Postcards of Castell Coch – Part 11

I have a few postcards that feature a view of Castell Coch by photographer Martin John Ridley (1861-1936). This example was written in 1917 but not posted. The original photo is thought to be from 1905.

I have another postcard using this image that was sent in 1908.

The postcard is titled, “Castle Coch, Taffs Well”, which is very common around this time. The reference “M. J. R. B. 6045” stands for Martin John Ridley, Boscombe/Bournemouth.

Bien à vous

The message on the card is very sweet.

“Taffs Well is a very pretty little village not very far from here. We often go to pick blackberries there in the summer and have very jolly times! Bien à vous, Dorothy. May 3 1917.”

Dorothy isn’t a French name so presumably she was writing to a French friend.

Martin John Ridley

Martin Ridley was born in Reading in 1861. After getting married and starting a family, they moved to Bournemouth where he set up a photographic and printing business.

Ridley specialised in landscape and architectural photography and eventually set up a postcard business.

After his death, Martin’s daughter Winifred was in possession of over 6,000 glass plate negatives. They were going to be disposed of but thankfully the collection was saved. The Welsh section, consisting of 841 images, was purchased by The National Library of Wales sometime after 2007.

Ridley 1319

The original photo is stored in the National Library of Wales archive. This high resolution version shows a lot more detail and is a beautiful view of the castle and local area.

It was taken using the glass dry plate technique. This process uses a sheet of glass coated with a light-sensitive gelatine emulsion that’s allowed to dry before exposure. The plate is loaded into a large format camera, exposed to light, and then developed in a darkroom.

I’ve cleaned up the image by removing dust and blemishes that shows off the photo to its best.

In Detail

I’ve created a series of close up views to show the amazing details in the photo. I’ve cleaned up these images as well.

Castell Coch

Lord Bute died in 1900 at the age of 53. After her husband’s death, Gwen lived in Castell Coch with Margaret for a short period. It’s not known how long they lived in the castle but they continued to visit.

The Castell Coch vineyard was still operational until 1920.

Castell Coch Cottages

A row of cottages sat under Castell Coch until they were demolished in 1969 to make way for the A470. I have another postcard that shows the cottages at a similar time.

I’ve included some more close up views over on Tongwynlais.com.

Sources

• 1917 postcard from my own collection
• Castle Coch, Taffs Well [ca.1905] from Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales
• Biography of Martin Ridley from Alwyn Ladell