Cooke & Arkwright

Historic Sale

One of South Wales’ foremost Victorian mansions has been sold. Talygarn House, once an important family seat and more recently a rehabilitation centre, was launched onto the market by Cooke & Arkwright on the instruction of the National Assembly for Wales.

There has been a house on the site since 1313 and has, since then, been in the ownership of various prominent Glamorgan families. In 1865 it was bought by George Clark of Dowlais, a prominent and wealthy railway engineer and industrialist, when it was a “quiet, modest structure” and described by the new owner as a “queer, rambling sort of house”. He lost little time in commencing radical alterations.

Talygarn is a substantial stone mansion built in the Tudor gothic style dating to around 1880 with various 20th Century hospital buildings attached. It is mainly constructed of local stone and slate with mullioned and transomed windows and sandstone door and window dressings. A dedicated team of Venetian craftsmen is reputed to have worked on the interiors of Talygarn for three years, and they are richly decorated with exquisite wood panelling, painted panels and other Italianate and gothic features. The extensive grounds include a small woodland park and formal lawns dotted with mature trees that slope down towards the lake.

In 1922 Talygarn was bought by the South Wales Miners Committee for use as a convalescent home and was maintained by the penny per ton levy on coal. In 1943 it was purchased by the Miners Welfare Commission, whilst in 1951 it became part of the National Health Service. Talygarn then became surplus to requirements and, in 2001, was sold by Cooke & Arkwright to a private developer who specialises in conversions to apartments.

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