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Have Your Say On Bedwellty House And Park

Blaenau Gwent Council wants to hear your ideas on the future planning of the £3.5 million restoration of Bedwellty House and Park, Tredegar.

£3.5 million in Heritage Lottery Funding has been earmarked to restore the house and its historic grounds to their former glory - now the Council is asking local people how they would like the Victorian iron works owner’s house and gardens to be used in the 21st century.

Public consultation begins in earnest in the New Year when a series of workshop sessions will be held in the community.

But your ideas are welcome now – even at this early stage – to kick off the debate. Public consultation is the key to the success of the first £253,000 planning and development stage. Only if this goes well will the Council be able to lever in the rest of the £3.5 million in funding from the Heritage Lottery.

Bedwellty House is a Grade II listed building that was the home of Lord Tredegar, whose Tredegar Iron and Coal Works were the principal local employer for much of the 19th  century.

Bedwellty House was built in 1818 as the home for the Homfray family, co-founders of the Tredegar ironworks, and is now a Grade 11 listed building on account of its historic and architectural interest.

It was the home of the ironmasters who owned the iron and coal works that provided most of the jobs in the community throughout the 19th century. The town of Tredegar developed around the house and its 26 acres of parkland and gardens.

In 1901 Lord Tredegar handed over ownership of the house and park to the town. The house was the headquarters of the local council until 1974 – and is still used by the town council. The council chamber witnessed the first political activities of a young Aneurin Bevan - who went on to become a working class hero as the Labour Government minister who founded the National Health Service in 1948.

Bedwellty House and Park is already used by the local groups, organisations and the community. It is also a venue for events such as the recent Cordell Literature Festival and the popular Ironmaster’s Christmas.  Weddings are held there.

Proposals include the restoration of the house and its conversion into a multi-use facility. This will include offices, workshops and educational space, as well as a café to encourage the local community to use the house for group meetings, social events and lectures.  Within the house there will be exhibitions and interpretation panels to help bring the industrial and social history of the site to life for all visitors.
 
Plans also include the restoration and enhancement of the Grade II parkland. Within the park there are a number of significant Grade II listed structures including the icehouse, the bandstand, the boundary stone, the war memorial and the world famous 1851 Great Exhibition block of coal – 15 tonnes hewn in a single block. All these, in addition to other historically important features such as the long shelter, kitchen garden, fishponds, grotto and cast-iron fountain, help make the park popular with visitors.

Austin Smith Lord LLP Consultants have been commissioned by Blaenau Gwent Council to undertake the planning and development stage. They will be holding public workshop sessions, so be on the lookout for the times and dates for these consultation events in the local area, the press and media.