Gregynog Hall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Gregynog)

Jump to: navigation, search

Gregynog

Gregynog (Welsh pronunciation: [ɡrɛˈɡənɔɡ]) is a large country hall in the village of Tregynon, 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Newtown in Powys, mid-Wales. Various halls have occupied the site since the twelfth century and it was the ancestral home of the Blayneys and the Traceys from the fifteenth century. It was given to the University of Wales in 1963 by owners and art-collectors, Margaret and Gwendoline Davies, the granddaughters of Victorian tycoon, David Davies Llandinam.

The current hall was built in the 1840s by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley and is one of the earliest examples of a concrete clad building still in existence. The original estate was over 18,000 acres (73 km²) but is now set in 750 acres (3 km²) of mature formal gardens and rolling countryside. The sunken garden and arboretum are of particular note.

The hall was used by the University of Wales as a conference and study centre. It also hosted the biannual Crisis Simulation by Aberystwyth University's Department of International Politics. Now that the University of Wales has been merged into Trinity Saint David, Gregynog Hall has also been transferred to Trinity Saint David.

The Gregynog Music Festival, Wales' oldest extant classical music festival, was founded by the Davies sisters in 1933 and takes place annually in the Music Room in June. The Festival has attracted leading international performers and composers such as Holst and Britten. Other composers associated with the Hall include Elgar and Vaughan Williams. The Courtyard is also home to Gwasg Gregynog, a private printing press founded by the sisters as the Gregynog Press in 1922, which produces limited edition, hand-bound books.

Other arts promotions include the annual Young Musicians Competition and outdoor theatre productions. The estate also houses the Training Apiary of the Montgomeryshire Beekeepers Association.

Gregynog has a history of paranormal activity and is often the site of amateur ghosthunting.^[1]