Estate of a nation (From Penarth Times)

Estate of a nation

A COUNTRY estate near Dinas Powys once owned by the family of Sir Walter Raleigh has been put on the market for a staggering £2,500,000.

Cwrt Yr Ala in Michaelston Le Pit is one of the Vale's grandest properties, with an estate covering 25 acres.

The Cwrt Yr Ala estate was once owned by Simon De Raleigh, who was sheriff of Glamorgan from 1299 to 1304, and later by other notable families including the Trevilyan family of Cornwall, and Sir Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester.

Historians believe the name of the property Cwrt Yr Ala is a corrupted Welsh version of Court of Raleigh.

It passed to the Raleigh family by marriage.

From this family, but much later, came Sir Walter (c1552-1618) - adventurer, courtier to Elizabeth I, navigator, author and poet.

The estate was held by the Earls of Worcester until it was sequestered by Parliament in 1651 following the battle of St Fagans because of their support of the Royalist cause in the civil wars.

In 1908 the house was let to Cardiff brewer WH Brain who lived there until 1935.

A new house designed by the architect Sir Thomas Percy was built in 1939.

The home boasts eight bedrooms, three bathrooms, seven reception rooms, a pool, a tennis court, a billiard room and stables.

There is also extensive woodland and pastureland, plus a series of lakes with weirs and waterfalls.