Steeped in history (From Barry And District News)

Steeped in history

A COUNTRY estate near Dinas Powys once owned by the family of Sir Walter Raleigh has now been put on the market for the staggering sum of £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 Treviilyan 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.

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 on the site in 1939.

The home boasts eight bedrooms, three bathrooms, seven reception rooms, its own swimming 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.