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The Urdd National Eisteddfod will see around 90,000 visitors to the grounds of Llancaiach Fawr Manor close to Nelson between May 25-30 for this year's festival.

The manor stands proudly, as it has done since about 1550, overlooking the Glamorgan Uplands, and is considered to be one of the most important Gentry houses to have survived from the period.

Built for Dafydd ap Richard, the Manor was designed to be easily defended during the turbulent reigns of Tudor kings and queens.

The original defensive design incorporated a single entrance, four-foot thick walls enclosing spiral stone staircases for access between floors and stout wooden doors.

LOOK: Llancaiach Fawr manor - the home of the Urdd National Eisteddfod 2015

When these were securely closed they split the Manor in two and ensured the inner east wing provided a safe and secure place of refuge during troubled times.

By the beginning of the Stuart dynasty the Prichard family had prospered and the house was extended in 1628 to demonstrate their status. The Grand Staircase now allowed easy access between floors and two of the rooms used by the family were panelled in oak.

When Civil War broke out between King and Parliament in 1642 Colonel Edward Prichard was appointed Commissioner of Array to the King, raising men and money for the Royalist cause in Glamorganshire.

By the middle of 1645 support was waning and King Charles I came on a rallying tour through South Wales and visited Llancaiach Fawr for lunch.

Shortly afterwards the Prichards and many other Glamorgan gentry changed sides to support Parliament and Colonel Prichard subsequently defended Cardiff Castle against the Royalists.

Visitors today step into the Manor House restored and furnished as it would have been in 1645.

All the furnishings in the rooms are accurate reproductions of items from the time of the Prichards and many of the originals can be found in the St Fagans National History Museum at St Fagans Castle.

The Manor is now a living museum, where first person interpretation is used exclusively by the costumed interpreters who take on the role of the house servants. Consequently they communicate with visitors entirely in period English - claiming the Master of the House disapproves of the use of Welsh, a not uncommon attitude at the time.

The building has been used in many TV and film productions, including Doctor Who; and an episode of archaeological television programme Time Team dug in the grounds in search of the house's predecessor. No evidence of a previous dwelling was found, but several old coins and some Bronze Age pottery were discovered.

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