Plas Machen

The earliest recorded link between the Morgan family of South Wales and Machen is to the building of Plas Machen by "Morgan of Machen who led men of Gwent at Bosworth in 1485".{{Coflein|num=20669|desc=Plas Machen, Graig|access-date=24 March 2024}} In the following centuries, the family became one of the wealthiest and most powerful in South Wales.{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-MORG-TRE-1384|title=Morgan family, of Tredegar Park, Monmouth|publisher=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|access-date=24 March 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/tredegar-house/history-of-tredegar-house|title=History of Tredegar House|publisher=National Trust|access-date=24 March 2024}}{{efn|14 members of the family are buried in the Morgan Chapel at the Church of St Michael and All Angels in the village of Lower Machen.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/st-michael-all-angels-lower-machen|title=St Michael & All Angels|publisher=National Churches Trust|access-date=24 March 2024}}}} In the 1660s William Morgan (c.1640-1680) rebuilt Tredegar House as the centrepiece of the family's estates in Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire and Brecknockshire.{{Cadw|num=2902|desc=Tredegar House|grade=I|access-date=24 March 2024}} In the 19th century, Sir Charles Morgan was created Baron Tredegar,{{London Gazette |issue=22248 |date=12 April 1859 |page=1482|access-date=24 March 2024}} and in the early 20th century, his son Godfrey was elevated in the peerage as Viscount Tredegar.{{London Gazette |issue=27871 |date=5 January 1906 |page=107|access-date=24 March 2024}} The viscountcy was revived for his nephew, Courtenay Morgan, in 1926.{{London Gazette |issue=33190 |date=10 August 1926 |page=5288|access-date=24 March 2024}} but became extinct on the death of Courtenay's son, Evan in 1949, after which the family's landholdings in South Wales were sold.{{cite web|url=https://cadw.gov.wales/gay-aristocracy-victorian-wales#:~:text=The%20Viscount%20left%20no%20heirs,on%20the%20estate%20following%20it.|title=The Gay Aristocracy of Victorian Wales|publisher=Cadw|access-date=24 March 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/15641212.the-last-lord-of-tredegar-who-avoided-paying-millions-sold-tredegar-house-and-lived-as-a-tax-exile-in-monte-carlo/|first=Tomos|last=Povey|title=The last Lord of Tredegar, who avoided paying millions, sold Tredegar House and lived as a tax exile in Monte Carlo|publisher=South Wales Argus|date=4 November 2017|access-date=24 March 2024}}{{efn|Evan's cousin, John Morgan, 6th Baron Tredegar, and the last of his line, oversaw the sale of the family's landholdings in South Wales, including Tredegar House and Ruperra Castle, becoming a tax exile in Monte Carlo, dying in 1962 following an operation in London.}}

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales gives building dates for Plas Machen as the "15th, 16th, 17th centur[ies] and later". Cadw suggests that the house reached its greatest extent in the 1600s, before being superseded by Tredegar House as the family's main residence.{{Cadw|num=2905|desc=Plas Machen|grade=II*|access-date=24 March 2024}} It was much reduced in size in the 19th century, before restoration by Habershon and Pite in 1859. The Morgans retained ownership, although they ceased to live at the house by around 1800. The house, and some associated barns, were restored in the 21st century.{{cite web|url=https://andrewfaulkner.net/country-houses-estates-agricultural/plas-machen|title=Plas Machen|publisher=Andrew Faulkner Associates|access-date=24 March 2024}}

The house is built of rubble stone with brick chimney stacks. Archdeacon Coxe saw the house when it was still complete during a visit in 1800 and recorded his impressions in his two-volume, An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire. Of the interior, Coxe noted a circular room devoted to hunting, with a ceiling centrepiece of the goddess Diana and decorative scenes depicting important local houses and churches, together with hunting images. This was located in part of the house subsequently demolished. The gardens retain their Tudor skeleton,{{cite web|url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/plas-machen|title=Plas Machen|publisher=Parks & Gardens UK|access-date=24 March 2024}} with a series of terraces and axes leading down to a fish pond.{{NHAW|uid=288|num=PGW(Gt)33(NPT)|desc=Plas Machen|class=HPG|access-date=24 March 2024}} While the outline of the formal gardens remains, much has now been returned to pasture.{{Coflein|num=301647|desc=Plas Machen Garden, Lower Machen|access-date=24 March 2024}}

Plas Machen is a Grade II* listed building.

Its gardens and grounds are listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. A pair of cottages also have a Grade II listing.{{NHAW|num=3070|desc=Nos. 1 & 2 Plas Cottages|grade=II|access-date=24 March 2024}}

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{{Commons category|Plas Machen, Lower Machen}}

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Newport, Wales

Category:Registered historic parks and gardens in Newport

Category:Country houses in Wales

Category:Grade II* listed houses in Wales