Trawsgoed Estate located eight miles (13 km) east of Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....

 in Ceredigion

Ceredigion

Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 has been in the possession of the Vaughan family since the year 1200. The family are descended from Collwyn ap Tangno, founder of the fifth noble tribe of North Wales

Fifteen Tribes of Wales

The five royal tribes of Wales and The fifteen tribes of Gwynedd refer to a class of genealogical lists which were compiled by Welsh bards in the mid-15th century. These lists were constructed on the premise that many of the leading Welsh families of their time could trace their descent to the...

, Lord of Eifionydd, Ardudwy, and part of Llŷn, who had his residence on the site of Harlech Castle

Harlech Castle

Harlech Castle, located in Harlech, Gwynedd, Wales, is a concentric castle, constructed atop a cliff close to the Irish Sea. Architecturally, it is particularly notable for its massive gatehouse....

.

The land falls within the ancient parish of Llanafan, in the upper division of the hundred of Ilar. In Wales an ancient parish was a village or group of villages or hamlets and the adjacent lands. Originally they held ecclesiastical functions, but from the sixteenth century they also acquired civil roles. The parish may have been established as an ecclesiastical parish. Originally a medieval administrative unit, after 1597 ecclesiastical units were separated from civil parishes to serve the ecclesiastical needs of the local community. The Trawsgoed estate extended over 22 Cardiganshire parishes, including Llanafan.

History of ownership

The estate and mansion of Trawsgoed came into the Vaughan family by the marriage of Adda Fychan with Tudo, daughter and heiress of Ifan Goch of Trawsgoed, ‘Evan the Red'.

The founder of the modern estate was the parliamentarian and lawyer, Sir John Vaughan

John Vaughan (judge)

Sir John Vaughan SL , of Trawsgoed, was a British justice.-Life:He was born in Ceredigion, Wales, the eldest of eight children of Edward Vaughan and his wife Letitia Stedman of Strata Florida, and was educated initially at The King's School, Worcester between 1613 and 1618, when he was admitted to...

, who was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

The Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, was the second highest common law court in the English legal system until 1880, when it was dissolved. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord...

 by Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

. It was Sir John Vaughan who acquired from the Earl of Essex much of the former monastic lands of the Cistercian abbey

Abbey

An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...

 Strata Florida. At the same time further land was added to the estate through his marriage to Jane Stedman, daughter of John Stedman of Ystrad Fflur and Cilcennin.

The estate has been passed down in the landed family

Landed gentry

Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....

 from father to son in a direct line since it was acquired by marriage in 1200. Like the Fulfords in Devon

Francis Fulford (born 1953)

Francis Fulford of Great Fulford is the 23rd Fulford of Great Fulford, an armiger and the head of an ancient landed family. He is a TV personality, property commentator, and regular contributor to radio and television....

, the Vaughans are one of the few aristocratic families who have retained possession of a house since first taking it on in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

.

Trawsgoed became an estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

 in the English sense of the word in the 16th century. Strata Florida Abbey, in the centre of Wales, was given to the 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, , was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540....

 to broker during the English Reformation

English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....

 and dissolution of the monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

, and he sold much of it to the Stedman family. Sir John Vaughan married the Stedman heiress and his brother, Henry, her sister. So almost all the abbey estate was taken over by the Vaughans. In 1695, John Vaughan of Trawsgoed, the grandson of Sir John Vaughan, was created Viscount Lisburne

Viscount Lisburne

Viscount Lisburne is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of Ireland.The first creation came in 1685 in favour of Adam Loftus, along with the subsidiary title of Baron of Rathfarnam. These titles became extinct upon his death in 1691.The second creation came in 1695 in...

 in the peerage of Ireland. during the Civil War he married Malet, daughter of the poet and courtier, the Earl of Rochester

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester , styled Viscount Wilmot between 1652 and 1658, was an English Libertine poet, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts...

, and granddaughter of the Cavalier, Sir Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester

Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester

Lieutenant-General Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester , known as The Lord Wilmot between 1643 and 1644 and as The Viscount Wilmot between 1644 and 1652, was an English Cavalier who fought for the Royalist cause during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.-Early life:Wilmot's family was descended from...

, the victor of the Battle of Roundway Down

Battle of Roundway Down

The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643, during the First English Civil War. A Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller who were besieging Devizes in central Wiltshire, which was defended by Lord Hopton...

.

