Stackpole

Stackpole Estate (Ystad Yr Ystangbwll)
Pembrokeshire
Barafundle Bay on the Stackpole Estate
State	United Kingdom
Constituent country	Wales
Region	Pembrokeshire
Coordinates	51°37′30″N 4°54′09″W / 51.62510°N 4.90238°W / 51.62510; -4.90238Coordinates: 51°37′30″N 4°54′09″W / 51.62510°N 4.90238°W / 51.62510; -4.90238
Area	12 km2 (5 sq mi)
Plants	Oak, Ash, Hazel, Lichens, Moss, Fern
Map of Wales showing Stackpole Estate within the county of Pembrokeshire
Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-stackpole

Stackpole Estate is located between the villages of Stackpole(Ystangbwll) and Bosherston near Pembroke, Pembrokeshire. It lies within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and is owned and maintained by the National Trust. The property consists of 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi) of farmland, lakes, woodland, beaches, and cliffs. It lies in the community of Stackpole and Castlemartin.

The estate has no visible boundary and is accessible to visitors all year round.

The 100 acres (0.40 km²) of lakes, which are today known as the Lily Ponds, were created by the damming of the three narrow limestone valleys in 1780 and 1860 by the earls of Cawdor, then owners of the Stackpole estate. The estate once centred on an elegant baronial mansion, Stackpole Court, built just outside Stackpole. However, during the English Civil War, the Lort family, who owned the estate from 1611 to 1698, took the side of the King, and the house was besieged by Parliamentarians, to whom they eventually surrendered. When Sir Gilbert Lort died in 1698 the estate passed to his sister Elizabeth who had married Sir Alexander Campbell, Thane of Cawdor, in 1689. She outlived her husband, and on her death in 1714 the estate passed to her son John Campbell.

A new mansion constructed of limestone was built in later years with extensive gardens, greenhouses and fine collections of plants. Unfortunately much of the Stackpole Estate farmland was requisitioned at the start of World War II to create a training ground for British troops. Castlemartin range still occupies this land. This made the estate unviable and The Cawdors returned to their Scottish estate in Nairnshire in the early 1940s. Crippling taxes on the empty mansion meant it was demolished in 1963, leaving behind the estate's outbuildings, parkland and beaches which are looked after by the National Trust and enjoyed by the public today.