Hemmed in by a busy junction and overshadowed by an abundance of modern houses and apartments, Cogan Pill House, a Tudor period mansion also known as 'The Baron's Court', seems somewhat out of place in our hectic modern world. Crooked and aged, Cogan Pill House is a mass of mullioned windows and protruding chimney stacks; a veritable historical Gem, and although heavily remodelled during the middle of the nineteenth century, Cogan Pill House has a long history dating back to the late medieval period giving it the distinction of being by far the oldest standing building in the Penarth area.
(Cogan Pill House when it was sill a private residence taken during the early 1960's. RCAHMW)
The earliest written reference to this grey
and ancient gentry house comes from the will of Mathew Craddock of Swansea who
died in 1533. John Leland in the late
1530s mentions Cogan Pill House in his Itinerary in Wales recording that
"Cogan march Pille wher is a fair
maner place on the ripe side longging to Mr. Herbert of Swansey". Glamorgan
antiquarian Rice Merrick (Rhys Meurug)
lists Cogan Pill House in his 1578 publication, A Book of Glamorganshire's Antiquities, as a 'castle bordering
near the sea coast'.
The ancient medieval manor of Cogan,
once rated at two knights' fees, was purchased by George Herbert (1494/1570) of
Swansea from king Henry VIII in 1544. The Herbert family of Cogan were related to
a vast family network who held land and manors across south Wales and beyond. The
Herbert family were also related to the earl of Pembroke and as a result benefited
from his patronage, often holding high offices within Glamorganshire and at court.
(William Herbert Earl of Pembroke 1501-1570. Museum of Wales)
George Herbert was actively
engaged in political affairs of both local and national importance. For example: George helped to set up the Act
of Union in 1536 and also fought for Henry VIII in France at Boulogne in the
1540s. George Herbert became Glamorgan's first sheriff in 1540/1, Glamorgan's first knight in parliament and mayor of Cardiff in 1553 to name but a few of
the offices held by this powerful and influential man.
It seemed however that George
Herbert also had enemies. One such man
was local rival and fellow Glamorgan gentry member Sir Rhys Mansell of Oxwich, and later Margam, whose
position of Chamberlin of South Wales was jealously sought by Herbert. Acting on a tip-off, the exchequer in 1555 ordered
George Herbert to reduce his personal retinue to no more than forty men. It is
possible that it was Rhys who informed the exchequer, being alarmed at the
considerable number of men at George's disposal and their potential to inflict
violence. These concerns were not unwarranted as it was a fact that George Herbert had
a capacity for violence as in 1538 George was accused of assaulting two of Sir
Edward Carne's sons at Cowbridge and was brought before the Star Chamber in London as
a result.
(Oxwich castle, the home of George Herbert's rival Rhys Mansell)
The Herbert and Mansell clans eventually
came to blows at Oxwich in 1557 over the fate of the survivors and contents of
a floundered French vessel. In the melee
which followed, Mansell's sister, Anne Mansell was accidentally killed, which lead to the arrest of George Herbert, a relative of George named William Herbert and eighteen other people, many of whom were from Swansea, and their subsequent trial for manslaughter. All pleaded pardon and allowance. The outcome of the trial however in not known. Upon George's death in 1570 he was badly in debt to the Crown owing over
£1000, a terrific sum of money in the sixteenth century. George's inability to pay off his debt saw the Crown seize his property for a total of two years until the debt was fully
paid.
George Herbert's son and heir William
Herbert (1532-1576) is believed to have been responsible for the construction
of much of Cogan Pill House as we see it today. William Herbert, like his father, was also active
in politics and held the office of Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1552 and again in 1567.
In 1557/8 William Herbert was accused
by Sir Thomas Stradling of St Donats of extorting money from five of his
servants and the local population at large by issuing a tax: 'For his own private lucre and gain of his
own authority and to extort power by colour of furniture of harness'. This tax was ostensibly to help fund Herbert,
who was commissioned by his uncle the earl of Pembroke, also called William
Herbert, on a military campaign in France in 1557 where he was to command one
hundred men, but in reality it was to line his own pockets. Apparently the tax
was scrupulously enforced with neither "widow nor orphan being spared"
making William Herbert very unpopular and earning him the nickname 'Black Will'.
