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THE HISTORY OF THE CELTIC MANOR RESORT

 

When Celtic Inns Ltd purchased a derelict Manor House in 1980, few people could have imagined that it would become part of such a prestigious, internationally recognised development.

The vision came from the company’s chairman, Sir Terry Matthews, a highly successful entrepreneur who has invested more than £150m in the project. Sir Terry lives in Canada, where he founded two highly successful telecommunications businesses, Mitel and Newbridge Networks. However, he was born in the Manor House when it was a maternity hospital, and has strong family ties in the area.

The Celtic Manor Resort is first and foremost a commercial venture. From the outset, Sir Terry saw that the site - with its superb countryside and proximity to the M4 - had the potential for development into a thriving business. However, he also hoped there would be wider benefits for local people and Wales as a whole.

“I think the Resort can act as a magnet to draw new investment into Wales from across the UK and overseas,” he said recently. “I did my best to put up a building that you can see from the West End of London and I didn’t come far short of it!” 

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TIMELINE

 

1860 Originally known as Coldra House, the building that houses the original Celtic Manor Hotel - now the Manor House - dates from the early 1860s. It was the home of Thomas Powell Jnr, the son of a leading figure in the coal and iron trade.

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1940  Now owned by Sir John Beynon, the house was given to the local health authority, and on 1st January, 1940, it opened as the Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital, in memory of his mother. Over the next 35 years, more than 60,000 babies were to be born there - with many subsequently using the hotel for their wedding receptions! 

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1982 The Lydia Beynon closed in 1975 and lay boarded up for five years until Celtic Inns became the owner and obtained planning permission to build a 17-bedroom hotel which opened in 1982. The Celtic Manor was an instant success, winning the Egon Ronay award for the best hotel in Wales in five consecutive years from 1983 to 1987.

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1995 The first championship golf course opens at Celtic Manor, the Roman Road designed by Robert Trent Jones. The Lodge clubhouse (now the Celtic Manor Golf Club) opened at the same time in July, 1995, and the Golf Academy and Coldra Woods executive course followed a year later.

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1999 The Manor House had grown from 17 to 70 bedrooms but that expansion was as nothing compared to the building of a new five-star Resort Hotel which boasted 330 bedrooms, luxury spa and a state-of-the-art convention centre for 1,500 delegates. A second championship golf course - Wentwood Hills - also opened and was immediately announced as the venue for the Wales Open on the European Tour the following year.

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2000-2014 Celtic Manor stages the Wales Open on three different golf courses - Wentwood Hills, Roman Road and the Twenty Ten. Winners of the event during its 15-year unbroken run at the same venue included Ryder Cup stars Graeme McDowell, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Ian Poulter, Paul Lawrie and Paul McGinley. 

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2001 Celtic Manor was announced as the host venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup, the resort pledging to build nine new holes and create a new golf course for the biggest sporting event ever to be held in Wales.

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2005 Celtic Manor hosts the European Union Foreign Ministers' Summit.

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2005-06 Roman Road Course stages the All*Star Cup, a celebrity version of the Ryder Cup. Participants included Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Alice Cooper, Meatloaf, Jane Seymour and Chris Evans.

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2010 Resort stages the Ryder Cup watched by 45,000 spectators a day and countless millions on TV around the world. The match was won in dramatic fashion by a single point by Europe. Rain delays on Friday and Sunday forced the tournament into a fourth day for the first time but, as glorious sunshine replaced the rain clouds on the Manor's Magic Monday, Graeme McDowell, the winner of the Wales Open at Celtic Manor earlier in the summer, secured the winning point for Europe sparking joyous celebrations on the 17th green and by the clubhouse later. 

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2011 Resort stages Polo at the Manor for the first time, bringing a new sport and lifestyle event to the Usk Valley. 

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2013 Resorts stages the Celebrity Cup for the first time, evoking memories of the All*Star Cup by bringing stars of sport and showbiz together for a four nations tournament between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales on the Roman Road Course.

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2014 Celtic Manor hosts the NATO Summit, the largest gathering of world leaders ever held in the UK and the first time a serving US President had visited Wales.

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2016 Celtic Manor acquires neighbouring 148-bedroom hotel and renames it Coldra Court Hotel by Celtic Manor, embarking on a £2m refurbishment programme. 

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2017 Funding secured to begin construction of 5,000-delegate International Convention Centre Wales.

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2019 Home of the Second Edition of the Jansen Cup.

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OFFICIAL POSTER

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