St Fagans

At St Fagans National Museum of History, the rose garden, or Rosery, is full of colour and scent during the summer. But behind the beauty, there is a lot of hard work, and a long and interesting story.

The first Rosery was planned in 1898 by Hugh Pettigrew, the head gardener at the time. It had winding grass paths, trellises with climbing roses, and a canal planted with water lilies and filled with ornamental fish. More than 100 types of roses were planted in the garden.

After the First World War, the Rosery was not looked after. The canal was filled in, and the trellises and pergolas were removed. In the 1940s, after the Plymouth family donated St Fagans Castle and grounds to the Museum, a simpler rose garden was created, with triangular beds.

In 1998, the Museum decided to restore Pettigrew’s original design. The old canal was dug out and replanted with water lilies. The triangular beds were removed, and new curved beds were laid out around the canal, following Pettigrew’s plan. Roses were chosen carefully, based on a list made by Pettigrew in 1904.

However, over time, many of the old roses became unhealthy. They suffered badly from a disease called black spot, which makes the leaves turn yellow, develop black spots and fall off. Before the Clean Air Act of 1956, black spot was rare because the air was full of sulphur from pollution, which helped protect the plants. But when the air became cleaner, black spot became a much bigger problem.

In 2017, the Rosery was replanted again. This time, many modern roses were used, strong, healthy plants that flower for a long time and still have the beauty and scent of traditional roses. Most of the roses are from David Austin, a famous rose breeder. One special rose growing in the garden is called ‘Roald Dahl’, named after the famous author who was born in Cardiff.

We still garden in the spirit of the Edwardian period, because most of the ornamental gardens at St Fagans date back from that time. The Edwardians loved roses - and so do we! But looking after them is not always glamorous. Every January, the gardeners prune the roses hard to keep them healthy. Then the beds are mulched with manure, we add manure to the soil to feed it. Healthy soil helps the roses to grow strong and healthy.

Throughout the summer, the gardeners deadhead the roses to encourage more flowers, but they leave some blooms to make rose hips, which are used to decorate the historic houses in winter. Around the roses, there are also flowering perennial plants like lavender and violas planted to help pollinators like bees and butterflies. 

Some roses, called single roses, have fewer petals and an open centre. These are better for insects because bees can easily reach the nectar and pollen. Some of our favourites include roses called ‘Tottering-by- Gently’ and ‘Starlight Symphony’.

Today, the Rosery is full of colour and scent. The new roses look and feel like old roses, but they flower again and again through the summer. They remind us of the love, care, and hard work that goes into keeping a garden full of life.

Spring is a special time at St Fagans. There are daffodils and crocuses in bloom, and the farmyard is a hive of activity.  

From February to April, Llwyn-yr-eos Farm is alive with the sound of bleating as the expectant ewes take shelter in the lambing sheds. This year, we’re expecting over 350 lambs. Around 200 lambs have been born so far and there’s still plenty more to come!  

We keep three rare Welsh breeds of sheep at St Fagans:

• Hill Radnor  
• Llanwenog  
• Welsh Black Mountain  

Keeping native breeds of sheep is important as they are a vital part of Wales’ farming heritage. You can learn more about these rare breeds in this blog. 

Once the lambs are born, both the lamb and their mother are marked with the same number, so we know who belongs to who! The ewes and lambs are moved from the main lambing shed into smaller nursery pens, before being turned out into the fields a few days later. Can you spot any of the new arrivals as you walk around the museum?  

Please note, to protect the welfare of our sheep, no dogs are allowed in the farmyard during lambing.  

Can’t make it to St Fagans? We’re not streaming live from the shed this year, but you can watch the action from previous years’ on our website.  

January is traditionally a quiet time. The thrill of the festive season has passed, and we all wait eagerly for the end of winter, but it is also a time for new beginnings. 

At St Fagans, we’re starting the year off with a bang! Over the next few months, you’ll notice lots of activity around the museum while we deliver projects to improve the visitor experience including: 

• Updating the play area 
• Re-roofing St Fagans Castle 
• Revamping Siop Losin and introducing a new range of products 
• An exciting redesign of the shop in the main building 
• Developing a new coffee shop in Gweithdy 
• Renovating the toilet block near Rhyd-y-car Terrace 

Your visit will be different during this time, and some areas will be closed. We’ll keep you updated with developments as they happen. 

Thank you for your patience while we undertake this work - we promise you it’ll be worth it! 

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Challenge! You’ve got three days to tackle a clean of five massive rooms, open to the public seven days a week. How do you plan and undertake a conservation deep clean for reams of panelling, paintings and pots? Buff up the furniture, freshen up curtains and carpets in a mansion house built around 1580 with collections reflecting the grandeur and period of the space? Solution - with an army of skilled and specialist conservators, cleaners and volunteers, scaffolding, ladders (working at height regs noted!), brushes, vacuums, cloths, solvents, cotton wool swabs, a lot of elbow grease, stamina, enthusiasm, tea and chocolate!

At the end of June 2025, the conservation department, under the close supervision of the Senior Furniture Conservator, carried out a deep clean of the public spaces. This was carried out whilst the Castle was still open to the public.

For a successful outcome, we needed to remove the loose particulate soiling deposits retained in the hidden crevices of the furniture and fittings. This activity would have the impact of brightening the appearance of the castle display and improve the visitor experience. From a conservation perspective this annual task is a hugely important one as it removes the grime which can provide the fodder for hungry pests and mould. The presence of this grime raises a risk of biological attack on our unique collections. It also removes particulates, which in the right environmental conditions can speed up the rate of deterioration of objects in our care.

We started in the dining hall, to the right of the main entrance. We worked as a team to move objects off and from walls, decanting the smaller objects to the old servant’s hall. 

The larger objects, for example the Edwinsford Sofa, the tables and side boards, were carefully moved to the middle of the room to enable access, both the object in full and the spaces they occupy to do a thorough clean.

After three days of going up and down ladders, the fiddly brushing of fine and ornate details, lots of vacuuming and the careful application of emulsions in solution and drying oils to provide residual protection and protective layers. The clean was complete.

We hope you enjoy the finished result. The Castle is only one of more than 50 historic buildings which need a rolling programme of care and maintenance to ensure that they remain accessible to everyone.  Next time you visit the Museum, you may see our conservation and cleaning teams out in action on site. If you do, make sure you say hello. We’d be thrilled to answer any questions you have on cleaning the historic buildings and collections.