St Fagans National Museum of History

The following photographs were taken in May 2018 during our first visit to St Fagans. We only had a limited time for our visit so we did not explore the whole site. That remains for another day!
St Fagans National Museum of History is an open-air museum near Cardiff capturing the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Welsh people. It consists of more than forty re-erected buildings from various locations in Wales, and is set in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor house.

This is St Teilo’s church which has been relocated from Llandeilo Tal-y-bont near Pontarddulais. The church is thought to have been built in the 12th or 13th century. It went out of use in 1970 and began to be demolished in readiness for the move to St Fagans in 1984. Prior to the removal of the church, wall paintings were discovered showing through in places beneath the plaster. When the church began to be dismantled, the paintings were first removed and preserved; the oldest of them was a mural of St Catherine, believed to date from the 15th century.

It was rebuilt as it would have appeared in about 1530.

One of the many reconstructed wall paintings.

The doorway of the church.

A dusty old window in one of the old cottages.

Rhyd-y-Car Terrace Houses. This small terrace was built by Richard Crawshay around 1795 to provide housing for the workers in his iron-ore mine at Merthyr Tydfil. The six houses have been displayed at different periods of their history, namely 1805, 1855, 1895, 1925, 1955 and 1985.

The gardens of the terraced houses including the outside toilet. Behind the Tizer sign is an example of a living-shed from circa 1955.

The inside of the living-shed.

The Smithy shop. This was originally located at Llawr-y-glyn, Trefeglwys, Powys. It is a late 18th century building.

Gwalia Stores. The stores were originally located in Commercial Street, Ogmore Vale, Glamorgan. They were built in 1880.

The shop is laid out in two parts. It is dressed as it would have looked in the late 1920’s.

The shop front.

The upstairs hardware store.

Nant Wallter Cottage. From Taliaris, Carmarthenshire. It is furnished as it would have looked in the late 18th century. It was originally built c.1770.

November 2018

A return visit to St Fagans

Walking past the newly opened Gweithdy building on our way to Llys Llwelyn.

Llys Llywelyn is a recreation of a Royal Court of the Princes of Gwynedd used during the 13th century. It is based on the surviving remains of Llys Rhosyr in the south-western corner of Anglesey and excavated by the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust between 1992 and 1996.

Inside the newly opened reconstruction.

Wall hangings and reproduction artefact's from the period.

Llainfadyn Cottage. This cottage comes from Snowdonia and was built in 1762, the date being carved on the right hand side of the fireplace lintel. It is solidly-built of mountain boulders, and a pair of stout oak trusses supports the roof of small, locally-quarried slates. In contrast to farmhouses, cottages were the homes of people who did not own enough land to live off. They were usually farm labourers, craftsmen or, as in the case of this dwelling, quarrymen and their families. This cottage was divided by furniture to make bedrooms and a half-loft for the children, a layout that was commonly found throughout west Wales.

Abernodwydd Farmhouse. A timber-framed thatched farmhouse, built in 1678 as an open-hall with a fire in the centre of the floor and open to the roof. Altered in 1708 by the construction of a stone-backed fireplace and timber-framed chimney, and the incorporation of an upper floor, effectively doubling the accommodation space inside.

August 2019

A painted window in Llys Llwelyn.

Bryn Eryr Iron Age Roundhouses.

The Tollhouse.

St Fagans Castle. A 16th Century Elizabethan Manor House.