The Vaughan family was granted the title Earl of Lisburne

Earl of Lisburne

Earl of Lisburne is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Wilmot Vaughan, 4th Viscount Lisburne. He notably represented Cardiganshire and Berwick-upon-Tweed in the House of Commons and held minor governmental office. His younger son, the third Earl, sat as Member of...

 in 1776 and remained at Trawsgoed mansion over successive generations. The family at one time owned estates in Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

 and at Mamhead in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. In 1947 the mansion house became the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries...

 in Wales, and the home farm is still occupied by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and managed by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER).

Grounds

In 1873, the Vaughan's estate acreage at Trawsgoed was the largest in Cardiganshire at 42666 acres (172.7 km²) as listed in the government return of landowners. Sir Pryse Pryse of Goderddan held 28,684, W.T.R. Powell of Nanteos held 21,933, John Waddingham of Hafod

Hafod Uchtryd

The estate of Hafod Uchtryd is located in Ceredigion, Wales in the Ystwyth valley near Devil's Bridge, Cwmystwyth and Pont-rhyd-y-groes off the B4574 road, described by the Automobile Association as one of the ten most scenic drives in the world. It is the ancient location of a dwelling on the...

 held 10963 acres (44.4 km²). . The Vaughan family has for many years worshiped at St Afan's Church, Llanafan that lies within the estate.

Present day status

The mansion house at Trawsgoed was sold in 2007. The new owners seek to restore the oldest parts of the house. However, the Vaughan family own over 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of the original estate that includes farmland, uplands and Common Land and they retain the use of an apartment in the mansion house at Trawsgoed. Shooting rights on adjoining Forestry Commission woodlands and fishing rights on the River Ystwyth

River Ystwyth

The River Ystwyth is a river in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. Its source is a number of streams that include the Afon Diliw, located on the border of Ceredigion and Powys in the Cambrian Mountains....

 have also been preserved. The house is set in listed parkland and gardens and is some eight miles (13 km) inland from Aberystwyth.

The last remaining Vaughan member to be in residence at the house was the Honourable John Edward Malet Vaughan, born 3 Oct 1952. He is the youngest child of John David Malet Vaughan, 8th Earl of Lisburne and Shelagh Macauley. Formerly a Director of Savills, John Vaughan acts as land agent to the Trawsgoed Estate. The estate manager is Mr. M.C. Lewis.

Lisburne Mines

The Trawsgoed estate was home to the Lisburne (Lead) Mines, one of the most profitable in all of Wales. In the 1880s, Trawsgoed had the second largest lead mine in Britain. The mineral rights over an extensive area are still owned by the estate.

Country House

It was Ernest George Henry, the 6th Earl of Lisburne, who added the 50-room Victorian wing to the old Georgian mansion and built the summerhouse, squash and tennis courts and the ornamental fountain. He also had the library ceiling painted in the style of those at Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

. The house eventually included seventy rooms, a summerhouse, gardens with rare Chilean and Himalayan tree species that thrive in the mild moist climate of coastal Wales, the remains of a small Roman fort adjoining the grounds, fountain, stable block, lodge house, and unencumbered view of the Cambrian Mountains

Cambrian Mountains

The Cambrian Mountains are a series of mountain ranges in Wales, reaching from, and including, the South Wales mountains of the Brecon Beacons, north Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, the Black Mountains of eastern Wales, to Snowdonia in North Wales...

.

Notable neighbours

The estate shares a border along the River Ystwyth

River Ystwyth

The River Ystwyth is a river in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. Its source is a number of streams that include the Afon Diliw, located on the border of Ceredigion and Powys in the Cambrian Mountains....

 with that of the Hafod estate

Hafod Uchtryd

The estate of Hafod Uchtryd is located in Ceredigion, Wales in the Ystwyth valley near Devil's Bridge, Cwmystwyth and Pont-rhyd-y-groes off the B4574 road, described by the Automobile Association as one of the ten most scenic drives in the world. It is the ancient location of a dwelling on the...

 and Nanteos

Nanteos Mansion

thumb|275px|right|Nanteos MansionNanteos Mansion is a large grade I listed 18th century country house mansion in Rhydyfelin, near Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales....

.

Climate

The MetOffice operates a Weather Station at Trawscoed, providing climate data for the surrounding area.
Trawscoed experiences an oceanic climate

Oceanic climate

An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...

 (Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

Cfb) similar to almost all of Wales and the United Kingdom. This translates to a narrow range of temperatures, rainfall in all seasons and low sunshine levels. Recent temperature extremes vary from 32.7 °C (90.9 °F) during July 2006, down to -13.8 C during January 2010. Typically, just over 48 nights of the year will record an air frost, and at least 1mm of rain will be reported on 169 days.