Sealyham Mansion | |
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General information | |
Location | Near Wolfscastle, Pembrokeshire |
Country | Wales |
Coordinates | 51°54′48″N4°57′33″W / 51.91333°N 4.95917°W |
Sealyham Mansion, overlooking the little River Sealy, [1] is a Georgian country house in Pembrokeshire, Wales, near Wolfscastle and to the southeast of Letterston. Known for the creation of the Sealyham Terrier there in the 1800s, the house served as a sanatorium and medical facility from 1923 to 1964. In 1986 it became a children's activity centre. [2]
King Edward III granted some land at Sealyham in Pembrokeshire (Wales) to Thomas Tucker in the fourteenth century. Tucker was a captain in the King's army about 1356. [3] From that time the Tuckers remained identified with the manor until 1777. [4] Tucker married Ursula del Holme and they built a house at this Sealyham property, which is some 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Liverpool. The house was rebuilt in the mid-18th century. In 1777 the heiress to the property, Mary Tucker, married John-Owen Edwardes. [5] Their heir was William Edwardes (d. 1825), who was succeeded by William Edwardes-Tucker. [6] Captain John Edwardes was a descendant of this couple. In 1840, Tucker-Edwardes was married to Anna Jane Jones of Letterston (Wales) and their only son was John Tucker-Edwardes (1845) who married Hester Phillips. He died in 1891 (at 82 years of age) and his father also died in the same year. As they had no offspring Sealyham House became the property of John Owen's brother, Owen, who also died two years later in 1893; his son Charles Gustaves Whittaker Edwardes who inherited the property died in 1902 without any children. [7]
John Edwardes bred the Sealyham Terrier rare Welsh breed dog. It turned out the last of the descendant family members to live at the Sealyham Mansion was Catherine Octavia Edwards. She married Victor James Higgon. In 1905, they moved to Treffgarne Hall. Around 1910, portions of the land were sold to the Pembrokeshire County Council. [8]
In 1920, Sealyham Mansion and its immediate associated land were sold to the King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association. The estate was converted into a tuberculosis hospital with 30 beds. [9] It continued to function as a tuberculosis hospital to 1954. In 1955, it was re-purposed for elderly patients, but was permanently closed as a medical facility in 1964. [8] In 1970, the Sealyham Mansion was sold to Nancy Ellen Perkins. She converted it into an apartment building as rentals. [8] In 1980, it was sold again to an investment firm that used it for an outdoor activities center. [8] It was resold in 1986 to the Sealyham Activity Centre for young people as an educational facility, run by Sam and Valerie Richards and John and Peggy Hone. [8]
On Friday, May 21, 2021 Sealyham Activity Centre closed [10] Sealyham Activity Centre offered both residential and non-residential trips with a variety of activities including high ropes, canoeing, coasteering, sailing, archery, kayaking, orienteering, team building, climbing and abseiling, hillwalking, bush craft and surfing. The centre offered accommodation for up to 120 people as well as catered and self-catered stays and adventure days for children and adults. Despite assurances on its website that 'we will definitely be here waiting for you in 2021' the business has had to close its doors for good. Posting on Sealyham's Facebook page the team said: "Sadly due to Covid we have been unable to keep the centre going. We have tried all avenues to keep going but to no avail."
25 November 2021 "The future of Sealyham mansion near Wolfscastle has been secured as an Active Learning Centre, offering coastal and woodland residential learning experiences to young people. It is anticipated to reopen in Autumn 2022." [11]
The Tucker-Edwardes family of the 1800s were one of the leading landowners of Pembrokeshire. [12] Headed by Captain John Edwardes (1808–91), the family had the time and the means to breed dogs, which was almost a prerogative of people of noble families or military background. [7] The Welsh Corgi, Fox Terrier (Wire), and the now extinct English White Terrier all played a part in the make up of the Sealyham, [13] although Edwardes did not keep records. [14] After Edwardes' death in 1891, other breeders began to work with Sealyhams, [14] including Fred Lewis who promoted the breed. [15] According to the Kennel Club Stud Book of 2009 there were only 47 dogs of Tucker-Edwardes' breed, making it an endangered breed. [7]
The Staffordshire Bull Terrier, also called the Staffy or Stafford, is a purebred dog of small to medium size in the terrier group that originated in the northern parts of Birmingham and in the Black Country of Staffordshire, for which it is named. They descended from 19th-century bull terriers that were developed by crossing bulldogs with various terriers to create a generic type of dog generally known as bull and terriers. Staffords share the same ancestry with the modern Bull Terrier, although the two breeds developed along independent lines, and do not resemble each other. Modern Staffords more closely resemble the old type of bull terrier, and were first recognised as a purebred dog breed by The Kennel Club of Great Britain in 1935.
