Open Doors Heritage Day 2014
We are really
fortunate that Anthony and Alex Rees at Ruperra Home Farm are so willing to let
us hold meetings in their old Barn.
Our Open
Doors Heritage day was one of those meetings and it was a great success. This year
we had seventy people attend which shows that an increasing number of people are
now aware of the situation at Ruperra Castle. They surely did not come only for
the lovely tea and cakes!
Our Patron,
Simon Boyle, Lord Lieutenant of Gwent and his wife were very welcome visitors to
the event and Simon gave us an introductory speech. We were also very pleased
that William Graham the Assembly Member for South Wales East was willing to give
us a talk. He spoke in the field to the south of the Castle about the Morgan
Family of Ruperra. He lives very near
Ruperra and has always supported the Trust.
It was good
to talk to people over tea and cakes in the old Barn when the walk was over.
There was great interest in the exhibition and everyone was really enjoying
themselves, but there was an underlying sense of hopelessness, that for yet
another year we have been unable to enter the Castle grounds. Indeed the Castle
is now so unsafe that it would be dangerous for the public to be near it. Furthermore
the growth of vegetation round the grounds and on the castle itself makes
viewing from the footpaths very difficult.
Simon Boyle
said “We enjoyed it all, though I must say one could
not help feeling frustrated by the general difficulty of actually seeing the
castle. It looked rather a sad ghost of itself.”
On Monday 22nd
September, two officers from Cadw were visiting the site to survey the condition
of the buildings. We await their report which has been commissioned by the Welsh
Government.
posted by Save Ruperra Castle | 8:43 AM
