the Generator Block - and redesign to reduce its ecological impact;

3.  SAVE Britain’s Heritage gave money for repair of the South Porch, but this had to be used to remove a dangerous chimney stack; before the proposed work on the Porch could re-start. The owner carried out unauthorised clearance work so the licence for further work on the Castle was withdrawn by NRW;

4. In RCPT’s view residential use of the Stable Block and Bothy would bring activity, lighting and noise close to the Castle at all hours of the day and night, removing any prospect of an environmental and ecological solution that would accord with the Climate Emergency declared by the Council and with the Council’s duties under the Welsh Government’s Well-being of Future Generations Act; and

5. The Environment (Wales) Act of 2016 put in place legislation necessary to manage Wales’ natural resources in a more proactive, sustainable and joined up way. Further to this protection is the letter to all Heads of Planning from Neil Hemington, Chief Planner, Welsh Government, dated 23 October 2019 stating that: Planning Policy Wales Edition 10 sets out (in para 6.4.5) that “planning authorities must seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity in the exercise of their functions.  This means that development should not cause any significant loss of habitats or populations of species, locally or nationally and must provide a net benefit for biodiversity.”  

Because of the above RCPT considers that both applications should be refused.  Unless Welsh Government decides to call-in the applications, decisions on them are likely to be taken by Caerphilly County Borough Council this autumn.  We urge you to write to the Council with your views to: planadmin@caerphilly.gov.uk

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Many thanks                                                     Pat Jones-Jenkins, RCPT Secretary

Registered in Cardiff / Cofrestrwyd yng Nghaerdydd .Rhif 6656134    Charity Number / Rhif Elisen 1135940 

Chair / Cadair  Kay Powell powellkays@gmail.com   Sec./Ysgr patjonesjenkins@googlemail.com 01656 741622

Registered address Cyfeiriad cofrestredig / Areithin,  Heol Ton,  Ton Kenfig,  CF33 4PS    www.ruperra.wales

"the Dutch born widow"

In the very first page of our website, there us a reference in the introduction to the "Dutch born widow " of Lewis Morgan of Ruperra.
You can now read an account of the historical background to the "dutch born widow".
If you are a budding history student or just interested you may like to do a bit of your own research about the Dutch -Ruperra connection. Below is Part 1 of the story.

Ruperra Events Cancellation

Who could have foreseen this! We'd all been working hard at providing interesting events and they're all on hold now until further notice.  This takes us up to the Conference on August 22, when we dare not presume that the Coronavirus will have left us. 

The following Saturday, a History Society group from Bridgend were going to come to Ruperra for the first time for their annual trip. 
Can we hope that the virus will have left us by our Open Doors Day in September? Probably not soon enough to organise the event.
Regarding the Castle, let's hope it is standing up reasonably well to the weather as it has done since 1941, even though there is the added onslaught of Climate Change.
Next year on December 9th 2021 it will be the 80th 

anniversary of the fire that gutted the inside. Here's a picture of the Banqueting Hall after the fire. 

The following picture shows the harm that could be done from the current planning application before Caerphilly Council.