Here is my latest VLOG. It’s a compilation of vintage photographs of some of Glamorgan’s most significant residences. Taken before they got knocked down or converted into hotels, golf courses, flats or schools.
Have you ever scrolled through Rightmove or Zoopla with the filters set at over a million pounds? Well if you were to have done the price equivalent of that (allowing for inflation) in the early 20th century these are the pictures of the dream homes you would have found in the counties of Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan on the South Wales coast.
I have trawled through the archives of old photos and postcards for early photographs of castles, country estates, mansions, manor houses, baronial courts, great houses, town houses and quaint thatched cottages from the many villages that surround towns like Cowbridge, Bridgend, Pontyclun, Llantrisant, Llantwit Major and Cardiff. In their day they were described as ‘gentleman’s residences’ or ‘country piles’ and they were the homes of some of the oldest and most famous aristocratic families in Glamorgan. The county set. Families names like Carnes, Nichols, Lewis, Boothby, Edmondes, Picton-Tuberville. Even a maharaja!
Many of the houses in this video are now lost to us. Either in ruins or completely demolished. The most famous example being Dunraven Castle. Others have been split up into smaller houses or flats like Crossways House. Some are now hotels like Miskin Manor or golf clubs like Wenvoe Castle. In the case of St Donats Castle one is now a university college.
This video shows them in their prime, when they were in their hey day.
So if you like a bit of nostalgia, old photographs, vintage or period living, big posh houses, South Wales history or anything related, you will love this. And maybe, you actually live in one of these places. Let me know if you do.
I hope you enjoy it. Just click the play button below. There is no commentary but there is some soothing copyright free music.
If you are interested in the history of the Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan area you might be interested in my books on the subject. Volumes 1 & 2 of ‘Legends and Folklore from Barry, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan’ are out now and available from Amazon and all good bookshops. Or you can buy both volumes at a discounted prices direct from me. Just click here for more information.