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Cottrell Park's history spans
from Medieval times to its recent occupation by Mackintosh of
Mackintosh, chief of the Clan Chattan and Lord
Lieutenant of Inverness-shire, who made his Welsh seat a centre of lavish entertainment
and social gatherings. Cottrell’s name was derived from the family who held the
Medieval Manor of Trehill.
Several families who played notable parts in the History of Glamorgan
and Great Britain resided at Cottrell, namely the Merrick's, the Button's and the Tyler's.
The most notable of the Merrick Family was the 16th Century genealogist and antiquarian
Rice Merrick, who held the Lordship of Cottrell and Clerk of the Peace for Glamorgan. He
was a celebrated topographer and author of the "Glamorganshire Antiquities
(1578)".
The Cottrell Estate passed to the Button family through the marriage of
Sir Thomas Button to Barbara, daughter and heiress of Rice Meyrick. Between 1557 and 1727,
the Button Family provided Glamorgan with several High Sheriffs. Miles Button was captured
by the Parliamentarians at the Battle of St Fagans during the Civil War.
However, the most illustrious member of the family was Admiral Sir
Thomas Button, naval explorer, famous for charting the Northwest
American coast and the Hudson Straits, where Button Island is named
after him.
Upon the death of Emilia Button, Cottrell passed to her spouse,
Reverend Samuel Gwinnett, curate of St Nicholas. Their son, Button Gwinnett, was one of
the fifty-six men who assembled at Philadelphia in 1776 to sign the Declaration of
Independence, thus becoming one of America’s immortals. Through inheritance the
Estate passed to the Tyler Family. Maritime traditions continued with Admiral Sir Charles
Tyler who commanded one of Nelson’s flag ships at Trafalgar. Other notable members of
the family include Read-Admiral Sir George Tyler, who was Governor of St Vincent from 1833
to 1846 and Lieutenant Colonel George Henry Tyler MP, who served in the Crimean War.
The final chapter in the Cottrell’s succession of different family
ownerships, was the marriage of the Tyler heiress to Edward Priest Richards of Roath,
Cardiff, whose daughter in turn married Mackintosh of Mackintosh. The
Park’s long unbroken sequence of distinguished occupation ended with the
death of Mackintosh in 1938. Like many of its
kind, the Park and its impressive House were acquired for utilitarian use during World War
II.
In true Manor House tradition, it is recorded that The Cottrell had a
ghost. Emelia Gwinnett, who was bequeathed the Estate by her brother Reverend Samuel
Gwinnett, ‘Willed’ the estate to Lord Clarendon. In her attempt to accomplish
this deed, she is said to have burnt her brother’s Will and destroyed the Manor Book
that contained all the chronicles and records of the Manor. For this wicked act, her
unhappy spirit was said to haunt the room in which the Will was burned.
Succession of
Family Ownership
Rice Merrick - (Clerk of the Peace for Glamorgan held the
Lordship of Cottrell)
Barbara Merrick - (daughter) married Sir Thomas Button
Emilia Button (descendant) married Reverand Samuel Gwinnet
(curate of St Nicholas)
bequeathed Cottrell to sister
Emelia Gwinnett
Tyler Family inherited Cottrell Estate
Tyler Heiress married Edward Priest Richards
Daughter married Mackintosh of Mackintosh (Lord Lieutenant
of Inverness-shire)
The Cottrell Estate was purchased in 1942 by the present owners, William Powell
& Sons. Prior to the construction of the Golf Course, the land was used for
agricultural purposes. The original Manor House was demolished
in the 1972, being unfit for habitation, but
three properties remain on the site and have been renovated
for staff accommodation. |
