Slebech

Coordinates: 51°48′12″N 4°51′54″W / 51.80333°N 4.865°W / 51.80333; -4.865
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Slebech
Slebech is located in Pembrokeshire
Slebech
Slebech
Location within Pembrokeshire
Population124 
OS grid referenceSN0214
Community
Principal area
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHaverfordwest
Postcode districtSA62
PoliceDyfed-Powys
FireMid and West Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Pembrokeshire
51°48′12″N 4°51′54″W / 51.80333°N 4.865°W / 51.80333; -4.865

Slebech was a

Greater Horseshoe Bat.[2]

History

Slebech is situated on the upper Eastern Cleddau and was once part of the Barony of Daugleddau. In the Middle Ages Slebech belonged to the

Henry VIII the lands passed to the Barlow family.[3]

Roger Barlow (c.1483-1553) was born in Essex, in or near Colchester, where his father was a customs official. After becoming a merchant in Seville, Barlow joined Sebastian Cabot's 1526 voyage to South America. He accompanied Cabot up the Rio de la Plata (River Plate) river system. He returned to England in 1530 and lived in Bristol, where he married Julyan Dawes. He moved to Pembrokeshire in 1535. In 1542 he presented a cosmography to Henry VIII, based on a translation of Enciso's Spanish Suma de Geographia. This included Barlow's descriptions of his travels - the first account of the New World in English. Roger Barlow had three younger brothers, William Barlow (successively bishop of St David's, Bath and Wells, and Chichester), John Barlow (dean of Worcester), and Thomas Barlow (a cleric in Norfolk). After renting the dissolved commandery of the hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem at Slebech, Roger and Thomas Barlow bought Slebech in 1546, and then Roger became the sole owner in 1553. Barlow had at least 10 children, including John who inherited Slebech.[4]

Picton Castle

Picton Castle
Main article: Picton Castle

The estates, gardens and parkland of

motte castle and was reconstructed in stone by the Wogan family during the 13th century. In 1405 French troops supporting Owain Glyndŵr attacked and held the Castle, and it was seized again during the English Civil War in 1645 by Parliamentary forces.[5]

The Picton Castle estate was acquired by the Phillips family when Sir Thomas ap Philip of Cilsant married Jane, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Dwnn, of Picton in the 1490s.[6] Sir John Philipps, who inherited the castle in the 15th century, remodelled the building and created a new entrance which remained until the 1820s when a new entrance was designed by Thomas Rowlands (who also designed Slebech Church).[7]

The estate remained with the Phillips family until the death of

Philipps Baronets), then to Sir Richard Foley Foley-Philipps, cousin of Sir John Erasmus, and grandson of Charles Edward Gregg Philipps.[6] Now run by the Picton Castle Trust, the present owner, Jeremy Philipps, lives in a lodge in the grounds.[5]

Slebech Park Estate

Slebech Hall
Slebech Hall

Slebech Park developed from estates belonging to the Knights Hospitaller and their Commandery at Slebech Church. After the dissolution the Barlow family built Slebech Mansion near the site of the Commandery, and established Slebech Park.[8] The Hall is a grade II* listed building [9][10] and its stable block is grade II listed.[11]

After the death of George Barlow in 1757, having no son the land passed to his daughter Anne, who married William Trevanion of Cornwall and after his death, John Symmons of Llanstinan. Symmons sold the estate to William Knox of London, High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire for 1786, who in turn sold it to Nathaniel Phillips (High Sheriff for 1796).[12]

Nathaniel Phillips was born in England in 1733, the illegitimate son of a merchant trading between London and Kingston, Jamaica. Following his father he arrived at Kingston in April 1759 and used his father's connections to join a partnership with the Kingston merchants who owned sugar plantations which supported the slave trade to obtain workers. Over twenty five years he built a fortune and his Jamaican properties were valued £160,000 Jamaica currency, as well as ownership of 706 slaves valued at £50,000. In 1793, he bought the estate at Slebech from a bankrupt slaver. As well as Slebech Hall, which he had re-modelled by Anthony Keck,[13] Phillips bought 600 acres (2.4 km2) of park land and woodland. In 1796 he married Mary, a Philipps forty years younger than him and had two sons (Nathaniel and Edward Augustus) and two daughters (Mary Dorothea and Louisa Catharine). After his death, Phillips' heirs continued to operate the Jamaican estates but they became unprofitable after the end of slavery in 1834.[14]

Slebech Hall and Eastern Cleddau

After the death of Edward, the estate passed to Mary Dorothea and her sister, Louisa Catherine, the Countess of Lichfield, as co-heiress. In 1821 Mary Dorothea met Charles Frederick Baron de Rutzen of Germany in

Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Henry Archibald Anson VC MP, (5 March 1835 – 17 November 1877), recipient of the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War, was born at Slebech Hall.[17] John Frederick Foley de Rutzen married Sheila Victoria Katrin Philipps, of Picton Castle, and their only child, Victoria Anne Elizabeth Gwynne de Rutzen, married Sir Francis Dashwood of West Wycombe Park.[12]

Their descendants managed both estates and in 2003 Geoffrey and Georgina Philipps developed the large stable block into a luxury hotel. It was the first project in

Wales Tourist Board. The Phillips family left the estate in 2014, which continues to operate as a hotel. Slebach Hall, however, is largely abandoned.[18]

Geology

On the northern bank of the Eastern Cleddau, the foreshore is of mud, marsh and rocks. Slebech has extensive deciduous woodland and open farmland. Fields are large and regular and are divided by earth banks topped with hedges. Agriculture land use is improved pasture with a small proportion of arable crops.[8]

The Rhos village

The only settlement of any size is the small hamlet of The Rhos with a population of 25 people. Community services and facilities are limited, with a small church hall. The Rhos village is located along one street which once included a primary school and post office. The old school building is now a private residence. Originally known as 'Slebech and Picton Castle School', it later became Slebech Voluntary Controlled School and operated from 1866 with support from the Philipps family of Picton Castle. It was taken over by the Education Authority in the 1930s and closed in 1985, with only 11 pupils on the register.[19]

Listing designations

Grade II listed Slebech Park is one of a total of 25 listed buildings in Slebech[8] with the main ones as follows:

St Johns Church Slebech

The Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade II listed building[20] which was consecrated in 1848 as Slebech Parish Church in place of the older Parish Church. It was designed by Thomas Rowlands of Haverfordwest and paid for by Baron de Rutzen with contributions from Queen Adelaide. The church was deconsecrated in 1990 due to subsidence.[3]

Greater Horseshoe Bat

The Stable Block at

Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and numbers have been recorded at Slebech since 1983.[2]

Blackpool Bridge is Grade II listed[20] and located to the east of Blackpool Mill to cross the River Cleddau. A single-span bridge, it was built about 1825 for the de Rutzens family of coursed, undressed stone, with two carved external panels on either side and dressed stone edge on the rim of the arch. To the south of the bridge are stone piers topped by ball finials.[22]

The park is designated Grade II* on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.[23]

Scheduled Ancient Monuments

Remains of the old church of St John the Baptist (PEM 275). Located between the mansion of Slebech and the river, this is a ruin with only the main walls surviving. Records show that in 1766 the ceiling fell down and workmen were paid for the job of `stripping the church.'[24] The owner, Baron de Rutzen, built a replacement church and stripped the rest of the roof in 1844, partly to stop worshipers coming on to his land.[3] Burial mounds on the island to the east of the church (PEM 276) are also scheduled ancient monuments,[20] one is known locally as Dog Island because it is where Slebech Park owners have buried their pets over the past hundred years.[25]

References

  1. ^ "Pembrokeshire County Council: REVIEW OF COMMUNITIES". Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Proceedings of Welsh Bat" (PDF). Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  3. ^ a b c LLoyd, Thomas (2004). The Buildings of Wales. Yale University Press.
  4. ^ Heather Dalton, Merchants & Explorers: Roger Barlow, Sebastian Cabot & Networks of Atlantic Exchange 1500-1560 (Oxford University Press, 2016).
  5. ^ a b Hull, Lise (2005). The Castles and Bishops Palaces of Pembrokeshire. Logaston Press.
  6. ^ a b "Picton Castle Estate Records". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  7. ^ The Picton Castle Trust. Picton Castle and Woodland Gardens.
  8. ^ a b c "Picton and Slebech". www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk. Dyfed Archaeological Trust. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Slebech Park, Uzmaston, Boulston and Slebech". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  10. National Historic Assets of Wales
    .
  11. National Historic Assets of Wales
    .
  12. ^ a b "Records of the Slebech Estate". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  13. ^ "Slebech Park - Introduction". Parks & Gardens.
  14. ^ "The Slebech Papers". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  15. ^ "The Story Of Blackpool Mill". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  16. ^ Phillips-Evans, J. The Longcrofts: 500 Years of a British Family, 2012 (Amazon)
  17. ^ "The Pembrokeshire South African War Memorial". www.pembrokeshire-war-memorial.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 October 2008.
  18. ^ "Work starts on Slebech Park retreat". BBC News. 3 December 2003. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  19. ^ "Rhos and District Action Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  20. ^ a b c d "Slebech Park". Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  21. ^ "Picton Castle stables". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  22. ^ "Listed buildings". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  23. National Historic Assets of Wales
    . Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  24. ^ "Slebech Church". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  25. ^ "Best Of Wildlife of Slebech Park 2004-2006". Retrieved 1 November 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Slebech.
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