Buildings of Newport (8)

Tredegar House

Tredegar House (Welsh: Tŷ Tredegar) is a 17th-century Charles II-era country house mansion in Coedkernew, at the western edge of the city of Newport, Wales. For over five hundred years it was home to the Morgan family, later Lords Tredegar; one of the most powerful and influential families in the area. Described as "The grandest and most exuberant country house" in Monmouthshire and one of the "outstanding houses of the Restoration period in the whole of Britain", the mansion stands in a reduced landscaped garden of 90 acres (0.36 km2) (0.14 of a square mile) forming the non-residential part of Tredegar Park. The property became a Grade I listed building on 3 March 1952[3] and has been under the care of the National Trust since March 2012.

History
The earliest surviving part of the building dates back to the late 15th century. The house was originally built of stone and had sufficient status to host Charles I. Between 1664 and 1672, however, William Morgan decided to rebuild the house on a larger scale from red brick, at that time a rare building material in Wales. The architect of the enlarged house is not known for certain, but Newman follows Howard Colvin's suggestion that the design was by Roger and William Hurlbutt, who had worked in a similar style at Ragley Hall and Warwick Castle. The architectural historian Peter Smith, writing in his work Houses of the Welsh Countryside, called Tredegar, "the most splendid brick house of the seventeenth century in Wales".[1] In his 1882 publication, local historian Octavius Morgan provides a plan of an intricate garden maze which was in place prior to the 1660s improvements and which probably dated from the time of Queen Elizabeth I.
Tredegar's name came from Tredegar Fawr, the name of the mansion or seat of the old Morgans, who were descended from Cadifor the Great the son of Collwyn; and the owners of the land upon which Tredegar stands. The earliest record of someone with the name Morgan living at Tredegar is 1402: a Llewellyn Ap Morgan. Tredegar House, set in 90 acres which remains landscaped for ornamental purposes, with less agriculture than in previous centuries, is the finest Restoration house in Wales and for over five hundred years the estate (including Ruperra Castle) was home to the Morgan family, later Lords Tredegar; one of the most powerful and influential families in the area.
For over five hundred years it was home to one of the greatest of Welsh families, the Morgans (the same family as Captain Morgan) – later the Lords Tredegar – until they left in 1951.

After 1951 the house was bought by the Catholic Church as a convent school with boarders, later St. Joseph's Roman Catholic School. It was bought by the Newport Corporation Council in 1974, giving rise to its then status as "the grandest council house in Britain".

In December 2011 the National Trust signed an agreement with Newport City Council to take on the management of the building, as well as the 90 acres of gardens and parkland, on a 50-year lease from 2012. The Trust said that Tredegar House was of "great importance" as many similar properties had been lost in the past 100 years. The National Trust provide free-flow access to the house, but have closed parts of the upstairs to the public.