A CULTURAL heritage site that is due to be mothballed at the end of the year as part of plans by the local council to help the budget has been nominated for a national award. 

Llancaiach Fawr Manor House in Caerphilly has been included on the finalist shortlist for Best Wedding Venue at the Best of Welsh Wedding Awards for 2024, despite being part of Caerphilly Council's plans to save their budget. 

The Tudor mansion house, in Nelson, is facing closure after the council confirmed that it intends to withdraw its subsidy of £485,000 per year to run The Manor.

However, the site has still recently been included on a eight place shortlist of finalists for the Best of Welsh Wedding Awards, and has been dubbed a "Welsh treasure" by many of those who are fighting to save the site, along with Blackwood Miners Institute.

Members of the Friends of Llancaiach Fawr Facebook group confirmed the news with a post on Monday, October 7, noting that it was "just a shame other couples won't be able to experience their wonderful day here". 

The group has called the site the "jewel" in Wales' crown as part of a petition to save it. 

The awards, which are purely based on votes from members of the public, are designed to showcase the best in the Welsh wedding industry, and the fact that Llancaiach Fawr has been included on this list despite the uncertainty over its future suggests that closing it would have a "tremendous impact" on everyone in the borough. 

People reacted to the news of the nomination in a variety of ways, with some branding the decision to mothball Llancaiach Fawr as "an embarrassment" in light of this recognition, while senior Caerphilly councillors have been warned that going ahead would be “tantamount to cultural vandalism”. 

Following a Caerphilly Council Cabinet meeting on Wednesday,  September 25, it was agreed that  Llancaiach Fawr Manor House would be mothballed at the end of December this year, with the council set to explore options for the facility to be run in a different way in the future.

Leader of Caerphilly Council Cllr Sean Morgan said following the decision: “We appreciate many will be disappointed by this decision, but the current subsidy of £485,000 to run the site is unsustainable in the current financial climate.

"A similar decision was made earlier this year to close Coffi Vista in Caerphilly and we are now looking forward to the building reopening with an exciting new future, without requiring a council subsidy. This is what we hope to replicate at Llancaiach Fawr.”

Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge and deputy mayor George Etheridge have previously voiced their opinions on the planned mothballing of these sites, including leading a protest in September that was attended by around 400 people. 

They said: "Blackwood Miners ‘Institute has been a focal point for many years, with the Chartist movement operating nearby on their March to Newport.

“Blackwood Miners’ Institute is part of our past, present and future. 

“The Chartists who marched through the town would be appalled and dismayed if our heritage is destroyed.”