Insole Court, Cardiff

Insole Court is a Grade II* Listed Victorian Gothic mansion, built for wealthy businessman James Harvey Insole (1821 Worcester - 1901 Llandaff) and dating back to 1855.

The mansion and Stable Yard are operated by a registered charity, the Insole Court Trust, who began operating the site in 2016. After an extensive refurbishment, the ground floor of the mansion reopened to the public in September 2017. In 2018, the first floor opened to the public for the first time, with an exhibition, 'This House is a Stage' that tells the story of the Insole family.

The site hosts daily classes and activities, as well as a The Potting Shed Café and room hire facilities. The mansion is free to visit and is open every day.

The Insole family lived on the site from 1856 to 1938. They had extensive coal-mining interests across the South Wales Coalfield, particularly the colliery at Cymmer, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and were closely involved in the development of the Barry Railway Company and the associated docks. Their growing prosperity enabled them to invest in land, including a site within the ancient Cathedral-city of Llandaff, between roads leading to Fairwater and Ely.

Slowly falling into disrepair, despite restoration in 1995, the entire property was closed on health and safety grounds in November 2006. The Council undertook a major restoration of the ground floor, and the house reopened in November 2008.

Insole Court has been used for a variety of classes and societies, and has been open to view by the public on certain days. It has large gardens which are also open to the public. Until June 2014 the building was also home to the head office of the Wales Co-operative Centre.

The Insole Court Trust was awarded £2m funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £750,000 from the Big Lottery Fund and Welsh Government, to restore and redevelop Insole Court into a visitor attraction. The £4 million project started in December 2014, During restoration, beautiful stencilling and decoration was found on the walls throughout the house, which were believed to date to the 1870s. Newly built room hire facilities, 'The Stable Yard' and the Potting Shed Café opened in September 2016.

On 23 September 2016 Cardiff Council transferred the lease of Insole Court to the Insole Court Trust, a charity created to manage and protect the house. At the time, this was the largest Community Asset Transfer in Wales.

The mansion reopened to the public on 22 July 2017. Currently, the ground floor is open to visitors for free and includes a shop and a Reading Room in the former Smoking Room. The upper floor has an immersive walk-through 'play for voices' which dramatises the family history from their first arrival in Cardiff to the last members departing in the 1930s. Ongoing conservation and restoration work of other parts of the upper floors is continuing.