The Heritage Hiker’s Guide to Hensol Castle. History in the Making. Gin.

History of Hensol Castle

Hensol Castle was originally built in the late 17^th/ early 18^th century as a country mansion. The house was remodelled in 1735, extended before 1815 and remodelled again in 1840 taking on a military gothic style of a castle. The castle is set within a landscaped park with lake and tree lined drive and boasts a walled kitchen garden. The gardens boast the second oldest grape vine in the country. It has been owned by many well known families including the Talbots. Previous owners have also included Samuel Richardson, Benjamin Hall and William Crawshay II (see Merthyr Blog).

In 1927 the house was sold to Glamorgan County Council for use as a hospital and in 1930 it opened as a home for men with learning disabilities. In 1935 women and children also became residents and additional facilities were constructed to the rear of the house, with further additions in the late 1940s. Towards the end of the 20^th century there was a strong wave of changing practices to a less institutionalised approach and the number of residents declined until it was closed in 2003.

Mencap carried out a project ‘Hidden Now Heard’ running between 2014-2017. The rpoject captured the history of six of Wales’ long stay hospitals for people with a learning disability, including Hensol. For more information on the project and the stories collected click here.

History in the Making – Gin

Growing up in the Vale of Glamorgan Hensol Castle wasn’t a place you could visit. In my youth I remember it as institution for people with learning disabilities. In later years, once the institution closed the building began to decay. I knew it had been purchased and renovation had begun in around 2015. So when I was graciously gifted a day at Gin School voucher to visit Hensol Castle Gin Making School as a Christmas present from my mother I booked my visit as soon as I could!!

Hensol Castle Gin Making Experience

We were met by Andrew and his teammate Peter. Andrew gave a brief introduction and the tour, which started with a delightful blackberry gin and tonic. As everyone sipped drinks Andrew told us more about the history of gin and gin making. The history started as far back as the Egyptian period and went all the way to the modern day. Then it was on to the subject of Hensol Castle to learn more about who had lived at the castle and how the distillery came to be….

How Gin Gets its Flavour

With the history background talk over it was on to business – the art of gin making. Having been led into a room of full aroma with windows backing onto the working distillery, the fun began. Here we were taught about what makes gin a ‘gin’ and how the flavours are matched and altered.

Once everyone had a chance to start thinking about what flavours they might want for their gin it was on to distillery class. Set like a chemistry class from a Harry Potter classroom there was copper everywhere. Here liquids, spices, herbs and fruits were all carefully crafted together heated, cooled and diluted to make the final product of a personalised bottle of gin like no other. A short break for a tasting session of the house gin product line and it was time to decant and bottle.

Once everyone had measured, bottled and labelled each bottle it was on to the bar for a taster of the in-house gin. There were non-alcoholic drinks available for those that preferred. I really enjoyed the relaxed feeling of the tour and the generous way in which information was shared – although no trade secrets were given away I promise.

If you enjoyed reading Hensol Castle History in the Making Gin and you want to read more on the history of how things are made? Take a look at the Heritage Hiker’s Guide. History in the Making. Ring of Bells or Heritage Hiker’s Guide. History in the Making. Porcelain.