Margam Interiors

The Margam Interiors’ project started with a community history approach, working with local people, historians, and heritage enthusiasts to see just how much we could find out about the lost interiors. Groups such as the Friends of Margam Park, Rich History and the Port Talbot Historical Society helped by supplying photographs, text and ideas about the interiors. The community and volunteer strand of work was led by CFP, a consultancy that have in depth knowledge of the castle.

This phase was followed by a deep-dive into the history of the Castle led by Swansea University, including a systematic study of historical records and archives, including materials held in national collections. The UKSPF funding enabled CHART to appoint a full-time researcher for the duration of the project. Part of this work included the agreements from international museums and art galleries to use digital versions of artworks in the app.

The digital elements were undertaken in two phases.

Greenhatch ltd were commissioned by CHART to capture a digital model of the interior and exterior of the Castle. They flew a drone around the outside of the main castle building taking thousands of photographs and then moved inside with digital cameras doing the same on the ground floor and first floor. The below video shows a quick flyby of the castle from their work.

Zubr were then commissioned by Swansea University to create the app, focusing on reconstructions of the library and dining room.

To use the app on site you will need to download it from the app store / google store using the link below.

Once you get to the Castle there will be posters on site for you to scan within the app and these will launch the experience for you.

Please note mobile signal in and around the Castle is poor so we strongly advise people to download the app before visiting.

Watch this space! More details will follow on how to download the app.

This project would not have been possible without the funding and the work of the project team, but we wanted to say a special thank you to people who have given their time to talk to us, share their stories and their knowledge of the castle and its interiors.

Also, to those at museums and galleries around the world who helped us to track down paintings and sculptures, who sorted out licences or just gave us assets to use.

In alphabetical order:

Micehla Bonardi -British Museum

Teri Booth - Towneley Hall

Thomas Methuen Campbell

Sally Donovan – Amgueddfa Cymru

Cristina D’Alessandro - the Scala Archives

Gareth Elms – local volunteer

John Vivyan Hughes – local historian

Jeff Lewis Jones– local volunteer

Megan Kelleher – volunteer

Nadine Lees – Birmingham Museums Trust

Charles Seabag Montefiore – for sharing knowledge of art collections

David Richardson – for sharing knowledge of Margam Castle

Sally Smith Towneley Hall

Claudia Thwaites The National Gallery

The Friends of Margam Park

Paintings

Update from Researcher Beau Jones at Swansea University:

We now know that the collection was acquired in two eras of Margam’s development. Firstly, Thomas Mansel Talbot spent £11,300 (roughly £2 million in today’s money!) acquiring artwork, furniture and sculpture from a Grand Tour of Europe throughout the 1770s. Thomas Mansel Talbot’s collection was generally classical in nature and often highly religious or mythological, perhaps displaying the Anglo-Catholic tendencies of the Talbot family. These pieces were kept at Penrice or in storage until Margam Castle was built nearly 50 years later.
Secondly, Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot greatly increased the size of the collection throughout the 1830s & 1840s by acquiring artworks at auction houses in London. We know that in one sale in July 1835, CRM Talbot bought up to 20 pieces of art. This second art collection helped decorate and furnish the newly built Margam Castle. CRM Talbot’s acquisitions mainly focused on landscapes, hunting and sailing with preference towards Dutch & Flemish masters.
By the time Margam Castle was sold in 1941, the Talbot art collection was extensive and featured more than 320 pieces.

Since April 2024 we have spent time tracking down paintings from the vast art collection that was once held at Margam Castle and acquiring licenses to use them as part of the project. Through contacting dozens of museums, art galleries and art institutes we now know more about the Margam art collection than ever before. We’ve also consulted with provenance experts, local history societies, and auction houses who occasionally list artwork with links to Margam. The Talbots clearly had a keen and trustworthy eye when it came to gathering their collection as it is still highly sought after today.

So far, we have licenses for 14 pieces of art that were once part of the collection. Many of these pieces are now in institutions around the world such as the National Gallery, the Georigio Cini Foundation, Venice and the Detroit Institute of Art. 

These are listed below:

• Niccolo Dell' Abbate - An extensive view near the coast (The Death of Eurydice)
• Francesco Albani - Dance of the Cupids
• Ludolf Bakhuizen - Shipping in Rough Waters off the Dutch Coast
• Antonio Joli - Westminster from the River
• Pietro Da Cortona - Saint Cecilia
• Artemsia Gentileschi - The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
• Karel Du Jardin - The Conversion of Saint Paul
• Samual Scott - Shipping in anchor in the Thames Estuary, near Wapping
• David Teniers, the Younger -        The Birth of Jupiter
• Carletto Caliari  - Madonna & Child in Glory, and Saints.
• Agostino Ciampelli - Jeremiah (Design for a Lunette)
• Agostino Ciampelli - King David
• Bonaventura Peeters  - Shipwreck off a Rocky Coast with survivors
• Studio of Canaletto - The Grand Canal, Venice, with a Regatta

There are many other pieces of art from the Margam Collection that we’ve been able to track down, however licensing arrangements for these are still to be agreed.
Tracing artworks and licensing are only part of the puzzle. Our next step is to identify where in the Castle artwork was displayed. We have a few photos from the 1880s and 1941s that are helping us work to achieve this goal. A consultation of letters, correspondence and other archival documentation associated with the Talbot family is now required to tell us more.

1. ​Westminster from the River. Attributed to Antonio Joli. © Bank of England.

2. Madonna & Child in Glory, with Saints. Attributed to Carletto Cagliari. Reproduced with kind permission of Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Istituto di Storia dell'Arte.

3. Shipping in Anchor in the Thames Estuary, near Wapping. Attributed to Samual Scott. © Sotheby’s

4. The Rest on the Flight into Egypt. By Orazio Gentileschi.  Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

5. The Dining Room at Margam Castle. Photo by Thomas Mansel Franklen, July 1891. Glamorgan Archives

Sculptures

The sculptures or marbles as they are often called are more difficult to trace but work has been started by a volunteer to research these and we are slowly tracking them down. The only photographs we have are either from the 1850s or some of the main stairwell in the 1940s presumably around the time of the sale.

Visitors to the Castle and particularly the Orangery will know that the latter has 2 sculptures remaining. We are still tracking down where one of these came from and hope to share more information soon.