The Royal Kennel Club (KC) is the official kennel club of the United Kingdom. It is the oldest recognised kennel club in the world. Its role is to oversee various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials. It also operates the national register of pedigree dogs in the United Kingdom and acts as a lobby group on issues involving dogs in the UK. To celebrate its 150th anniversary on 5 April 2023, King Charles III confirmed the club with a 'royal' prefix.
The Sealyham Terrier is a rare Welsh breed of small to medium-sized terrier that originated in Wales as a working dog. It is principally a white-bodied, rough-coated breed, developed in the mid-to-late-19th century by Captain John Edwardes at Sealyham House, Pembrokeshire.
A Dandie Dinmont Terrier is a small Scottish dog breed in the terrier family. The breed has a very long body, short legs, and a distinctive topknot of hair on the head. They are friendly but tough, and are suitable for interaction with older children. There are breed-specific health concerns: they can be affected by spinal problems due to their elongated body, and the breed is affected by canine cancer at a higher than average rate.
Wolfscastle, also spelt Wolf's Castle, is a village and community in Pembrokeshire, between Haverfordwest and Fishguard, in southwest Wales. It was historically in the parish of St Dogwells.
The Landsker Line is a term used for the language border in Wales between the largely Welsh-speaking and largely English-speaking areas in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. The English-speaking areas, south of the Landsker line and known as Little England beyond Wales, are notable for having been English linguistically and culturally for many centuries despite being far from the England–Wales border.
Bull and terrier was a common name for crossbreeds between bulldogs and terriers in the early 1800s. Other names included half-and-halfs and half-breds. It was a time in history when, for thousands of years, dogs were classified by use or function, unlike the modern pets of today that were bred to be conformation show dogs and family pets. Bull and terrier crosses were originally bred to function as fighting dogs for bull- and bear-baiting, and other popular blood sports during the Victorian era. The sport of bull baiting required a dog with attributes such as tenacity and courage, a wide frame with heavy bone, and a muscular, protruding jaw. By crossing bulldogs with various terriers from Ireland and Great Britain, breeders introduced "gameness and agility" into the hybrid mix.
A working terrier is a type of terrier dog bred and trained to hunt vermin including a badger, fox, rat and other small mammals. This may require the working terrier pursuing the vermin into an underground warren. These working dog breeds are neither bred primarily for a dog show nor as a companion dog, rather they are valued for their ability to hunt, endurance and gameness. Working terriers provide utility on farms, for pest control and organized hunting activities. A terrierman leads a pack of terriers when they are working.
William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington of Johnston Hall, Pembrokeshire, was a British landowner and a long-standing Member of Parliament.
Cemais was an ancient cantref of the Kingdom of Dyfed, from the 11th century a Norman Marcher Lordship, from the 16th century a Hundred, and is now part of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It occupied the coastal area between the Teifi estuary and Fishguard, and the northern and southern slopes of the Preseli Hills, covering an area of approximately 140 square miles (360 km2). The Afon Nyfer divided it into two commotes: Cemais Is Nyfer to the north and Cemais Uwch Nyfer to the south.
Vulnerable Native Breeds are a group of dog breeds originating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and identified by The Kennel Club (KC) as having annual registration numbers of 300 puppies or fewer within the UK. The KC identified its need for such a list in June 2003, with research it conducted to identify the extent of the vulnerability and viability of each breed. It was a joint project, with the KC working with the British and Irish Native Breeds Trust, later to be known simply as the Native Dog Breeds Trust. The breeds on the list have been promoted at events such as Discover Dogs and Crufts, and by asking that owners of these breeds mate their dogs rather than having them spayed.
Manordeifi is a parish and community in the hundred of Cilgerran, in the northeast corner of Pembrokeshire, Wales. The population of the community in 2001 was 478. It has an elected community council and is part of the Cilgerran electoral ward for the purposes of elections to Pembrokeshire County Council.
Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet, born John Lord, was a British Tory politician from Wales. He sat as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over fifty years. His wealth came from coal mining but he lost most of his fortune as a result of costly electoral campaigns in Pembrokeshire, most notably those of 1831.
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