St Fagans National History Museum
Encyclopedia
St Fagans National History Museum , commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff
chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture
and architecture
of the Welsh
people. The museum is part of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales
.
It comprises over thirty re-erected buildings from various locations in Wales, and is set in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor house. In 2011 Which?
magazine named the museum the United Kingdom's favourite visitor attraction.
. It opened its doors to the public in 1948, under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum. The museum's name in Welsh (also meaning "Welsh Folk Museum") has remained unchanged since that date, whereas the English title has been modified once to Museum of Welsh Life, and again to its current nomenclature.
The brainchild of Iorwerth Peate
, the museum was modelled on Skansen
, the outdoor museum of vernacular Swedish
architecture in Stockholm
. Most structures re-erected in Skansen were built of wood and are thus easily taken apart and reassembled, but a comparable museum in Wales was naturally going to be more ambitious as much of the vernacular architecture of Wales is made of masonry.
The museum includes over forty buildings which represent the architecture of Wales, including a nonconformist chapel
(in this case, Unitarian
), a village schoolhouse, a Toll road
tollbooth (below), a cockpit
(below), a pigsty
(below) and a tannery
(below).
The museum holds displays of traditional crafts with a working blacksmith
's forge, a pottery, a weaver, miller and clog maker. It also includes two working water mills: one flour mill and one wool
mill. Part of the site includes a small working farm which concentrates on preserving local Welsh native breeds of livestock
. Produce from the museum's bakery and flour mill is available for sale.
The medieval parish church
of Saint Teilo (below) formerly at Llandeilo Tal-y-bont in west Glamorgan
(restored to its pre-Reformation
state), is the Museum's latest building, opened in October 2007 by the Archbishop of Canterbury
, Rowan Williams
. Though the museum was intended to preserve aspects of Welsh rural life, it now includes several buildings that depict the industrial working life that succeeded it, itself almost extinct in Wales. There is a row of workmen's cottages, depicting furnishing from 1800–1985, from Rhyd-y-car near Merthyr Tydfil
(below), as well as the pristine Oakdale
Workmen's Institute
(below). A post-war prefabricated bungalow
(below) has even been erected on the grounds.
Since 1996 the Museum has hosted the Everyman Summer Theatre Festival when it re-located from Dyffryn Gardens
. This festival, which includes a Shakespeare play, a Musical and a Children's Show has become part of Welsh theatrical calendar since its founding at Dyffryn in 1983.
Scenes from the Doctor Who
episodes "Human Nature
" and "The Family of Blood
" were filmed at St Fagans.
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
of the Welsh
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...
people. The museum is part of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales
National Museum Wales
Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, comprises eight museums in Wales:* National Museum Cardiff* St Fagans: National History Museum, Cardiff* Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon...
.
It comprises over thirty re-erected buildings from various locations in Wales, and is set in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor house. In 2011 Which?
Which?
Which? is a product-testing and consumer campaigning charity with a magazine, website and various other services run by Which? Ltd ....
magazine named the museum the United Kingdom's favourite visitor attraction.
History
The museum was started in 1946 following the donation of the castle and lands by the Earl of PlymouthEarl of Plymouth
Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation was in 1675 for Charles FitzCharles, illegitimate son of King Charles II by his mistress Catherine Pegge...
. It opened its doors to the public in 1948, under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum. The museum's name in Welsh (also meaning "Welsh Folk Museum") has remained unchanged since that date, whereas the English title has been modified once to Museum of Welsh Life, and again to its current nomenclature.
The brainchild of Iorwerth Peate
Iorwerth Peate
Iorwerth Peate also known as Cyfeiliog, was a Welsh poet and scholar, best known as the founder, along with Cyril Fox, of St Fagans National History Museum. Born in Llanbrynmair, his interest in folk studies and anthropology was kindled when studying at Aberystwyth under professor Herbert John...
, the museum was modelled on Skansen
Skansen
Skansen is the first open air museum and zoo in Sweden and is located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era....
, the outdoor museum of vernacular Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
architecture in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. Most structures re-erected in Skansen were built of wood and are thus easily taken apart and reassembled, but a comparable museum in Wales was naturally going to be more ambitious as much of the vernacular architecture of Wales is made of masonry.
Buildings and exhibits
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
(in this case, Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
), a village schoolhouse, a Toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
tollbooth (below), a cockpit
Cockfight
A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters , held in a ring called a cockpit. Cockfighting is now illegal throughout all states in the United States, Brazil, Australia and in most of Europe. It is still legal in several U.S. territories....
(below), a pigsty
Sty
A sty or pigsty is a small-scale outdoor enclosure for raising domestic pigs. It is sometimes referred to as a hog pen, hog parlor, pigpen, pig parlor, or pig-cote. Pigsties are generally fenced areas of bare dirt and/or mud. Both "sty" and "pigpen" are used as derogatory descriptions of dirty,...
(below) and a tannery
Tannery
Tannery may refer to:* Tannery , a facility where the tanning process is applied to hide to produce leather* Paul Tannery , a French mathematician and historian of mathematics...
(below).
The museum holds displays of traditional crafts with a working blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
's forge, a pottery, a weaver, miller and clog maker. It also includes two working water mills: one flour mill and one wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
mill. Part of the site includes a small working farm which concentrates on preserving local Welsh native breeds of livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
. Produce from the museum's bakery and flour mill is available for sale.
The medieval parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Saint Teilo (below) formerly at Llandeilo Tal-y-bont in west Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
(restored to its pre-Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
state), is the Museum's latest building, opened in October 2007 by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
. Though the museum was intended to preserve aspects of Welsh rural life, it now includes several buildings that depict the industrial working life that succeeded it, itself almost extinct in Wales. There is a row of workmen's cottages, depicting furnishing from 1800–1985, from Rhyd-y-car near Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
(below), as well as the pristine Oakdale
Oakdale, Caerphilly
Oakdale is a large village in Caerphilly county borough, Wales, 9½ miles north of Caerphilly itself, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire...
Workmen's Institute
Miners' institute
Miners' institutes, sometimes known as Workingmen's institute, Mine Workers' institute, or Miners' Welfare Hall are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and educational venue...
(below). A post-war prefabricated bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
(below) has even been erected on the grounds.
Since 1996 the Museum has hosted the Everyman Summer Theatre Festival when it re-located from Dyffryn Gardens
Dyffryn Gardens
Dyffryn Gardens is a collection of botanical gardens located near the village of St. Nicholas in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The gardens were selected by the British Tourist Authority as one of the Top 100 gardens in the UK.-History of The Dyffryn Estate:...
. This festival, which includes a Shakespeare play, a Musical and a Children's Show has become part of Welsh theatrical calendar since its founding at Dyffryn in 1983.
Scenes from the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episodes "Human Nature
Human Nature (Doctor Who episode)
"Human Nature" is the eighth episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the first episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cornell adapted from his 1995 Doctor Who novel Human Nature...
" and "The Family of Blood
The Family of Blood
"The Family of Blood" is the ninth episode of Series 3 of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Preceded by "Human Nature", it is the second episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cornell adapted from his 1995 Doctor Who novel Human Nature...
" were filmed at St Fagans.
External links
- Castles-of-wales.com, St Fagans Castle
- Official website
- BBC Wales site including panoramic views of buildings in the museum
- Everyman Theatre
- Geograph.co.uk, photos of St Fagans Museum
- St Fagans National History Museum at Gathering the Jewels
- Celebration of St Dwynwen's day in Wales