Whitson Court Zoological Garden

[ashleyh]

Hi. First of all i'm new.... Hi!!!!
Second of all, I don't know if this is the right place, but does anybody have ANY information at all, (especially photos!) greatly appreciated!
All I know is that it closed sometime in the 70's, and is in Whitson, nr Newport, South Wales, UK.
Please Help!!!!!!
Thnx, Ash

[rlchew]

Hello Ash.

A warm welcome to WAB.

Sorry but I can not help with your request for information .... I assume you have Googled it?

Maybe someone here on WAB will be able to help .... that is ususally the case!

Richard

[ashleyh]

Yeah..... hopefully!
I have Googled it, no luck. Only info I found was before it was a zoo.
I know she had a lion, which was retiring from a circus or something, and she added animals to her collection over time, more like an animal sanctuary than a zoo. I just want some photos and more info than that really...

[melbourne]

Originally Posted by ashleyh

Hi. First of all i'm new.... Hi!!!!
Second of all, I don't know if this is the right place, but does anybody have ANY information at all, (especially photos!) greatly appreciated!
All I know is that it closed sometime in the 70's, and is in Whitson, nr Newport, South Wales, UK.
Please Help!!!!!!
Thnx, Ash

I happened to be looking at some photos of Whitson Court last night and decided to google it today...I lived there for a time approx 1998/1999...It definitely used to be a zoo, there are lion cages etc in the "back yard". I have photos but only hard copies. Your query was some time ago, I imagine you have probably already rec'd some snaps?

[nightshade]

Just a hello Ashleyh,I hope you have some sucess,have you tried the local newspaper archives ?

[adamsky]

Hi ! was searching for info on Whitson court and discovered a queery about the old zoo and was hoping i could help!
Whitson court was my family home from the 30s and my grandmother Mrs O.J Maybury ran the zoo collection from the fiftys! She was given two hymylain mountain bear cubs which had been used as an advertising gimick for the newport shop Reynolds. At the time, groups of Newport children used the grounds for Sunday school picknicks and fates and my grandmother felt that the bears would be a novelty for them! The collection continued to grow over the years and included a large range of different animals including a further 2 european sun bears (basil and barbara), a lion (jason) and 3 lionesses, a large range of exotic birds including flamingoes, and a flight of wild makaws, monkeys and animals, a huge aquariam and reptile house and as a result became a popular tourist attraction for people all over the area! As a child i grew up with these animals and considered them very much to be the family pets (bonkers on reflection). In the early 80s , with the change in the licencing and as a result in the way the nation was welcoming safari parks like longleat, and as a result of my grandmothers age (in her 80s) it was decided to close the zoo to the public and allow the animals to live out their natural lives in peace! The female european sun bear went i believe to the state zoo in poland following the death of her partner, to join another male, jason the lion , went to longleat and then to the chipperfields and the hymalain bears, one of which was born at whitson , lived into the early 90s until, they were put to sleep due to old age and declining health ( a sad day for all of us)
I lived with my family in Whitson Court from 1991 until my grandmothers death in 1998 (at the grand old age of 99) when the house and estate were sold to its current owner! a great sourse of knowledge on the animals and wildlife would be their former keeper Mrs M. Gutteridge, who lives in the neighbouring village of Goldcliff! She may well have photographs of the animals for interested parties! Adam greenland

[ashleyh]

Ooo great thanks :-)
Shame that ntohing like that exists in the area anymore. I have to travel all the way to Bristol to see any intersting animals, and they haven't got any bears or anything in Bristol zoo :-(
Still, thanks! Do you have any photos?
Oh, and I've heard rumors that the bears were kept in the house... True...?

[Anne Lewis]

Does anyone know whats happening to whitson court now - it has appeared uninhabited for the last 8 years though it was sold in 1998. It seems very sad that such a beautiful house with such a history and thriving wildlife should be allowed to become derelect.

[adamsky]

Well there is partial truth in that ash, Barbara the european sun bear was a renound escape artist, although i cant recall her being in the house, my mother recalls that she used to escape from her pen and make her way round to the kitchen courtyard where she would open the kitchen door, walk in , sit down and wait to be discovered! she new if she got that far , she would be rewarded with a jar of honey for returning to her pen!It really is true that bears love honey!
On the question of what is happening to the house, my family sold the house and grounds to a local person , who has a collection of large properties! as i understood it some time ago, plans were afoot to restore the house! However, being a grade 2* property , there are complications in doing this! The house is in very original condition and retains many fine features, and as we now know, was designed and built for the phillips family in 1791 by john nash (in the classic style on the site of an older property) and probably finished by anthony keck! It is apparently Nashs' first villa in wales and a renound nash expert has identified certain features within the house that directly relates to Nashs' work! In the same year i believe he also designed Newport bridge! The house is described in many books as being one of the finer smaller country houses in wales.
Although I do not have many photos of the animals that resided there, i do have old photos of the house and grounds including one victorian photograph of the phillips family standing outside the front of the house just after the new front porch was built! I would be happy to share the photos and other documentary evidence with anyone who may be interested!

[Anne Lewis]

Thank you for that information. We live 10 miles from Whitson Court and sadly for us it came on the market 3 months after we bought our present old house, if we had known we would certainly have made an offer. I also have lots of animals and it would be perfect for them, I am also an avid wildlife supporter and that area is teeming with it! The present owner I believe still has done nothing with it. I would love to see some old photographs of the house in all its glory. I also believe that German fighter pilots used it to navigate to Newport Docks.