Whitson Court and Stelvio House: Notable Homes Around Newport. 

I really enjoyed tonight’s presentation

Nice to see this of my family’s history. Mary maybury then changed to greenland was my grandmother. My father and his 3 brothers grew up in this house and I’ve heard many stories from it

Used to walk here every Sunday in the summer when i was a child [1970] and visit the zoo, bears, snakes, quite a sad zoo in many ways, but also magical. Later in the 80s, a friend of mine rented a flat/bedsit in the house, she said it was haunted, I believed her. Very evocative for me , Whitson Zoo

Both stories very interesting. I remember a couple of parties at Whitson Court as I knew Mary Maybury. One afternoon when we were getting things ready for a barbecue that evening there was rather a commotion as the Sun Bears had escaped. They climbed into the house through a window, one of them was on the piano. I seem to remember there was a painting by Turner.. The bear pit(?) smelled awful. There was a tiny, brightly-coloured frog that could swallow things bigger than itself. I'm pretty sure I remember Zimba the Great Dane, a lovely dog.

Does anyone know the History of the Volland in Lower Machen Also of the woodruff family there too...Love your little history chats. Looking forward to the next

I was living a few doors away when that act of vandalism took place, taking the dog for a walk that morning I saw the whole thing taking place. Like many others rang the council immediately The rest as you pointed out, is history. I'd be interested to know where the fine cast iron gates ended up. At the beginning of Bassaleg Road, opposite the Handpost, was a garage with a large house behind it. This was another wonderful building that was pulled down, despite insisting the housing committee do a site visit. Incidentally do you know what happened to the gate posts of St Julian's House ?

Excellent as usual. Shocking what happened to Stelvio, appalling!

My father Jonny Karmazyn was one of the two Jewish "refugees' ...however neither of them were from Germany. Walter Keats was from Austria, and my father arrived from Denmark. They were sent via the Jewish Refugee Agricultural Committee Walter arrived first and Mr Smith was so impressed with him, that he "requested another one"...my father who arrived in April 1940. They put in a vegetable garden and tended to the grounds. They were treated like family, living on the third floor and eating meals with the family. When I visited in 2001, I had a tour of the house (which had just been sold) and spoke with two of the 3 Maybury sisters...Jane and Elizabeth. I have photographs from that visit as well as a photographs taken on the porch and in the Gazebo in 1940, with the entire family and my father. The gazebo was at the side of the house but it was obviously demolished during the renovation. I have stories to share if you are interested.

How about Crindau Hall

You see this happening in these episodes where houses or castles are knocked to the ground, which is puzzling to me since there doesnt seem to be a lack of land surrounding the structure. I may have missed something, but it is not like they had buildings pressed together and the need to destroy this one for public need, or insurance, or something else, in order to build new structures.. makes no sense