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Due to organisational difficulties, this investigation report was never published. As 4 members of the investigation team are now full members of the Unexplained Wales. team, I thought it acceptable to approach the General Manager for her approval and consent to insert the report on our site. This she kindly agreed to, and with some amendments to the report as she requested, we give you the virtually unchanged report. - hope you enjoy it, we certainly did.
Archie.
Gregynog hall investigation
Tregynon, Powys
Thursday 9th April 2009
6.30pm – 12.15am
Archie's report
This report is a collaboration of information from Group 2 of the team
Investigation team
(names changed to initials) I, Wayne, Joelene, A, N, R and myself (Archie)
Also with us as witness onlookers were – the GeneralManager of Gregynog hall,
Gregynog house supervisor, and Carole (Archie's wife).
History of Gregynog hall
Gregynog hall has a rich history, and has played an important role in the Montgomeryshire area.
There has been a Gregynog on this site since the 13th century, and has consequently gone through many changes to its present form.
By the middle of the fifteenth century, Gregynog was the seat of the Blayney family, and the hall was noted for its magnificence and hospitality. There is a watercolour of this house within the hall today. The Blayney connection with Gregynog came to an end with the death of Arthur Blayney in 1795. The hall then passed into the hands of the eighth Viscount Tracy of Toddington, and on his death, through marriage, to Henry Hanbury-Tracy. It was this man who changed the appearance of the outer shell of the hall, by enclosing the brickwork with a skin of concrete, moulded and painted to resemble the timber framed border houses.
The fourth Lord Sudely in 1894, had 'greatly over extended himself' (local oral history has it that on a wager, his prize would be a cart filled with gold – he lost the wager!) this meant that the hall and lands was then sold to Lord Joicey, a Northumberland coal owner, who was as brief tenant until 1914, when most (well a great portion of it) of the 18,000 acres of land was split up and sold very largely to the tenants.
The hall, with the remaining 750 acres was bought just after the First World War, by the sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, taking up residency in 1924. - much is known about these two and their philanthropic ideals, but they still seem to remain an enigma.
The hall was used as a convalescent home for soldiers during the Second World War.
Gwen died in 1951, and her sister, after a few years, decided to bequeath the hall to the University of Wales. They in turn allowed her to stay in residence at the hall for a peppercorn rent of £1 per year, until her death in 1963.
The hall is now in almost constant use as a 90 bedded conference centre, offering short stay to inter college groups, external business conferences, and the famous Gregynog Music festival to name but a few.The Institute of Rural Health occupy the top (3rd) floor of the hall, and hold their annual conference there.
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