Nestled between Barry and Wenvoe is what remains of a once stately looking eighteenth century house. This was Wenvoe ‘castle’, a commodious house designed by Robert Adam, although the actual design was executed by Thomas Roberts for Peter Birt in 1776-77. This house was unusual for the late eighteenth century as its architecture veered more towards the Gothic/Medieval revival of the Victorian period, a good 50 years before this became fashionable. Wenvoe Castle was built at a time when classically inspired Greco-Roman architecture was the norm and was considered the apotheosis of taste and refinement, so this house with its medieval pretentions was unusual for the eighteenth century. The Georgian period house at Wenvoe replaced an earlier sixteenth century house which was once owned by one Edmund Thomas; he acquired the house from the Earl of Pembroke. The house part burned down in 1910 and the rest was subsequently demolished in the 1930s.
(Wenvoe Castle - late Victorian period)
Like all great houses of this period, Wenvoe had an
extensive landscaped gardens. Gardens were considered an important aspect
to the house, therefore it was usual for houses of this status to have
magnificent gardens and Wenvoe was no exception. It is a fact that the third
baronet, Sir Edward Thomas bankrupted himself to create the landscaped gardens
at Wenvoe around 1733-1767. The remnants of this magnificent landscape are
still visible if one looks carefully, but the most interesting element to this
artificial landscape is the serpentine canal and folly hidden away from public
gaze in nearby Bears Wood, albeit in a very poor state of neglect.
(A part of the landscaped garden hidden in Bear Wood just outside Barry)
These follies were very fashionable in landscaped gardens during the eighteenth century and correspond to the growing antiquarian interest in Britain’s mysterious and ancient past. It was a time when people were beginning to take an interest in the lumps and bumps in Britain’s ancient landscape and even at the less distant past of the medieval period.
It
has been thought that this serpentine canal, folly and landscape were the
product of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, but it seems more likely that this was
laid out in the fashionable style of Brown with sweeping views and various
grottos and follies. Brown was though involved with the landscaping of nearby
Cardiff Castle in 1776.
(Remains of the serpentine canal)
The folly and remnants of the landscape garden are on private
grounds and not open for the public to view. The landowners’ permission was
obtained before our visit.
©Jonathan
and Mark Lambert 2013
The right of Jonathan and
Mark Lambert to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted in
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