:St Fagans Castle
{{Short description|Grade I listed Elizabethan castle}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = St Fagans Castle
| native_name = Castell Sain Ffagan
| native_language = cy
| image = St Fagans Castle.jpg
| caption = The approach to St Fagans Castle
| location = St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales
| locmapin = Wales Cardiff
| map_relief = yes
| map_caption = Location of St Fagans Castle within Cardiff
| map_dot_mark =
| pushpin_label = St Fagans Castle
| coordinates = {{coord|51.4859|-3.2677|display=inline,title}}
| built = {{circa|1580s}}
| architecture = Elizabethan
| designation1 = Grade I
| designation1_offname = St Fagans Castle
| designation1_date = 10 June 1977
| designation1_number = 13888{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-13888-st-fagans-castle-st-fagans|title=St Fagans Castle, St Fagans|work=British Listed Buildings|access-date=15 November 2013}}}}
St Fagans Castle ({{langx|cy|Castell Sain Ffagan}}) is an Elizabethan mansion in St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales, dating from the late 16th century. The house and remaining medieval fortifications are Grade I listed. The grounds of St Fagans Castle now contain St Fagans National Museum of History. The castle estate is designated Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
History
A medieval castle dating from the 13th century previously existed on the site. By 1536 it lay in ruins. By 1563 the site had been sold to a Dr John Gibbon. A new house was built on the site either by Gibbon or by Nicholas Herbert, who bought the site from Gibbon in 1586.[http://www.coflein.gov.uk/pdf/CPG219/ St Fagans Castle] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023061112/http://www.coflein.gov.uk/pdf/CPG219/ |date=2013-10-23 }}, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. Retrieved 2013-09-12. Part of the D-shaped medieval boundary fortifications remain, forming a wall around the current house.{{Citation| last1 = Browne |first1 = D. M.|last2 = Griffiths |first2 = Prof R. A.|title = Glamorgan: Later Castles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhnYtVAUhQEC&dq=st+fagans+castle&pg=PA341|publisher = Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales |pages = 341–345 |year = 2000|isbn = 1-871184-22-3 }}
Sir Edward Lewis of The Van, Caerphilly, bought the house in 1616 and the interior dates partly from then and partly from after 1850, when in the possession of the Windsor-Clive family.{{Citation| last = Newman | first = John | title = Glamorgan | series = The Buildings of Wales | place = London | publisher = Penguin | year = 1995 | pages = 561–2}} Their ownership began in 1833, when the estate was inherited by Lady Harriet Clive, wife of the 13th Lord Windsor. Lady Clive undertook many decades of restorations.{{cite news|url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000914%2f18691113%2f039 |title=Death Of The Baroness Windsor |work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian |date=13 November 1869 |page=5 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} The sequence of terraces in the gardens was created in 1865–6 and extended in the early 20th century. The house became a convalescent hospital for soldiers during World War I, with the banqueting hall containing a ward of 40 beds.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-23271253 "St Fagans 'hidden' gems give World War I insight"], BBC News, 21 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-12. In 1947, by his will, Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth, gave the castle and estate to the National Museum of Wales.
In 1951, Iorwerth Peate, keeper-in-charge for the castle was allowed by the Hon. John Morgan to select thirty pieces of furniture from Tredegar House for exhibition in the castle’s period rooms; Morgan was disposing of the contents of Tredegar House following its sale in lieu of death-duties.{{Cite news |date=24 January 1951 |title=Tredegar House Furniture For Museum |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000104/19510124/039/0003 |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 August 2024 |work=Western Mail & South Wales News |pages=3}}
Buildings in the grounds accommodate the former Welsh Folk Museum, St Fagans National Museum of History.{{Citation|title = Glamorgan: The Greater Houses|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lm4CmIvbAa4C&dq=%22st+fagans+castle%22&pg=PA243|publisher = Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales |page = 246 |year = 1981|isbn = 0-11-700754-4 }}
=Historic listing designations=
The castle has been statutorily recognised and protected in the highest category (Grade I) since 1977.{{Cadw|num=13888|desc=St Fagans Castle |grade=I*|access-date=21 March 2025}} The gardens and grounds are designated Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.{{NHAW|uid=220|num=PGW(Gm)31(CDF)|desc=St Fagans Castle|class=HPG|access-date=21 March 2025}} A lead water cistern in the courtyard is Grade II* listed,{{Cadw|num=13885|desc=Lead Cistern in the east forecourt of St Fagans Castle |grade=II*|access-date=21 March 2025}} and may have been brought from Van, a historic home of the Lewis family.{{Coflein|num=32354|desc=St Fagans Castle, Lead Cistern|access-date=21 March 2025}} Many garden structures have Grade II status.
Gallery
File:St Fagans Castle 2008.jpg|Courtyard and lead cistern
File:St Fagans Castle - geograph.org.uk - 524416.jpg|North facade and gardens
File:Western Walls of St Fagans Castle.jpg|Western wall
File:Castle St Fagans 01.JPG|Part of west wall and old fortifications
File:Stable Block, St Fagan's Castle - geograph.org.uk - 908517.jpg|Stable block
File:Water garden, St Fagans castle - geograph.org.uk - 338746.jpg|Gardens and medieval ponds
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
{{commons category-inline|St Fagans Castle}}
- [https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/castle/ St Fagan's website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Fagans Castle}}
Category:Castle ruins in Wales
Category:Historic house museums in Wales
Category:Country houses in Wales
Category:Grade I listed buildings in Cardiff