1. 18th - 19th century mansion. Military gothic. 3 storey centre with 3 storey porch. 2 storey side units. Battlemented. Stone mullions. Turrets. Crown property.

2. Late C17th/earlyC18th origins but remodelled circa 1735. Greatly extended, probably between 1790 and 1815. Final remodelling of 1840. Stone construction with slate roof. Comprises a 2 and 3-storey main block at S end, square inner courtyard to the middle with 2-storey ranges, and a further, outer courtyard to N end with single storey ranges. Crenellations to all main elevations and towers. Projecting tower to central block. Slender towers to the ends of the main block. Similar towers to rear wings. Further towers, including a 2-storey gatehouse tower to E side. Panelled ceilings, including an impressive C17 ceiling to inner hall . Fine early Georgian main staircase with barley-twist balusters. The house retains some good C18 fabric of national importance in the development of gothic style.

(Source CADW listed buildings database)
J Hill 22.10.2003

3. Now The Vale Resort and home to the UK Rugby Team Training Facility. Recorded during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 5th May 2016

4. In 1927 the house was sold to Glamorgan County Council for use as a hospital. In 1930 it opened as a home or `colony? for men with learning difficulties under the provisions of the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Additional facilities were constructed to the rear of the house in 1935, in which year the hospital began accommodating women and children, with further additions in the late 1940s. With changing practices residency in the hospital declined in the later twentieth century until it was closed in 2003.

(Sources: RCAHMW, Inventory of Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. Vol. IV, Pt 1, The Greater Houses (London: HMSO, 1981), p. 340; Mencap Cymru, Hensol Castle: Hidden Now Heard, People's Collection Wales, Accessed 12.13.2019); Liz Day `Meet the men and women 'hidden away' at a South Wales institution who now take centre stage in a new exhibition?, Wales Online, 20.01.2015)
A.N. Coward, RCAHMW, 12.03.2019