Cottrell Park House

Cottrell Park, located just outside the village of St Nicholas, is now associated with a golf club rather than for its namesake, Cottrell House. The historic Cottrell House was a large mansion set within extensive grounds and parkland, and was the home of a number of distinguished Glamorgan gentry families. These grounds, much altered since becoming a golf club, now comprise the present Cottrell Park golf course. 

The name of Cottrell derives from the name of one Roger Cottrell who appeared on the Despenser survey of 1320 as holding three ploughlands - this comprised a third of the medieval fee of St Nicholas.

There was once a stone castle or manor house here but by the sixteenth century it was described by the estates owner Rice Meyrick (d-1586-) as 'decayed to its foundations.' Rice, who was amongst other things an antiquarian and the author of one of the earliest books on Glamorgan history, A book of Glamorganshire's Antiquities, 1578, was most likely responsible for the construction of the long since vanished Tudor period mansion on the Cottrell estate which was acquired by his father in 1546.

We know very little about the appearance of this house. Leland neglects to record Cottrell in his Itineraries but we do know from the Hearth Tax Assessment of 1670 that Cottrell House contained 10 hearths under the ownership of Thomas Button Esq. Rice Meyrick had three sons, one of whom is recorded in 1610 as being High Sherriff of Glamorgan. It was during this period that Cottrell, much like Penmark Castle, was a place where numerous Welsh poets would congregate to sing the praises of their occupants. Poet Lewys Dwnn in 1601 referred to Rice’s three sons, William, John and Morgan as 'tri angel y Cotrel cu' (The three angels of dear Cottrell). Morgan Meyrick was succeeded by his son, called Rice, whom was the last Meyrick to occupy Cottrell Park.

                                       (Late nineteenth century Sketch of Cottrell House)

The Cottrell estate came to the Button family by the marriage of Rice Meyrick’s daughter, Barbara Meyrick, to famed explorer Sir Thomas Button (d-1634). Thomas made one of the first attempts to discover the North -West Passage. It was Sir Thomas’s son Myles Button however who would be the first Button to inherit the Cottrell estate.

                                                                   (Sir Thomas Button)

Miles Button declared himself for the King during the English Civil War and was captured by Parliamentarians at the nearby battle of St Fagans: the battle would have been visible and audible from the Cottrell estate. Miles’s house at Cottrell is referenced in a letter written in 1648 which states, 'both armies faced each other within a mile, the Welsh near Cottrell, Miles Button’s house.'

The Cottrell estate passed to the Gwinnet family by inheritance upon the death of Barbara Button in 1755 when she bequeathed Cottrell to her niece Emilia Button (1708-1785). Emilia subsequently altered her name to Emilia Button Gwinnet upon her marriage to the Rev Samuel Gwinnet Jr (1732-1792). Upon his wife’s death in 1785, the Rev Samuel Gwinnet Jr became the sole inheritor of Cottrell Park. The Rev Samuel Gwinnet Jr and Emilia Button Gwinnet produced no offspring, and when the Rev Samuel finally died in 1792, it led to a dispute over inheritance which is alleged to have inspired a ghost story.

The Rev Samuel Gwinnet’s sister, Emilia Gwinnet (1741-1807), sister of Button Gwinnet (1735-1777), one the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, resided at Cottrell House. Emilia had moved to Cottrell under the auspices of Barbara, and became involved in dispute with Samuel’s brother and sister over the inheritance of Cottrell Park. It was alleged by Emilia that a clause in Barbara’s will stipulated that in lieu of her brother and his wife producing an heir, she was to be the sole beneficiary of the Cottrell estate. In order to claim Cottrell, Emilia allegedly burnt Samuel’s will along with the Cottrell estate records and chronicle books in a bid to claim her alleged inheritance-which she did. Emilia’s ghost was said to have remained trapped in limbo at Cottrell House over this cynical act.

Emilia however did not manage her estate well. As the executor of Emilia's will, Thomas, earl of Clarendon stated both Emilia’s debts and those of her predecessors were still outstanding upon her death in 1807. Upon the earl’s death in 1824, Cottrell passed to Admiral Sir Charles Tyler. Admiral Tyler was a good friend of Lord Nelson and himself commanded a ship of the line at Trafalgar. Admiral Tyler died in 1835 leaving Cottrell to his son, Sir George Tyler (1792-1862), who also became an Admiral and enjoyed a distinguished career. Sir George died at Dunraven Castle.

                                                             (Admiral Sir Charles Tyler)                          

Very few of the eighteenth or nineteenth century writers and antiquarians who travelled through Glamorgan mention Cottrell House in detail-or at all. Edward Donovan passed through St Nicholas on his tour of south Wales in 1804 but did not see fit to mention Cottrell Park. He did mention other buildings of note he encountered during his travels, and he wrote a lengthy account of his shoddy treatment at the hands of an innkeeper at nearby St Nicholas. Edward did though write an account of his visit to the Cottrell Park Standing Stone with which he was seemingly quite underwhelmed, describing it as being: 'very rude and being nothing more than an irregular flattish slab.' 

Samuel Lewis mentions Cottrell in 1848 but gives us no clue as to its form simply stating that, 'it is pleasantly situated and from the rear of the house commands a fine view of the picturesque vale of Ely.' The only picture of Cottrell Park shows it as an Italianate classically inspired looking building, the architecture of which looks typical of the eighteenth century, but was in fact constructed in 1882 in the Classical Revival style. This structure apparently incorporated substantial elements of the Tudor period house, including a blocked window which was most likely reflective of the Window Tax excise of the early eighteenth century.

                                             (St Nicholas during the early twentieth century)

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Cottrell Park was occupied by various prominent families including the Mackintosh family, the last of whom died in 1941. Cottrell Park was purchased in 1942 by William Powel and Sons and utilized during World War Two by Glamorgan County Council and also for short time after. Cottrell House was recorded in 1964 as 'being in a bad state of repair' as evidently its owners did not value it and showed little interest in maintaining this imposing mansion. Cottrell House was demolished in 1972 and its grounds subsequently turned into a golf course - a sad end to such a venerable and important building.

A small gilded bronze bust of Queen Elizabeth I was found within the demolition rubble - perhaps an ornament which had been concealed or lost within the fabric of the old house.

©Jonathan and Mark Lambert 2019

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