Welsh Journals

Fan and St. Fagan's Castle suggest a basic similarity the two houses are, in fact, quite different. Y Fan, largely reconstructed from the stones of Caerphilly Castle about 1583, is L-shaped in plan with a porch at one end. St. Fagan's Castle, probably rebuilt only a few years later within the walls of an abandoned medieval castle, is in contrast a rigidly symmetrical E-shaped plan with a central porch. Other Early Renaissance houses include Great House (Aberthin) and the highly romantic Rhiwperra (or Ruperra Castle as it is otherwise known). The latter house has always seemed to be one of the great mysteries of Glamorgan's architecture. Unfortunately, the Invent- ory is unable to shed any new light on the authorship of the make- believe castle and it remains a mystery. With the Late Renaissance we come to the 18th century and the use of Classical ornament to the exclusion of Gothic. This section includes such important houses as Llandaff Court, Kilvrough, Penrice Castle and Stouthall, amongst the few houses which are associated with a named architect. Strangely the authors suggest that John Wood (the Elder) was unlikely to have been the architect of Llandaff Court on the grounds that the owner (Admiral Mathews) disliked Wood's work at the cathedral. Mathews also disliked Llan- daff Court when it was finished and went to live elsewhere! Llan- haran House, stolid and gaunt, has a magnificent semi-circular staircase, surely one of the finest and most elegant in Wales. The Inventory ends with the splendid Orangery at Margam for this "rather than any individual house, represents in Glamorgan the buildings and taste of the 18th century landowners at their finest". John B. Hilling HISTORY OF THE LLYNFI VALLEY, by Brinley Richards. Cowbridge: D. Brown & Sons, 1982. 366pp. £ 7.95. South Wales is fairly well endowed with local historians and the not insubstantial number of publications produced in recent years bear witness to this. However, the standards can vary greatly so it is a pleasure to read a book that must be one of the best of its kind.