Living History

The history of Southern Wales is not just castles. History comes alive at Llancaiach Fawr Manor House near Caerphilly. The year is 1645 and the servants of the house, dressed and speaking in character from that era, will captivate you with highly entertaining tales and stories of what life is like for them. Llancaiach Fawr is reportedly one of the most haunted houses in Wales. Can you spot any mysterious goings on the webcam?

On a similar theme but set further back in 1350, is Cosmeston Medieval Village at Penarth. Again, costumed guides, playing characters from that era will guide you around and keep you entertained with stories of what life was like in the fourteenth century.

If you want to find out about how the Welsh used to live and work then you should visit the open air National History Museum in the grounds of St Ffagans castle, near Cardiff. Here, historical buildings from all over Wales have been carefully dismantled, transported to the site and re-built brick by brick. The buildings are then decorated in the style of the era giving visitors a real sense of what life was like. Buildings on the site include farmhouses, a school, a row of miners’ cottages a Workingmen’s Institute, plus the recently re-built 16th Century St Teilo's Church from Pontarddulais near Swansea. Many events take place throughout the year with frequent demonstrations of traditional crafts such as pottery, woodcarving and blacksmiths.