The History of Dyffryn

 

 

The story of Dyffryn Estate dates back to the 7th century when the then Manor of Worlton was given to Bishop Oudaceous of Llandaf. In the 16th century the Button family acquired the manor and the first house was built and the family occupied the estate for a number of generations. The name was changed to Dyffryn, St Nicholas, in the 18th century when the estate was sold to Pryce, who built the first building to be known as Duffryn House. During the Pryce ownership there were some garden activities as evidenced by the appearance of such features as the walled garden and dipping pools, the pleasure grounds and ornamemtal tree planting. In 1891 the estate was sold to John Cory who built the present house in 1893.   John Cory’s wealth came from his shipping and coal business, which had started with his father, Richard Cory (1799-1882) of Devon. In 1844 Richard was joined by his sons John (later of Dyffryn) and Richard (1830-1914) and traded as Richard Cory and Sons. In 1859, when Richard the elder retired, John and Richard renamed the business Cory Bros & Co. Later they became coal owners acquiring several collieries in the valleys most notably Pentre Colliery in the Rhondda in 1868.   Two particular characters from this time stand out as having shaped the Dyffryn we see today – Reginald Cory and Thomas Mawson. Originally commissioned by John Cory, Thomas Mawson and an eminent landscape architect of the time created the masterplan for the gardens in 1903-04 and commenced in earnest in 1906. But this was not in isolation as John’s third son Reginald collaborated on the design and following his father’s death in 1910 took over the running of the estate, Though having read law at Cambridge, Reginald pursued his true passion which lay in plants – studying, collecting, funding plant hunting expeditions, plant hunting himself, and recording the horticultural development of his time   Perhaps Mawson best describes Cory in his book ‘The Art and Craft of Garden Making’, in which Dyffryn is featured in the 1926 fifth edition.   ‘Mr Reginald Cory is a typical example of the English enthusiast for horticulture and arboriculture at its best. He is a member of the council of the Royal Horticultural Society, a liveryman of the Ancient Guild of Gardeners, a well-known writer on horticulture, and an experimenter whose researched have greatly enriched our store of knowledge in a vastly interesting field of human enterprise. His collection of dahlias, to name but one class of popular flowering plants, includes over six hundred varieties; and his collection of conifers and ornamental and flowering shrubs has been brought together from every quarter of the Globe.’   Cory remained at Dyffryn until 1930. During this time he had such horticultural highlights as having the largest bonsai collection in private ownership in 1912, sponsoring George Forrest’s plant hunting expedition in 1917 – 1920, 1921 -1923 and H F Coomber’s in 1925-1926 and 1026-1027, plant hunting himself with Lawrence Johnson (of Hidcote gardens fame) and John Taylor to South Africa in 1927.   Trialling seven thousand dahlia plants spanning 1000 cultivars in 1913 -1914 Cory recorded, with the assistance of R Hooper Pearson the first Royal International Exhibition held in 1912, which was the forerunner of the Chelsea Flowser Show. He also published ‘the Horticultural Record’ in 1914, and established the Cory Cup in 1923, still awarded annually by the RHS for the production of new hardy Hybrids of garden original.   In 1930 Cory married and moved to Wareham in Dorset to establish a new home. Plant hunting expeditions took him to the West Indies in 1931 and the Atlas mountains of North Africa in 1932. Unexpectedly he passed away in 1934 aged 63. Ownership of Dyffryn passed to his sister Florence   On Reginald’s death and later the sale of the Dyffryn estate, two important institutes benefited from his bequests. The Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library received Cory’s extensive book collection containing highly regarded botanical illustrations such as the original plates for Ellen Willmot’s ‘The Genus Rosa’. Cambridge Botanic Garden, which had benefited throughout Cory’s lifetime also received substantial funds, which enabled significant development of the gardens after WW11 including expansion of buildings.   The Dyffryn Estate was then over 2000 acres. The majority of it farmland which became part of the Traherne estate. Their family home was at Coedyrhydyglyn, not far from Dyffryn, so an additional house and garden was not required and thus they were offered to the then Glamorgan County Council on a 999 year lease with the condition that the gardens should be used for public education and enjoyment. Sir Cennydd (1910-1995) later became the founder member and president of the Friends of Dyffryn Gardens Society established in 1983.   Then followed a chequered period of institutuional use, as a police academy, dog training centre and education conference facility. During this time the importance of the gardens ebbed and flowed with some head gardeners championing a Mawson revival, for example in the 1950s. But overall the significance of the gardens was fading.   In 1966 when the local Government re-orgnisation took place Glamorgan Council stepped in to take on the property and purchased the freehold in1997 whilst securing a £3.25 million grant for restoration works from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The works began in earnest in 1998 concentrating on the garden rooms. Towards the end of 2005 the second phase of Heritage Lottery funding of £2.9 million was secured  During the centenary year and into 2007, essential works to the main fabric of the house will be undertaken as a result of a £1.4 million investment from the Vale of Glamorgan Council. This will constitute mainly works to the roof and the external stonework and are vital to the viability of the house in the long term   It is an exciting time for Dyffryn as a whole, securing the sustainability of the house and gardens and looking forward to the next 100 years.   Edith Helena Adie, the watercolourist who painted the gardens in 1923, proved an elusive figure to pin down, and little information about her seems to have survived into the 21st century. Her date and place of birth (1865, Balham Surrey) and death 1947, aged 82, at Tonbridge Kent, were found checking through censuses, which also revealed that she lived with her parents and two siblings in the London area for most of her life.   It was in the summer of 1923 that Edith was introduced to Reginald Cory at Dyffryn House. Although no factual evidence exists, it is possible that E A Bowles, the influential plantsman and writer from Myddleton House Enfield brought them together. Bowles, himself an illustrator (with a particular interest in Galanthus, Narcissus and Crocus), later inherited her paintings of Dyffryn Gardens, which were in turn bequeathed to the Lindley Library at the RHS on his death in 1954   Cory commissioned her to paint the gardens that had originally been laid out at his father’s instigation, by the famous landscape architect Thomas Mawson in the early part of the 20th century. All 18 paintings, along with some of her Italian works and commissions from Cambridge now reside in the Lindley Library in London. She uses bold colour, applied vigorously and confidently, in each creating a visual tour de force that reflects impeccably the magnificence of her subject. It is in this series of paintings, at Dyffryn, that Edith has found herself. It is for these works that she will be remembered. It is clear that her technique in watercolour developed considerably over her lifetime. The earliest paintings, of sea, beach and landscapes in Italy are little more than light sketches, using pencil and thin washes of colour. In those paintings she seems hesitant and still insecure with her medium. In contrast, the paintings done at Dyffryn in 1923 show us a fully developed artist at the peak of her skills. These are masterly accomplishments

 

 

 

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