History

The Clumber Stud was started by The Duchess of Newcastle in 1895 with 6 mares purchased from Mr. John Jones of the famous Dinarth Stud. They included Lady White, winner of 50 1^st prizes and described as "the most typical Welsh mare which has ever lived"

The stud was re-started by ourselves in 1995, 100 years later.

An article in the 1995 WPCS journal (pg140) took Jenny’s attention with the mention of Clumber. The article was by Dr Wynne Davies, and was a feature on the Faraam Stud. Mr. Ffitch Mason had purchased 2 of his foundation mares from the Duchess after they had both won 1^st prizes at the 1919 RASE Show held in Cardiff, they were Clumber Janet III and daughter Clumber Miss Mary. Several phone calls to Dr Wynne and a very informative visit to Ceulan followed. The 1^st Clumber pony was brought back to the estate - Clumber Viscount - a direct descendant from the ponies the Duchess had bred here 100 years before.

The Duchess had great success showing her ponies, but probably the best remembered of the bloodline is Dinarth What Ho, his sire Faraam Mercury (Bwlch Quicksilver x Clumber Janet III) won the 1930 Shropshire & West Midlands show beating Grove Sprightly, one of the few times Sprightly was ever beaten. Dinarth What Ho himself was champion at the Royal Welsh in 1947 & 1952 beating Coed Coch Madog. He also won the Evans Jones Memorial Trophy for the best Welsh Mountain pony at Llandeilo Show for 3 consecutive years 1950 - 1952.

We now have several ponies with the original bloodlines.

Ceulan Vellum (Twyford Sprig x Ceulan (J) Venetia)

Lippens Bijou (Beymark Stephen x Ceulan Vellum)

Clumber Honeybee (Llanfrache Shadow x Lippens Bijou)

Clumber Henrietta (Rosmarche Ragged Robin x Clumber Honeybee)

Clumber Victoria (Tyfre Carlo Bach x Ceulan Vivacious)

Clumber Bethany (R R Robin x Lippens Bijou)

Clumber Vanity Fair (R R Robin x Ceulan Vivacious)

Clumber Honey Bear (R R Robin x CL Honeybee)

We would like to thank everyone who has helped us with tracing the history and the whereabouts of these ponies, it was not an easy feat as they had been sold so long ago, we were fortunate that Dr Wynne had a mare at Ceulan with this breeding. Also thanks for passing on to us so much interesting and useful information.

Ceulan Vivacious (photo P Coulthard)