Greenmeadow

Greenmeadow is yet another of the grand houses of the parish that has simply disappeared from view and memory. Fortunately, the history of the house and the genealogy of the Lewis family who lived there, is well documented by local historian Don Llewellyn

A lot of what follows is taken from his book of the same name

The Lewis’ of Van were an ancient part of the Lewis family, perhaps dating from 1540. It has been suggested that the family were in the area as far back as the 12th century, as ancestors of Ifor Bach

Greenmeadow was probably a modest farmstead originally, known as Congwynlais in 1570, Cwmgwynlais (in 1625) and Pantgwynlais (by 1785). The farmhouse would have been enlarged and rebuilt over the years until it became the mansion Greenmeadow by the early 1800s

In Yates’ map of Glamorgan 1799, a William Lewis was occupying Greenmeadow

A convoluted family history and wills lead Greenmeadow to become home to Wyndham Lewis and his young bride Mary Anne (she was 12 years younger than her husband). They married at Christmas 1815 and moved into the mansion a few years later

This was the couple who had a strange relationship and notoriety at the time. Wyndham Lewis was an MP and they both mixed in high society in London. There she met Benjamin Disraeli (who was later to become prime minister). There are numerous stories of Disraeli staying in the Cow & Snuffers in Llandaff North when visiting Greenmeadow, and even stranger stories of him having to decamp to the Hollybush pub when Wyndham Lewis returned home unexpectantly. I wonder how much truth there is in all this?

Wyndham Lewis died in 1838, aged 58, and Mary Anne married Disraeli in August the next year!

Greenmeadow passed through the family, and there were a series of Henry Lewis’ over the years. One Henry Lewis died in 1881 and is buried in Whitchurch. His son Col. Henry Lewis inherited the estate, and with his own son Rupert, Greenmeadow blossomed. Col. Henry Lewis died in 1925, and is buried at Llanilltern

The family were spectacularly wealthy and ‘lorded’ it over the local community. It’s said that, in the latter years, the mansion held many glamourous dinner parties and balls. John Bryant of Llantrisant was noted as harpist to Greenmeadow (listed in Who’s Who in Wales 1920)

Horses, riders and hounds of the Pentyrch Hunt were very familiar to the forecourt. There are also photographs of the hunt outside the family pub, the Lewis Arms in the village square

What was Greenmeadow like? The 1927 sale catalogue (after the death of Col. Henry Lewis) suggests numerous living and servants’ spaces with cellars, grand rooms to the ground floor, magnificent bedrooms and dressing rooms to the first floor and nurseries and further servants’ quarters on the second floor. One living room had previously been the ‘Justice Room’

The sketch shows the southwest ‘tower’ of the house in the late 1800s, with the coloured awnings over the windows to some of these grand rooms. Perhaps Colonel Lewis is discussing the hunt with one of his gamekeepers!

In addition, there were extensive kitchen and servants’ quarters and separate stabling and kennels. Strangely, there was no laundry in the house. All the washing was done in one of the Pine Tree cottages on the road from Whitchurch to Tongwynlais

The census of 1861 lists Henry Lewis (magistrate) with his wife and 4 children, and a house-full of servants; butler, cook, nurse, nursemaid (age 8), housemaid, page(!), errand boy (age 11) and stable boy. Lots of others including kitchen staff, gardeners, grooms and gamekeepers would have lived nearby

Sadly, the line died out with Col. Henry Lewis early in the 20th century, and the house became empty. It was left to deteriorate and finally became ruinous

Cardiff RDC acquired the land and council housing on the site began in 1930s and completed in 1947/48, obliterating every last vestige of the grand mansion that was Greenmeadow

Local folk talk about ghosts wandering around the grounds, but only the demolished house is the true ‘ghost’ of the village, along with its name

Today, all that one sees are the houses and gardens that were once a simple council estate, and is now a mature corner of the Tongwynlais village. If you look really hard though, you may just see the ‘ghost’ of Greenmeadow in the distance

 

Our thanks go to Pentyrch and District History Society for much of the wonderful information from Don Llewellyn’s book

 

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