Subject: Marconi, Great House Farm, Llandough From: Sion Buckler Direction: sent Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:24 UTC Institution: BT Archives Refs: none Archive id: gm-1a156b195dd68381 ------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Fahema,

Thank you again for your helpful reply of 10 August 2026 about the 1897 Marconi records, which I have been working through.

I have a second, separate enquiry about the same place, Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough-juxta-Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan (near Penarth). The farmhouse was occupied until late 1988, when it was demolished. I am trying to establish from the records who held and occupied the property over time and what happened to its telephone service and the plant on the land.

Could you tell me whether BT Group Archives holds, or can point me to, any of the following for the period 1950 to 1990:
1. telephone directory entries for Great House Farm, Llandough (Cardiff and Penarth directories), with the years and the name in which the line was listed;
2. any wayleave agreement, consent or easement file for poles, overhead lines, cables or ducts on or across Great House Farm land, including the name or capacity of the person or company who granted it (for example, the owner or the occupier) and the date;
3. any record of the cessation or removal of the telephone service and plant at Great House Farm in 1988 or 1989, including who requested it, in what capacity, and the date;
4. any exchange, line plant or engineering records for Llandough, Leckwith Road or Penarth Road that show the farm;
5. if records of this kind are held by Openreach rather than by BT Group Archives, the right team at Openreach to ask, or I would be grateful if you could pass this part on;
6. if records of this kind for the period were not kept, or have been destroyed, the retention or disposal schedule that applied, if known.

I understand that BT is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, so this is a request for your voluntary help. Catalogue references would be ideal, and I am happy to book a searchroom visit if anything needs to be viewed in person. If nothing is held, a short note saying so would be equally helpful. A reply by 17 November 2026 would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Sion Buckler (Ret'd Sergeant)
Royal Signals Cyber/Electronic Warfare Professional
https://greathousefarmwiki.wordpress.com
On Mon, Aug 10, 2026 at 04:16 PM, Sion Buckler <


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <[email redacted]>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026, 06:54
Subject: RE: Marconi, Great House Farm, Llandough
To: <[email redacted]>


General


Dear Sion

 

Thank you for your enquiry.

 

As a starting point, the following records may be of interest. These have been digitised and can be accessed via the via the online catalogue entry (see the PDF in the ‘Document’ field):

POST 30/631A 
POST 30/940
POST 878B
TCB 273/2

TCB 273/3

 

Digitised images:
TCB 473/P 5083
TCE 361/ARC 1148

 

Occasionally, our catalogue software struggles to open large files; if you experience any problems, please let me know and I can share the digitised copies via our sharing platform

 

The following files have not been digitised but can be viewed by appointment in our searchroom:

TCB 273/5
TCK 89/22

 

We also hold a number of secondary sources relating to Marconi in our library, which can be consulted in our searchroom.

 

I would recommend searching our online catalogue (Home Page) to identify any other records that you think may be useful for your research. Details of how to book an appointment can be found on our website.

 

Kind regards

 

Fahema

 

 

 

Fahema Begum

 

BT Group Archives

 

E: [email redacted]

W: bt.com/history

 

Planning a research visit to the Archives? We’ve introduced a new appointment booking system - visit our website for details.

 

 

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General

From: Sion Buckler <[email redacted]>
Sent: 06 August 2026 22:48
To: BTARCHIV <[email redacted]>
Subject: Marconi, Great House Farm, Llandough

 

You don't often get email from [email redacted]. Learn why this is important

Dear BT Archives Team,

I am researching the General Post Office involvement in Guglielmo Marconi’s South Wales wireless telegraphy experiments during 1897, particularly the experiments between Lavernock Point and Flat Holm.

The Postal Museum has advised that the relevant GPO Telegraph Department and Engineering Department records are likely to be held by BT Archives. They confirmed that their own searches of Postal Museum holdings found no relevant records and that surviving telecommunications material from this period is likely to be within the collections transferred to BT Archives.

I would be grateful if you could advise on the relevant surviving records and catalogue references.

My research concerns:

  • Marconi’s 1897 South Wales wireless experiments;
  • Lavernock Point and Flat Holm;
  • Penarth and Llandough (near Penarth);
  • the involvement of the GPO Telegraph Department and Engineering Department;
  • any surviving correspondence, reports, notebooks, engineering records, plans, photographs or administrative records connected with the experiments.

I am particularly interested in identifying any references to local residents or private individuals who assisted Marconi or GPO engineers. Family history suggests that a Mr Williams of Great House Farm, Llandough, may have assisted with the experiments locally. I appreciate that such a person may not appear in catalogue descriptions if he was a private individual rather than a GPO employee.

Could you please advise whether your catalogue contains references to any of the following terms or variants:

  • Marconi
  • Guglielmo Marconi
  • wireless telegraphy
  • South Wales experiments
  • Lavernock
  • Penarth
  • Llandough
  • Great House Farm
  • Williams
  • W. Williams
  • William Williams
  • Mr Williams

If relevant records exist, I would be grateful for the catalogue references, file descriptions and dates so that I can identify the material for further research.

I would also appreciate any guidance on whether there are related collections, transferred Post Office records, or finding aids that may not be obvious from the online catalogue.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Kind regards,

Sion Buckler
(Ret’d Sergeant)
Royal Signals Cyber & Electronic Warfare Professional and Life Member