Saint Donat’s Castle is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, overlooking the Bristol Channel in the village of St Donat’s, about 25 km west of Cardiff. The earliest surviving parts of the castle were built in the late 12th century by the de Hawey family. Ownership passed to the Stradling family in 1298 through the marriage of Sir Peter Stradling to Joan de Hawey.
The castle continued to be owned and occupied by the Stradling family until the death of Sir Thomas Stradling in 1738. After seeing photographs of the castle in Country Life magazine, the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst bought it in 1925 and used it to entertain guests such as Charlie Chaplin and a young John F. Kennedy. Hearst’s newspaper empire fell on hard times in the later 1930s and the castle was put up for sale but instead requisitioned for use by British and American troops during World War II. Hearst died in 1951 and the castle was sold in 1962. Today it houses Atlantic College and St Donat’s Arts Centre but is also used as a venue for weddings.
Our family’s lineage to Sir Peter Stradling is noted below along with codes to lookup these individuals on FamilySearch.
Sir Peter Stradling (1260-1314) • 9Z87-NDK
Sir Edward Stradling (1290-1364) • LVLZ-GHB
Sir Edward Stradling, Knight of the Holy Sepelchre (1345-1394) • LVCQ-YXL
Sir William Stradling, Knight of the Holy Sepelchre (1375-1412) • L6P6-VXT
Sir Edward Stradling, Knight of the Holy Sepelchre (1390-1453) • LK58-Q3K
Sir Henry Stradling, Knight of the Holy Sepelchre (1424-1476) • MMB2-H5W
John Gwyn Stradling (1452-?) • LZPL-Y93
Lady Catherine Anne Stradling (1500-1585) • K8BS-R8J
John Davis (1550-1588) • LHYR-S6Q
James Davis (1589-1678) • LZZ3-W8Q
Samuel Davis (1640-1696) • KND6-2BB
Joseph Samuel Davis (1673-1755) • LJLB-RJT
Jemima Davis (1706-1753) • K89K-7RZ
Abner Whittier (1734-1820) • L7LP-3LS
Thomas Whittier (1761-1842) • LK3W-SDS
Jeremiah Whittier (1783-1858) • LZ1M-6C6
Philetus D. Whittier (1808-1862) • KL74-WVQ
Ida R. Whittier (1853-1930) • KNQC-9W1
George Warren Harris (1884-1943) • 2W7J-5B4
William Robert Harris (1923-2012) • LRKS-XVC
Mary Elizabeth Harris (1958-2009) • LRK9-Z7P
Brian Patrick Ross (1985-Living) • LRJB-19W