DINEFWR CASTLE PARK AND NEWTON HOUSE
Upstairs/Downstairs in Carmarthenshire
Fairly
unique among the castles and manors of Europe, in Wales near the town
of Llandeilo,
Carmarthenshire you get two for one at Dinefwr
Castle and the Newton House. Many castles were later updated into manor
houses, or the lords of a castle moved entirely to another location,
but the intact grounds of the extensive park held by the Rhys/Rice family
(the name was anglicised in the 18th Century) remained together, allowing
a visit to two historical eras in one go. Dinefwr Castle (Dynevor Castle)
is a medieval ruin on a promontory overlooking the Tywi River Valley
which
featured prominent in the fights over control of Wales in the age of
the Plantagenet kings. 
Henry
II was once fooled by a local cleric loyal to Rhys Gruffydd who promised
to help the Norman king to assault
the castle, but instead lead his troops through the most difficult path
possible, thwarting Henry’s plans. It was Gruffydd’s son
who built most of what is seen of the earliest parts of the medieval
castle today. King Edward I captured Dinefwr in 1277 during his consolidation
of the
English control of Wales (see Caernarvon
Castle) and his son, the unpopular
Edward II gave the property to Hugh Despenser before being overthrown
by his
wife, Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer (see Traitors
Gate to Mortimer’s
Hole). The castle was burnt, dismantled, restored and built
again in rebellions of the 14th and 16th Centuries. In 1532, the Rice
family abandoned
the medieval fort and built a manor house on the flat grounds, but remodeled
portion of the castle as a summer house.
Newton House
The
current Newton House manor on the grounds of Dinefwr Park was built
during the next
century in 1660 by Edward Rice, remodeled in 1770 by
George Rice and his wife Cecil, who engaged Capability Brown to design
the parklands. The house was again remodeled in the Victorian era by
the 4th Baron of Dynevor, George Rice Trevor, adding a covered porch
for coaches and corner towers with steepled roofs, a style referred to
as Venetian Gothic revival addition to the more simple earlier design
as was the fashion of the time. 
Curiously the parklands and manor house
are adminstered by the National Trust, while the castle is under the
care of Cadw Wales. Also rather unique among historic palaces and manors
to visit, where ropes divide the vistior from the rooms on display and
a photogrph is near enough to get one arrested, at the Newton House visitors
are allowed, even encouraged to sit on the furniture or play the piano
as the residents might have. In the main rooms and dining hall you’ll
find landscape paintings and portraits, as well as a detailed history
of the house, park and castle.
The
Newton House experience is as much about the downsatirs as the upstairs.
The basements consist
of a number of rooms where the servants whould
have spent their days in service. The Brushing Room where the outdoor
clothing would have been cleaned. The Gun Room decorated as a sports
room, though a pantry in the 1850s. The Plate Room where the silver was
kept with a heavy fire resistant door. Butler’s Quarters and Wine
and Ale cellars. As you explore these working rooms of a Victorian estate,
the recorded voices of actors portraying the staff, present and auditory
represention of the activity, almost as if ghosts haunting the place.
Real ghosts are less likely, the only acknowledged one is the spectral ‘White
Lady” of Newton House, thought to be young cousin of the Rice family
murdered by a rejected suitor in the early 1700s, though perhaps more
guessed at than from any particular evidence.
Visiting Dinefwr Castle Park
Dinefwr Castle
and the surrounding nature reserve land is owned and managed by
the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, while the Newton House
is part
of the
National
Trust. Though the
two parts of the property are administered by two entities,
entrance
is through a single ticket office on the grounds at
the parking area. A walk one way takes you to the
castle and the
other direction the Newton House. Admission to the house is £6.70
for
£3.35 adults with a family ticket available for £16.75 with
reductions for UK taxpayers. The other, perhaps more famous castle in
the area, Carreg Cennon, is four
miles away. Llandeilo
is at
the western edge of the Brecon Becans Park natural area about an hour
from Cardiff. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Web Info
National
Trust - Dinefwr
Wildlife
Trust South & West Wales
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission. Dinefwr Castle photos courtesy Cadw/National Trust.
SEE ALSO:
CARREG CENNEN CASTLE - LLANDEILO
GWILI HERITAGE RAILWAY - CARMARTHEN
CAERPHILLY CASTLE - WALES LARGEST CASTLE
CAREW CASTLE & TIDAL MILL - TENBY
ST DAVID’S BISHOP’S PALACE AND CATHEDRAL
LLANGYFELACH PARISH & ST DAVID'S CHURCH
