Tudor panel rescued from cow shed

The panel is at the height of court style for the late 1510s, early 1520s Enlarge Image

Tudor wooden panelling, missing from a castle for more than 300 years, is to be returned to its home after once being part of a farmer's cow shed.

It was among items taken from Monmouthshire's Raglan Castle during the Civil War in the 17th Century.

But the large panel, once owned by a courtier of Henry VIII, was found after it was sold by a collector, who bought it from a farm for £5 in the 1950s.

The panel is now to go on show at the castle's new visitor centre.

Descriptions of the castle written before 1646 mentioned "inlaid wainscot [wood panel] and curious carvings".

But their whereabouts had remained a mystery until 2005.

It opens our eyes to a phase of history [at the castle] we were unaware of Rick Turner, of Cadw, on the panel

Rick Turner, inspector of ancient monuments for Cadw, said: "The panel came up for auction in Sotheby's and the story the collector gave to us is that he used to put ads in the local newspapers asking for wood and sometime in the '50s he had a response from a farm in Monmouthshire.

"He remembered taking the ferry across the River Severn, because this was of course before the Severn Bridge was built, and driving to meet this farmer.

"The farmer wanted to show him a bed but just as he was leaving he said 'I have something in the cow shed that might interest you'. It was apparently one of the pieces of wood dividing the cow sheds.

"The collector gave him a fiver, put it in the car and took it home."

Cadw successfully bid for the panel in the auction - for an undisclosed sum - and Mr Turner said it was in "extremely good condition for its age and given its unusual history".

The panel will go on display at Raglen Castle's new visitor centre.

Experts believe it had been displayed in the castle's parlour by Charles Somerset, who had married into the Herbert family, who owned Raglan Castle.

He had been Lord Chamberlain to both Henry VII and Henry VIII and was made the first Earl of Worcester in around 1513.

The panel has carvings of crowns with the earl's coronets on them, which suggests he redecorated the castle in celebration of his new title, according to Mr Turner.

"The panel shows us that he must have quite radically brought the castle up to date. I think it's a celebration of him becoming an earl ," he said.

"It is at the very height of court style for the late 1510s, early 1520s. It opens our eyes to a phase of history [at the castle] we were unaware of."

The panel has been conserved and will go on display at the castle's new visitor centre next month.