The Insoles were coal owners and shippers during the three generations in which Welsh Steam Coal was the world's dominant industrial resource. Owning collieries in the Rhondda and with interests in the Taff Vale and the Barry Railway Companies, they became considerable figures in the South Wales industry. The family reached the height of its prosperity in the late 19th Century acquiring large land holdings, central to which was the Court in Llandaff on the outskirts of Cardiff.

 

James Harvey Insole started building his home in 1856, originally as a modest double fronted stone residence named 'Ely Court' and it grew in step with the industrial fortunes of the Insole family. In 1874 Insole adopted the gothic revival style in emulation of the leader of local society, Lord Bute, whose architect, William Burges, had begun building his extraordinary clock tower at Cardiff Castle in 1869.

 

Each generation changed and added to the house and gardens until, after the First World War, the family's fortunes declined in parallel with those of the South Wales coal industry. In1932 their lands were sold and their Llandaff estate acquired by compulsory purchase by the Cardiff Corporation to make way for the development of Cardiff's orbital road system (Western Avenue). Streets of mainly semi-detached houses were built on most of the estate and they carry the Insole name to this day.

 

View images of the beautiful grounds of Insole Court HERE.

 

Insole Court is open from 9am through to 10pm Monday to Friday. Interested in visiting Insole Court? Find directions here.

 

Want to learn more about Insole Court. You can read some greater detail, from a talk written by John Isaacs (from a talk by Matthew Williams, Curator of Cardiff Castle) HERE.

 

Find out about other activites not organised by the Friends and booking rooms at Insole Court at Cardiff County Council's website.