I have just received the disappointing news from Nick Ramsay, Welsh National Assembly member for Monmouthshire, that CADW ("the official guardian of the built heritage of Wales"), the Welsh Assembly Government and the National Trust have all individually decided not to attempt to officially protect Kensington House, the birthplace of A. R. Wallace which is currently up for sale (see http://wallacefund.info/r-wallaces-birthplace-sale and http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-15605148.html). Nick and a few others, including Wallace poet Anne Cluysenaar, the Wallace Memorial Fund, and myself have been trying for the last four months to get some form of protection for this historically important house but to no avail, as this recent message from Nick shows:
"Dear George,
Following my email to you a few months ago I thought you would be interested to know that I had a meeting yesterday with Dr Ruth Williams, External Affairs Manager of the National Trust, concerning the possibility of the Trust acquiring Kensington House in view of the property's connection with Alfred Russel Wallace.
The house remains on the market for sale, but unfortunately it seems that the National Trust do not see the acquisition of Kensington House as a viable project at present.
I know that you and others in the constituency will be as disappointed as I am at this decision, as a centre to celebrate the life and work of Wallace in Wales would have been an excellent idea.
It is a great shame that neither the Welsh Assembly Government nor the National Trust have felt able to support such a project and that CADW is also not interested in listing the property following my approach to the Heritage Minister.
However, should any other funding possibilities come to light in the near future I will certainly do my best to pursue them.
Kind regards,
Nick
Nick Ramsay AM
National Assembly for Wales"
All I can say is thank you very much Nick for making such a big effort to contact and talk to all the organisations who were in a position to do something about the house. I am personally most disappointed of all with CADW ("the official guardian of the built heritage of Wales") who refused to give the building any official protection on the basis that there was not a strong enough association between the property and Wallace. This is misguided in my opinion as it is very clear from what Wallace says about the house and surrounding area in his autobiography My Life, that the property and its immediate surroundings profoundly influenced him and were probably largely responsible for him developing his keen interest in the natural world. This is what Anne Cluysenaar said in a message to me ..."for anyone who has read Wallace's autobiography, those first five years (so despised by CADW!) clearly had a decisive effect on Wallace's life - I believe they turned him into the great scientist he became, leaving him with a visionary sense of the beauty and variety of nature and a love of exploring it. Surely modern understanding of how those first years effect him should be taken into account by people like CADW and the National Trust, especially when there is direct evidence from the person's own writings that they remained, lifelong, so keenly in his memory." Also see http://wallacefund.info/lack-enthusiasm-protect-r-wallaces-birthplace
Without protection from CADW future owners of the property will be able to modify the house as they wish (within the bounds of local planning regulations) and the property will probably gradually look less and less like it was in Wallace's time, which is a great shame. Future generations may ask why the birthplace of one of the greatest people to have ever been born in what is now modern Wales, was never given any protection at all by the National Government. If you, like me, feel strongly that CADW have made the wrong decision, then why not write to them to try to persuade them to change their minds. If enought people write to complain that they are neglecting this important piece of Welsh heritage then perhaps they will reconsider. CADW's contact details are:-
Cadw
Welsh Assembly Government
Plas Carew
Unit 5/7 Cefn Coed
Parc Nantgarw
Cardiff
CF15 7QQ
Tel: 01443 33 6000
Fax: 01443 33 6001
E-mail: Cadw@Wales.gsi.gov.uk
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