St Fagans Castle

St Fagans Castle is a three-storey gabled building of Elizabethan character with the characteristic E-plan and symmetrical elevation typical of that period. The walls are faced externally with whitewashed roughcast cladding over rubble stone and have an ashlar plinth, stringcourses, and characteristic stone-mullioned windows. The roof is covered in Welsh slate with groups of red brick stacks set diagonally, which are additions of the 1860s but remain very much in character.

The east (entrance) elevation has seven bays. The two end bays project forward, each with a 3-light attic window and a mullion-and-transom 4-light window on both first and ground floors. The central range has three gables to the attic storey, each with a 3-light attic window. Against the centre bay stands a two-storey gabled projecting porch with a 3-light mullioned window on the first floor and above the four-centred arch with dripstone at the entrance to the ground floor porch. The two bays to each side of the central porch projection both have 4-light mullion-and-transom windows on ground and first floors.

The south elevation has three gables to the attic storey, each with a 3-light attic window. There are two mullion-and-transom 3-light windows on both ground and first floors and an old stone doorway on the ground floor to the right hand.

The north elevation is also gabled with 3-light attic windows to the centre and right hand gables only. Below this, each bay has a 3-light mullion-and-transom window on either floor. To the right of this is the single storey Dining Room of 1890 with a large 4-light mullion-and-two-transom window in a gable, flanked by square headed doors.

The west elevation of the Elizabethan house is partly covered by 19th-century additions. The gabled front has five gables, each with a 3-light window. The first floor has four irregularly spaced 3-light mullion-and-transom windows to the Long Gallery with another for the main staircase and a 2-light one for the secondary staircase. The ground floor is almost entirely covered by extensions. There are two gables with a 3-light mullion-and-transom window on either floor to the Servants' Hall and a semi-circular turret which projects out over the garden stairway. To the right of this the Laundry is hidden behind the perimeter wall.

The interior of the house retains much of its probable Elizabethan original plan with changes developed through to the 1860s. Entry goes into a cross passage with the Hall and family rooms on the right and service rooms on the left. The main reception rooms and Great Chamber are on the first floor, reached by the main staircase in the north-west corner. There are old stone doorways at the entrances to pantry, kitchen, and back stairs. The kitchen retains old fireplaces and a stone flagged floor. In the Hall there is a finely carved over-mantel with the arms of the Windsor family, dating it to after 1736. The Withdrawing Room retains an oak floor and the coat-of-arms of Lewis of St Fagans Castle on the over-mantel. A fine 19th-century staircase leads to the first floor.

The Long Gallery originally ran along the rear of the house on the first floor, giving access to the rooms. One bedroom has a carved frieze of early 17th-century date, an over-mantel dated 1635, and oak panelling painted at a later date. Another bedroom has painted fielded panelling of early 18th-century date and a finely carved frieze of about 1620. In the Parlour there is a carved frieze inscribed EBL/1624 and an iron fireback inscribed EL/1620 bearing the Lewis arms. The rooms are furnished appropriately by the Museum to represent life in a Welsh aristocratic house, with some furniture indigenous to the property and many pieces from other houses throughout Wales.