The site of the castle was the location for several earlier fortifications, the first of which is said to have been built by Arnold le Boteler (Butler) in the mid-12th century.[1] By the 16th century, a manor house owned by the Vaughan family stood on the site, its existence recorded by John Leland.[2]
In 1642 the house was sold to the Wyndham family. Thomas Wyndham of Dunraven was MP for Glamorgan from 1789 to his death in 1814. He rebuilt the manor house as a castellated hunting lodge in 1802–1806. The building was designed by his wife, although it was probably based on Clearwell Castle.[2]
The estate then passed to their daughter Caroline, who in 1810 had married the Irishman Windham Henry Quin (1782–1850), later 2nd Earl of Dunraven;[3] in 1815 he assumed the additional name of Wyndham in right of his wife, becoming Windham Wyndham-Quin.[4]
Caroline began remodelling the building in 1858; the central tower was replaced by a conservatory and the north and south wings were enlarged by Egbert Moxham.[2] It was inherited by Edwin Wyndham-Quin, 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, MP for Glamorganshire 1837–1851, and descendants. It was lived in until after the Second World War, having been used as a military hospital. The house was demolished in 1963.
[5]
↑A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen. The Journals and Letters of Agnes Porter, ed. Joanna Martin (London: Hambledon Press, 1998), p. 346. ISBN1852851643
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