This was a serious matter which was brought to the Star Chamber in London, and
although Herbert did his best to avoid being present at his indictment, he was
eventually apprehended by the Sheriff of Glamorgan, William Bassett of Old
Beaupre. The case against Herbert however
eventually lapsed upon the death of Queen Mary in 1558.
Another unscrupulous member of
the Herbert clan of Cogan Pill, one Nicholas Herbert (1543-1601) who also held the office of sheriff
of Glamorgan on numerous occasions, was similarly covetous and in 1577 was fined
£200 for colluding with pirates.
During the early seventeenth
century yet another William Herbert of Cogan Pill found himself embroiled in
controversy and was indicted in the Court of Chivalry in 1637 for giving one
John Matthew of Llandaff 'scandalous
words provocative of a duel'. Quarreling, feuds and violence as we
have seen were common amongst the Glamorgan gentry during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, often resulting in mass brawls, serious injury and
even death. For example, a relation of
William, one John Herbert (1540-1617) of Neath died a violent death in Cardiff coming
off the losing end of a duel fought against Sir Lewis Tresham in 1617; his tomb
can be seen inside St John's Church, Cardiff. The outcome of this particular quarrel
however is not known although it's likely that violence on this occasion was
averted.
During the middle of the
seventeenth century Lt Colonel William Herbert of Cogan Pill, who was a prominent Royalist during the English Civil War, met his end at the battle of Edge-Hill
in 1642 fighting with a Glamorgan contingent alongside Sir Edward Stradling of
St Donats, who himself commanded a regiment of foot and was taken prisoner
after the battle.
Upon the death of Colonel Herbert
in 1642, a relation and fellow Royalist who resided at Grey Friars in Cardiff-also
called William Herbert, received wardship of Cogan Pill. In the same year this particular William
Herbert handed over Cardiff Castle to Royalist forces and willingly
gave the earl of Pembroke's revenues from his estates in south Wales, which he
was entrusted to manage on the earl's behalf, to king Charles I, thus earning
himself the appellation of "ungrateful
kinsman" from the earl who was himself a prominent Parliamentarian. This
particular William Herbert died in 1645 and the wardship of Cogan Pill was then
taken over by his wife Anne Herbert, who in turn died in around 1650 leaving
Cogan Pill to her nephew William Morgan of Pencrug in Monmouthshire.
(Herbert House/Grey Friars Cardiff, a possession of the Herbert family and the home to William Herbert who from 1642-5 held the wardship of Cogan Pill, pictured not long before its demolition in the 1960's. RCAHMW)
The Herbert family continued to occupy Cogan Pill House throughout the rest of the seventeenth century as well as the majority of
the eighteenth century as their wills attest to. Many of the Herbert family are buried in the church of St Peter's at Cogan. By this time the
great Tudor houses of Glamorgan were seen to be by and large outdated,
uncomfortable and unfashionable by their fashion
conscious owners, many of whom sought accommodation in new mansions constructed in fashionable Neoclassical style. Cogan
Pill House by the late eighteenth century had markedly declined in its
former grandeur and importance, and was relegated in status to a
farmhouse.
In 1793 the house and manor of
Cogan was purchased by the earl of Bute who continued to rent Cogan Pill as a
farmhouse. By the early nineteenth century the great hall had apparently been
reduced to the use of a barn. Cogan Pill continued to be a farmhouse until the
middle of the nineteenth century when it was renovated and converted into a
comfortable residence for a relative of the Marquis of Bute, a Mr H S Corbett. The interior of the main hall was given a
total makeover in a quasi-medieval style complete with multi-coloured brick
walls and gothic arch inserted adjacent to the grand fireplace. The castellated parapets
were also added at this time.
(Some of Mr H S Corbett's mid nineteenth century alterations. RCAHMW)
Cogan Pill House continued to be
a private residence until the middle of the twentieth century when it became a pub/disco
followed by a carvery restaurant. By this time it was sadly gutted of most of
its ancient interior. Oak panelled walls,
fireplaces, ancient oak beams and spiral staircases have been swept away to
accommodate open planning with many of the rooms and corridors where the Herbert
family were born, lived, schemed and died being no more. The building however can still very much be appreciated as a historical gem, and constitutes a valuable local historical asset.
(View of Cogan Pill house porch with the Herbert Coat of arms surmounted above the entrance. RCAHMW)
©Jonathan
and Mark Lambert 2018
The right of Jonathan and
Mark Lambert to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted in
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