Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (NPTCBC) is working on a project to explore the lost interiors of Margam Castle. The project started in February 2024 and will be completed by the end of December 2024. The project is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF): Heritage Culture Tourism and Events Fund. NPTCBC are working in partnership with CFP Heritage and Landscape Consultancy and the Centre for Heritage Research and Training (CHART) at Swansea University to deliver the project.
The ‘Margam Interiors’ project will create a new and unique digital interpretation of Margam Castle, focusing on virtual reconstructions of the castle’s interiors. Many rooms within the Castle are now empty shells, with no reference to the grandeur of the artwork, sculptures and furnishings that once existed throughout the space.
The interiors of Margam castle were lost, firstly to a four-day sale in 1941 and then to the ravages of a fire in 1977. There is some knowledge of where parts of the interiors now reside. For example, we know where some of the paintings are located, we have two statues left on site, there are fragments of the interiors stored at the castle and there are pictures in the National Library in Aberystwyth and descriptions in books and magazines, but this has never all been brought together before.
The Margam Interiors’ project started with a community history approach, working with local people, historians, and heritage enthusiasts to see just how much we can find out about the lost interiors. Groups such as the Friends of Margam Park, Rich History and the Port Talbot Historical Society have already been involved, helping by supplying photographs, text and ideas about the lost interiors. The community and volunteer strand of work is being led by CFP Landscape and Heritage, a consultancy that have in depth knowledge of the castle.
Running alongside this there will also be a systematic study of historical records and archives, including materials held in national collections to see what information they might hold. The UKSPF funding has enabled the Centre for Heritage Research and Training (CHART) at Swansea University to appoint a full-time researcher for the duration of the project.
Following this will be a digital phase where we recreate the interior as a navigable model as it is now and later we add in paintings, sculptures, furniture and decoration to create both on-site and off-site digital experiences that interpret the lost interiors of Margam Castle, recreating the Victorian Era in full colour.
We need people to help research the lost interiors, whether you know about a particular item such as a painting, sculpture, the wallpaper or anything else that was sold off we would love to hear from you.
Also, if you have any stories about the Castle we are also interested in hearing those, whilst the project is focussed on the lost interiors we also want to build our knowledge about all eras.
To take part simply send an email to hello@cfpuk.co.uk
As part of the digital development work the University have commissioned Greenhatch ltd to help build the initial 3D digital model. They will start by flying a drone around the outside of the main castle building taking hundreds of photographs and then move inside with digital cameras doing the same on the ground floor and first floor.
We also want to give people a new experience and we are planning to take the cameras up into the rooms above the main staircase and onto the roof of the tower with the hope that people will be able to see the amazing panaroma and visit areas that are currently closed to the public.
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.
- Westminster from the River. Attributed to Antonio Joli. © Bank of England.
- Madonna & Child in Glory, with Saints. Attributed to Carletto Cagliari. Reproduced with kind permission of Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Istituto di Storia dell'Arte.
- Shipping in Anchor in the Thames Estuary, near Wapping. Attributed to Samual Scott. © Sotheby’s
- The Rest on the Flight into Egypt. By Orazio Gentileschi. Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0
- The Dining Room at Margam Castle. Photo by Thomas Mansel Franklen, July 1891. Glamorgan Archives
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.