Welsh Architectural Historian & Illustrator.

Hello, I’m Dr Bethan Scorey from Cardiff. My work is interdisciplinary and includes research, writing, broadcasting and illustration, but the thread that ties it all together is celebrating the historic buildings and gardens of Wales.

I am an early-career architectural historian with a particular research interest in the Welsh country house and its designed landscape. I recently completed my PhD in History at the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE), where the subject of my research was the Grade I-listed, Elizabethan country house St Fagans Castle in Cardiff. My thesis took a multi-period and cross-disciplinary approach to telling the story of St Fagans, with chapters spanning the twelfth to the twentieth century and interrelated sections on architecture, designed landscape and ownership. My monograph on St Fagans Castle is due to be published by University of Wales Press in November 2026.

Based at Bangor University, ISWE is a national research centre which exists to enhance understanding of the role of estates and country houses in the histories, cultures and landscapes of Wales; I remain part of the team in my role of Research and Engagement Associate.

My identity as an architectural historian is grounded in my decade of experience as a Museum Assistant at St Fagans National Museum of History, spending time in the various re-erected and re-created buildings – from an Iron Age roundhouse to a 1940s prefab – and interpreting them for visitors. At St Fagans, I discovered my interest in historic buildings, which lead me to pursue an MSt in Building History at Cambridge University and then my PhD.

Since 2024, I have been the resident architectural historian on the Welsh-language television programme 'Cartrefi Cymru' (‘Homes of Wales’), which brings architectural history and contemporary design to wider audiences. The programme is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

The first series of considered the evolution of houses from the Tudor period to the present day over ten episodes. In the second series, we looked at a different type of house in each episode, including workers' houses, eco-friendly houses, flats, cottages, and farmhouses.

The third series of Cartrefi Cymru, which will look at houses through the lens of different towns, starts on S4C on Wednesday, 29th April 2026 at 8.25pm.

I am also a freelance illustrator, specialising in illustrations of historic buildings and gardens. I have an ever-growing collection of prints and cards featuring Welsh buildings/gardens, all of which come with a short, bilingual history of the site depicted. I sell these products in my online shop and at various markets.

My current stockists are (A–Z):

Armadilo, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (range of cards)
Cardiff M.A.D.E, Roath, Cardiff (range of cards)
Insole Court, Llandaff, Cardiff (site-specific prints + cards)
Maker’s Club, High Street Arcade, Cardiff (range of prints)
Nantgarw China Works, Nantgarw (site-specific cards)

I have also worked on several commercial illustration projects. In 2021, I created the cover and chapter illustrations for Clive Aslet’s book The Story of the Country House, published by Yale University Press. I am particularly proud to have worked with several heritage organisations in Wales, including:

Amgueddfa Cymru to illustrate the re-erected Vulcan Hotel at St Fagans National History Museum
Nantgarw China Works to create a custom card design
Royal Commission of Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales to create branding for their ‘Capeli Cymru’ (‘Welsh Chapels’) project
C20 Cymru, the Welsh branch of the Twentieth Century Society, to create a promotional postcard.

Writing:

2026:

B. Scorey, St Fagans Castle: The Architectural and Social History of a Welsh Country House (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2026, forthcoming)

2025–6:

‘Cartrefi’, regular column about Welsh architectural history for Cara, the Welsh-language magazine created by women for women, 2025–6.
Regular blog posts for the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates in 2025–6: St Fagans Castle and the Clive Colonial Fortune; ‘No Welsh Art Exhibition’ at the National Library of Wales; ISWE and Women’s History; The Servants of Insole Court.

2021:

B. Scorey, ‘Unlikely Neighbours: Llainfadyn and Nantwallter’, Cynfas (Amgueddfa Cymru’s digital arts magazine), Issue 5, 2021.

2020:

B. Scorey, ‘Community and Privacy in a Place for Life’, Places for Life II, report published by Design Commission for Wales, 2020, pp. 64–9.

Talks:

2025:

For the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and the Welsh Victorian Society: lecture entitled ‘Three Generations of Windsor-Clive Women and their impact of the gardens at St Fagans Castle, 1850–1923’ at Insole Court, Cardiff.

2024:

Researching, Writing and Presenting Welsh Country House Histories Conference at Penpont, Brecon: paper entitled ‘St Fagans Castle: An Architectural History’.

New Insights into C16 and C17 British Architecture 14th Annual Conference, Society of Antiquaries, London: paper entitled ‘Investigating St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan Mansion in Cardiff’.

2023:

Women’s Archive Wales 26th Annual Conference, St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff: paper entitled ‘Three Generations of Windsor Clive Women at St Fagans Castle’.
For Design Swansea: talk about bringing illustration and history together in my work.
For Discovering Old Welsh Houses: online lecture entitled ‘St Fagans Castle: its architectural and garden history’.