Stackpole Court

THE EARLS CAWDOR WERE THE LARGEST LANDOWNERS IN CARMARTHENSHIRE, WITH 33,782 ACRES

This is a branch of the ducal house of ARGYLL, springing from the Hon Sir John Campbell, third son of Archibald, 2nd Earl of Argyll.

SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL OF CAWDOR (c1629-97) wedded Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Lort, 2nd Baronet (c1637-c1673), of Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, and sole heiress of Sir Gilbert Lort, 3rd Baronet, by whom he had issue,

JOHN CAMPBELL OF CAWDOR (1695-1777), of Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire, and Stackpole Court (son and heir of Sir Alexander Campbell), married Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir of Lewis Pryse, and had issue,

PRYSE, his heir;
John Hooke, Lord Lyon King of Arms;
Alexander;
Anne.

The eldest son,

PRYSE CAMPBELL (1727-68), of Cawdor Castle, and Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, MP for Inverness-shire, 1754-61, Nairnshire, 1761-8, Cardigan Boroughs, 1868, Lord of the Treasury, 1766, wedded Sarah, daughter and co-heir of Sir Edmund Bacon Bt, and was succeeded by his son,

JOHN CAMPBELL (1753-1821), who was elevated to the peerage, in 1796, in the dignity of Baron Cawdor, of Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire.

His lordship had previously represented the town of Cardigan in parliament.

He wedded, in 1789, the Lady Caroline Howard, eldest daughter of Frederick, 5th Earl of Carlisle, and had issue, his eldest son,

JOHN FREDERICK, 2nd Baron (1790-1860), who married, in 1816, the Lady Elizabeth Thynne, eldest daughter of Thomas, 2nd Marquess of Bath.

His lordship was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1827, as EARL CAWDOR.

• John Frederick Campbell, 1st Earl (1790–1860);
• John Frederick Vaughan Campbell, 2nd Earl (1817–98);
• Frederick Archibald Vaughan Campbell, 3rd Earl (1847–1911);
• Hugh Frederick Vaughan Campbell, 4th Earl (1870–1914);
• John Duncan Vaughan Campbell, 5th Earl (1900–70);
• Hugh John Vaughan Campbell, 6th Earl (1932–93);
• Colin Robert Vaughan Campbell, 7th Earl (b 1962).

The heir apparent is the present holder's son James Chester Campbell, styled Viscount Emlyn (b 1998).

Stackpole Court (Image: the National Trust)

STACKPOLE COURT was a large mansion built ca 1736, and enlarged in the 19th century.

It was erected upon the undercroft of a much earlier house, the original hall of which was later used as a cellar.

The Stackpoles had owned the estate since the early 12th century, and the old castellated house may date from the 13th century or earlier.

There are references to a house here owned by the Stackpools by Gerald of Wales in 1188.

From the mid-16th century the estate was owned by the Lort family, and later passed to the Campbells by marriage in the early 18th century.

The Cawdors were major landowners in Pembrokeshire, with 17,735 acres of land.

The mansion was demolished in 1963, when the Cawdors moved to a new house on the estate.

Much has already been written about the house and outbuildings.

Golden Grove

GOLDEN GROVE, near Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, is a large country house, the ancestral home of the Vaughan family, and the centre of a large estate.

The present house was designed in the Tudor or Scottish baronial style by Sir Jeffry Wyatville ca 1825 for the Cawdor family who inherited the estate from the Vaughans.

Building continued until 1834 when the stable block was finished, following the completion of the service wing in 1828, the main block in 1830 and the staircase in 1831.

The clock mechanism and the bells are dated 1830 and sit in a square clock tower.

Seats ~ Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire; Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire; Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire.

Former town house ~ 74 South Audley Street, London.

First published in February, 2021.  Cawdor arms courtesy of European Heraldry.