# Secret Castle, some where near Cowbridge, Wales



## bonniemcprice (Jan 13, 2010)

A very random find, that I doubt I will ever be able to locate again!

Its an old manor house/ castle and it is owend by a very nice man I happened to meet, well he does live next door. Further renovations are planned.


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## Labb (Jan 13, 2010)

Very nice. Hope you find tour way back to take some more pictures.


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## Brumski (Jan 13, 2010)

Unless I'm mistaken..



> Although called Old Beupre Castle the structure is seen as a fortified manor house. The original house was an L-shaped building, now located within the inner courtyard, built circa 1300 and from this period until the 18th century it was owned by the Basset family. During the 16th century intensive remodeling was undertaken, started by Sir Rice Mansel, continued by William Basset and completed by William's son, Richard. This additional work added the impressive outer gatehouse, completed in 1586 and a storyed Renaissance porch, completed 1600, along with the buildings around the middle court.
> 
> Beaupre Castle has few outwardly looking windows and appears like a series of fortified barns. The main entrance is via the gatehouse reached via a low walled outer courtyard. The gatehouse is a three storyed structure surrounded by a curtain wall. The inner porch stands out from the rest of the courtyard with smooth ashlar stonework in comparison to the rough local stonework surrounding it. The porch, designed by Richard Twrch,[1] consists of varying architectural styles including a Tudor arch, strapwork decoration and three tiers of flanked columns. The columns rise in ascending order from Doric to Ionic to Corinthian and the second tier bears the Basset family heraldic set on panels.
> 
> After the 16th century alterations little work was carried out on Beaupre, and after the English Civil War the Basset family fortunes went into decline and in the early 18th century the Basset inheritance eventually passed to the Jones family.[2] The Jones family decided not to settle in Beaupre Castle and chose to use the mansion of New Beaupre.



I was going to edit out the name but it's a well known castle anyway.



> it is owend by a very nice man I happened to meet



It's owned by the Welsh Assembly Government.


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## djrich (Jan 13, 2010)

Not all that secret as Wiki knows all about it  Great pics though.
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Beaupre_Castle[/ame]


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## the_historian (Jan 13, 2010)

That's beautiful. 
The courtyard looks like a miniature version of Linlithgow Palace, without the fountain.


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## phill.d (Jan 13, 2010)

Top notch stuff.
Great location for sure!


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## cogito (Jan 13, 2010)

It's not at all secret, it's even signposted along the public footpath from the country lane nearby.


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## Foxylady (Jan 14, 2010)

Fabulous structure. Love the porch of the main entrance...some very interesting details there.
Cheers for posting and welcome to DP, btw.


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## bonniemcprice (Jan 14, 2010)

Brumski said:


> Unless I'm mistaken..
> 
> 
> 
> ...



hmmmm
there is a house next door to it. the man was sitting in his garden with his dogs, smoking a cigar and drinking a 'rather nice malt' and said that it belonged to him. there were parts of it you could not access due to him having put doors there as he was working on certain rooms.


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## bonniemcprice (Jan 14, 2010)

thanks every one
well it was secret to me but then I am not local to these parts.... 

so it was an adventure!

glad you like x


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## Black Shuck (Jan 15, 2010)

Nice set of shots there. Labb P.M sent mate. Get back to me A.S.A.P Plase.!


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## spacepunk (Feb 7, 2010)

I love these 'secret' finds. Well done, a grey place and nice photos.


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