Wenvoe Castle

Wenvoe Castle was a castle and country estate between Barry and Wenvoe, in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. Today the former estate forms the Wenvoe Castle Golf Club. Goldsland lies on its western boundary.

Wenvoe Castle
Wenvoe Castle and estate in 1899
Location within Vale of Glamorgan
General information
Town or cityNear Wenvoe, Vale of Glamorgan
CountryWales
Coordinates51°26′5″N 3°16′9″W
Completed1776–77, 1928

History

In the later medieval periods, Wenvoe is recorded as having belonged to three families: De Sully, le Fleming and Malefaunt. However, according to Clifford Spurgeon, it wasn't until the late 1530s that a castle at Wenvoe was mentioned, when it appeared in Leland's Itinerary.[1] After being escheated to the crown, it belonged successively to the Thomas, Birt and Jenner families.

The Thomas family inherited the estate in 1560 when Jevan ap Harpway of Tresimont, Hertfordshire married Catherine, the only daughter and heiress of Thomas ap Thomas.[2] They were prominent figures in the history of Glamorgan, amongst them Edmund Thomas (1633–1677), politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and 1656 and sat in Cromwell's Upper House, Colonel Charles Nassau Thomas (died April 1820), vice chamberlain to the Prince of Wales (later King George IV) and Sir Godfrey-Vignolles Thomas, 9th Baronet (1856–1919).[3]

In 1774, the Thomas family fell into debts and sold the estate to Peter Birt, a coal magnate of Yorkshire. Birt ordered the building of a new castle in 1776–77, under the design of architect Robert Adam, his only building in Wales.[4] The Birts later passed the estate to the Jenner family in 1823/4,[5] who were prominent in 19th century Glamorganshire, and give their name to a district of Barry today, Jenner Park. Robert Francis Jenner (1802–1860) was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1827.

Much of the building was obliterated by a 1910 fire.[6] Nonetheless, restored in 1928 with its Georgian appearance, it is now used as the clubhouse.[7] The Wenvoe Castle Golf Club was established in 1936, by the owner of the manor, Hugh Jenner.[8]

References
  1. Spurgeon, Clifford; Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (April 2000). An inventory of the ancient monuments in Glamorgan. H.M.S.O. ISBN 978-1-871184-22-8. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  2. Betham, William (1803). The Baronetage of England: or The History of the English baronets, and such baronets of Scotland, as are of English families; with genealogical tables, and engravings of their coats of arms. Burrell and Bransby. p. 110. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  3. "Glamorgan Archives Thomas family of Wenvoe Castle records". National Archives of Wales. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. "About us". Wenvoe Castle Golf Club. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  5. The Jurist: containing reports of all cases determined in law and in equity; and a general digest of all cases published and statutes passed... with a table of cases and index. S. Sweet. 1867. p. 138. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  6. Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (September 1981). An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: Domestic architecture from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution. pt. 1. The greater houses. H.M.S.O. p. 345. ISBN 978-0-11-700754-3. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  7. Williams, Stewart; Denning, R. T. W. Stewart Williams' Glamorgan historian. 7. D. Brown. p. 139. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  8. "Wenvoe Castle Golf Club". Welsh Golf Courses.com. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
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