Castellau
Castellau ("fortifications"; alternate: Castella)[1] was a rural district with a country house of the same name in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales.
Geography
After crossing the Rhondda, the road rises out of the valley in a southerly direction nearly due south to Castellau. Castellau is located less than a mile north-west of Beddau.[2] A forge was situated in a small valley, Darren Ddeusant,[3] extending upwards by the mansion, Castellau House, into the hills to the north of Llantrisant.[4]
History
While the name imports a fortified place, nothing is known of its history. It might have formed an outpost to the castle of Llantrisant[1]. The Traherne family lived for several centuries at Castellau. They are descended through Sir George Herbert of Swansea, son of Sir Richard Herbert.[5] It was later owned by a Mrs. Smith.[6]
Notable buildings
Built in the Regency style, Castellau House probably predates 1807. It is a remodel from a 17th century three-unit house. The interior has a semicircular staircase, square hall, bow-ended dining room, Ionic columns, marble chimneypiece, cast iron balustrade. The white house's exterior features bowed ends, a six-bay facade, central doorway, slate roof, cantilevered eaves, and a cast iron veranda.[7]
The Castellau Independent Chapel, dated 1877, is located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the house; featuring angled pinnacles and transomed ancets, the interior has galleries on three sides and a polygonal pulpit.[7] In 1988, Ysgold Castellau became the first Welsh medium education school that opened in the southeast within new buildings.[8]
References
- ^ a b Brayley, Edward Wedlake; Britton, John (1815). The Beauties of England and Wales, Or, Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, of Each County: South Wales (Now in the public domain. ed.). Printed by T. Maiden, for Vernor and Hood. pp. 652–. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Lewis, Dillwyn (1966). The history of Llantrisant. Beddau Centenary Committee. p. 105. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Williams, Stewart; Denning, R. T. W. (1967). Stewart Williams' Glamorgan historian. Cowbridge: D. Brown. p. 48. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Cambrian Archaeological Association (1863). Archaeologia cambrensis (Now in the public domain. ed.). W. Pickering. pp. 92–. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Joseph Jackson Howard, ed. (1884). Miscellanea genealogica et beraldica. Vol. IV (Now in the public domain. ed.). London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. pp. 102–. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ A handbook for travellers in South Wales (Now in the public domain. ed.). John Murray. 1860. pp. 14–. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ a b Newman, John (1995). Glamorgan: (Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan). Yale University Press. pp. 64, 402, 403–. ISBN 978-0-14-071056-4. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Williams, Iolo Wyn (5 November 2003). Our Children's Language: The Welsh-Medium Schools of Wales, 1939-2000. Y Lolfa. pp. 66–. ISBN 978-0-86243-704-6. Retrieved 21 August 2011.