:Sealyham House
{{Short description|Country house in Pembrokeshire, Wales}}
{{Infobox building
| name =Sealyham Mansion
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| image = Sealyham Mansion - geograph.org.uk - 436107.jpg
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| caption = Sealyham Mansion
| map_type = Wales Pembrokeshire
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| location = Near Wolfscastle, Pembrokeshire
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| location_country = Wales
| coordinates = {{coord|51|54|48|N|4|57|33|W|region:GB|display=inline,title}}
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File:Ivor the Sealyham Terrier.jpg at home on his favourite chair]]
Sealyham Mansion, overlooking the little River Sealy,Richard Fenton, A Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire, 1811:339. is a Georgian country house in Pembrokeshire, Wales, near Wolfscastle and to the southeast of Letterston. Known for the creation of the Sealyham Terrier there in the 1800s, the house served as a sanatorium and medical facility from 1923 to 1964. In 1986 it became a children's activity centre.{{cite web| title =Sealyham Activity Centre| url =http://www.sealyham.com/index.htm|accessdate=19 February 2013}}
History
King Edward III granted some land at Sealyham in Pembrokeshire (Wales) to Thomas Tucker in the fourteenth century. Tucker was a captain in the King's army about 1356.
{{cite web| title =About Sealyhams| url =http://www.mollieandme.com/about-sealyhams/| date = 2012| accessdate = 19 February 2013}} From that time the Tuckers remained identified with the manor until 1777.Their monument in the church at St. Dogwells (Llan ty Dewi) is noted in Fenton 1811:339. Tucker married Ursula del Holme and they built a house at this Sealyham property, which is some {{Convert|200|mi}} southwest of Liverpool. The house was rebuilt in the mid-18th century. In 1777 the heiress to the property, Mary Tucker, married John-Owen Edwardes.Elizabeth Tucker married John Owen Edwardes, according to James Allen (Dean of St. David's), Notes on the Sheriffs of Pembrokeshire, 1541-1899, 1900, s.v. "1763 John Tucker", "1829 John Owen Edwardes". Their heir was William Edwardes (d. 1825), who was succeeded by William Edwardes-Tucker.{{cite book|last=Burke|first=John|title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions Or High Official Rank: But Uninvested with Heritable Honours|url=https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalan00austgoog|accessdate=20 February 2013|edition=Public domain|year=1835|publisher=Henry Colburn|pages=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalan00austgoog/page/n347 315]–}} Captain John Edwardes was a descendant of this couple. In 1840, Tucker-Edwardes was married to Anna Jane Jones of Letterston (Wales) and their only son was John Tucker-Edwardes (1845) who married Hester Phillips. He died in 1891 (at 82 years of age) and his father also died in the same year. As they had no offspring Sealyham House became the property of John Owen's brother, Owen, who also died two years later in 1893; his son Charles Gustaves Whittaker Edwardes who inherited the property died in 1902 without any children.
John Edwardes bred the Sealyham Terrier rare Welsh breed dog. It turned out the last of the descendant family members to live at the Sealyham Mansion was Catherine Octavia Edwards. She married Victor James Higgon. In 1905, they moved to Treffgarne Hall. Around 1910, portions of the land were sold to the Pembrokeshire County Council.{{cite web| title =Our Guide to your Week at Sealyham Activity Centre, p. 3| url =http://www.sealyham.com/uploads/files/Information_Booklet_2010.pdf| date = 2012| accessdate = 19 February 2013}}
In 1920, Sealyham Mansion and its immediate associated land were sold to the King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association. The estate was converted into a tuberculosis hospital with 30 beds.{{cite web| title=Papers by Command, Volume 13 by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_f0OAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA178|page=178|date=1921| accessdate =19 February 2013 }} It continued to function as a tuberculosis hospital to 1954. In 1955, it was re-purposed for elderly patients, but was permanently closed as a medical facility in 1964. In 1970, the Sealyham Mansion was sold to Nancy Ellen Perkins. She converted it into an apartment building as rentals. In 1980, it was sold again to an investment firm that used it for an outdoor activities center. It was resold in 1986 to the Sealyham Activity Centre for young people as an educational facility, run by Sam and Valerie Richards and John and Peggy Hone.
On Friday, May 21, 2021 Sealyham Activity Centre closed {{cite web | url=https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/19324609.sealyham-activity-centre-wolfscastle-closes-due-covid/ | title=Pembrokeshire activity centre closed for good due to Covid }}
Sealyham Activity Centre offered both residential and non-residential trips with a variety of activities including high ropes, canoeing, coasteering, sailing, archery, kayaking, orienteering, team building, climbing and abseiling, hillwalking, bush craft and surfing. The centre offered accommodation for up to 120 people as well as catered and self-catered stays and adventure days for children and adults. Despite assurances on its website that 'we will definitely be here waiting for you in 2021' the business has had to close its doors for good.
Posting on Sealyham's Facebook page the team said: "Sadly due to Covid we have been unable to keep the centre going. We have tried all avenues to keep going but to no avail."
25 November 2021
"The future of Sealyham mansion near Wolfscastle has been secured as an Active Learning Centre, offering coastal and woodland residential learning experiences to young people. It is anticipated to reopen in Autumn 2022."{{cite web | url=https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/19736055.future-sealyham-mansion-near-wolfscastle-secured-activity-centre/ | title=Future of Sealyham mansion, near Wolfscastle, secured as an activity centre }}
Sealyham Terrier
{{main|Sealyham Terrier}}
The Tucker-Edwardes family of the 1800s were one of the leading landowners of Pembrokeshire.The family title, held by a cousin, is Baron Kensington. Headed by Captain John Edwardes (1808–91), the family had the time and the means to breed dogs, which was almost a prerogative of people of noble families or military background.{{Cite web|url=http://www.riahorter.com/Tucker-Edwardes.pdf|title=Masterminds|work= Capt. John Owen Tucker-Edwardes and the Sealyham Terrier|accessdate= 22 February 2013}} The Welsh Corgi, Fox Terrier (Wire), and the now extinct English White Terrier all played a part in the make up of the Sealyham,{{cite news|last=Hough|first=Andrew|title=Campaign launched to save Sealyham terriers 'from extinction'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8849763/Campaign-launched-to-save-Sealyham-terriers-from-extinction.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026133040/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8849763/Campaign-launched-to-save-Sealyham-terriers-from-extinction.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 October 2011|accessdate=26 December 2011|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 October 2011}} although Edwardes did not keep records.{{cite news|last=Waugh|first=Tessa|title=Country Life says: Save our Sealyhams|url=http://www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/529284/Country-Life-says-Save-our-Sealyhams.html|accessdate=26 December 2011|newspaper=Country Life|date=26 October 2011}} After Edwardes' death in 1891, other breeders began to work with Sealyhams, including Fred Lewis who promoted the breed.{{cite web|title=Sealyham Terrier|url=http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/services/public/breed/display.aspx?id=3077|publisher=The Kennel Club|accessdate=7 January 2012}} According to the Kennel Club Stud Book of 2009 there were only 47 dogs of Tucker-Edwardes' breed, making it an endangered breed.