# Ruperra Castle March 2011



## astro23 (Mar 5, 2011)

This is my second report on Ruperra, The last visit was brief and I have also recently discovered much more history about this place so thought it was worth another look. 

Ruperra Castle is a Grade II* Listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, situated in Lower Machen in South East Wales. It is currently in a ruined condition, and up for sale.
Built in 1626 by Sir Thomas Morgan, Steward to the Earl of Pembroke, it was one of the first of the 'mock' castles to be built in Wales. King Charles I spent two nights at Ruperra Castle in 1645 shortly after the Battle of Naseby.

It was later absorbed into the Tredegar Estate and became home to the Morgan family. Evan Morgan , 4th Baron, 2nd Viscount Tredegar. One of the more interesting members of the Morgan family. He was a poet and noted eccentric with links to The royal family, Aldous Huxley, Lord Alfred Douglas, Aleister Crowley, Augustus John, Nancy Cunard and HG Wells amongst many others. The Duke of Bedford described the Morgans as "the oddest family I have ever met"; his mother is rumored to have built bird nests big enough to sit in! Ruperra was his childhood home and he held wild weekend parties there in later years. Evan's weekend garden parties were quite notorious in their day, and entertainments included Evan's menagerie of exotic pets, including lots of birds that seemed to do his bidding, a honey bear called Alice, Somerset the boxing kangaroo and a talking parrot called Blue Boy.

A friend of Aleister Crowley, Evan Morgan was actually a practitioner of occultism. They seem to have been friends for many years, as Crowley once inscribed a book to Evan, calling him 'old friend and adept of adepts' and proclaiming his right to bear Excalibur (with Crowley seeing himself as the rightful heir to Merlin.)

In his younger days, the then Hon. Evan Morgan was involved in a private occult society in London called the 'Black Hand'. It had 13 members only and Evan was known as the 'Black Monk'. 

Evan Morgan was the last member of the Morgan family to live at Tredegar House. In 1941 the Castle was destroyed by fire when British troops were billeted there. After the War the estate was sold as a farm. The castle has stood a ‘romantic ruin’ overgrown with vegetation and deteriorating for over 50 years.















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Thanks for looking


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## klempner69 (Mar 5, 2011)

Excellant shots Astro..must get to see this before its sold.Well done.


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## Erika (Mar 10, 2011)

Nearly wet myself at pic 5 - thought it was a body!


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## astro23 (Mar 10, 2011)

Erika said:


> Nearly wet myself at pic 5 - thought it was a body!



lol really? The body of a very small baby midget?


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## Foxylady (Mar 10, 2011)

Always enjoy seeing reports from here. Such an interesting history too...what an assorted cast of characters! 
Cheers.


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## scottyg100 (Mar 11, 2011)

Really loving them photo's what a nice site to see after a stressful day at work


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## astro23 (Mar 11, 2011)

Yeah its a nice easy going site, although because I took the car up the lane, we got locked in by the land owner because he tried to find us but failed, so we had to ask to be let out at the farm down the lane! 

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated!


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## astro23 (Mar 18, 2011)

A bit late I know but I just stumbled across this pic and thought some would find it interesting. It was taken In Dec 2007 and unfortunately is the only photo I took of the interior as it felt lived in and I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there although I believe the inhabitants move out around 2004ish. Anyway hope you find it interesting 






Thanks for looking, again!


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## J_a_t_33 (Mar 26, 2011)

I really really wana go to this place!! cool pics, quite likin the b&w thing you got goin on!


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