WITH plans under way to convert Troy House into apartments, Beacon reader Mike Tamplin, who now lives in St Briavels, looks back on what it was like growing up in the historic mansion in the late 1940s.

"The dominant and abiding memories I have of Troy is when the mansion was run by the Good Shepherd Order of Sisters who oversaw the errant girls who for varying reasons found themselves there.

From the first intake of youngsters from when the Home Office took over the running of Troy Convent in 1947 to the Nuns departure in 1976, the lay staff, including my late father and the Sisters, were all paid by the Government.

This period of my early life at Troy was the happiest imaginable. Never were two days the same. Some, decorating the interior; others, picking up the girls who had absconded during the night, either by scaling the roofs or shimmying down drainpipes; or perhaps maintaining the convent's extensive grounds.

It was the Home Office which decided Troy was unviable as a working Approved School, and this was the catalyst not only for the Order of Sisters whom I and my family had grown up with, to leave but also for the running of the school to be handed over to what was then Gwent County Council in the mid 1970s.

By 1976 most of the Order had been dispersed to other more viable approved schools and only the Headmistress, Sister Mary Winifred, continued in her role, with a lay Headmistress.

No doubt the glorious years of Troy, when the Duke of Beaufort and his descendants regaled the mansion's interior with grand functions and a splendour we can only imagine, had long gone.

The Nuns, who came from France in the early 20th century following the Duke's sale of Troy, largely ran it as an orphanage for young girls, especially the World War II evacuees from cities all over the country who were escaping the ravages of a world at war.

They also ran a laundry at Troy which functioned until the Nuns left in the mid 1970s.

It was my father's and my duty to maintain this steam fed laundry every day. You can only imagine the relief when this was replaced by a modern oil-fed boiler during the mid 1960s. This was a most welcome burden lifted off our shoulders.

As the country turned to peace, most of the orphans left and Troy was run as an official Approved School. Today, these have long gone as it was deemed unethical to place vulnerable young girls who were at Troy for a variety of reasons - immoral behaviour, school absenteeism etc - in institutions such as these.

The girls were obliged to attend school classes from 9am - 3.30pm and were taught by lay teachers as well as Sisters who specialised in various subjects.

On average, we had 18 - 20 Nuns at any one time, who were responsible for the laundry, teaching and cooking for the girls. On the girls' side, their duties included cleaning the Nuns' area, the robery, where all the Nuns' garments were maintained and the Mother Superior's office, which overlooked the Wye Valley to the east of the first floor.

A number of girls escaped and ended up in their old haunts and elsewhere, placing them in potentially serious danger. On average, I would say 30 - 40 girls left this way each year, with most, sometimes after many months' absence, returned to Troy and given a delayed departure date to return home.

We had a number of girls who would not conform to the school's less than strict code of conduct. These were eventually transferred to the dreaded and much more strict borstal prison system. It is true to say that only a small proportion of the girls left Troy in this way. These girls, often very violent and intimidating, had to be removed by the local police, often at very short notice, and to the benefit of all of us.

However, the majority of the girls, who came from every corner of the UK and almost exclusively from the cities, such as Liverpool, Manchester, London, Birmingham, and only relatively few from Wales, settled into the system and became exemplary pupils.

Not long after I first began working at Troy on July 7th, 1960, a call came telling us that five girls had escaped. If the girls hadn't managed to flee up the lane to the Monmouth/Newport A40, a mere 300 yards away, then they would take the river Troy/Wye route to Redbrook.

On this occasion they did the latter and were quickly located and returned to Troy by my father after I had apprehended them on a very very wet and windy day. The then Mother Assistant, who was second in charge to the Mother Superior ordered me to take a bath and awarded me with 10 shillings increase in money for that week!

One could only feel sorry for these vulnerable youngsters who seemed oblivious to the inherent dangers and I in no way drew any satisfaction from this aspect of my work. I can only say it was a duty we felt we should carry out for the good of the girls.

Each month there was a general meeting of governors when the overall behaviour of the girls was assessed and the privileged few, given they met the criteria, were allowed to take the next step to freedom and live in the hostel to the west and adjacent to the convent. About 10 girls lived there at any given time and were accountable to the Matron and her assistant. The girls' main task was to work in the town of Monmouth and surrounding district. This building too closed when the main school closed down in 1976.

The physical nature of Troy's grounds changed inexorably when a Home Office funded modernisation programme was initiated in the early 1960s. The school block was the first to be built in 1963, followed by the hostel. Pre the school block building, all the teaching was carried out within the Convent. This was in part to counter the ease in which girls could disrupt lessons. A purpose-built school was long overdue.

Concurrently, there was a huge landscaping project around Troy, which lasted several years, the principal feature being new tennis courts and a netball court, with a very expensive - £13,000 - fibreglass roof.

A new church, made of Cotswold stone, was built in 1964 or thereabouts. This very costly project, I was told, was paid for by the Mother superior, Mother Peter Claviar herself as the Home office wouldn't pay for anything of this nature. I was reliably informed that the cost was in excess of £30,000.

All the new building projects were also built of Cotswold stone, and I'm sure the firm which carried out the work, Collins and Godfrey of Cheltenham, and the architect, Mr Kenneth Smithies, were instrumental in selecting the materials.

Some thought these buildings were not in keeping with the magnificent manor house and, in retrospect, I agree.

Finally, I should make some reference to the darker side. Given the green light by the Home Office for Approved Schools at the time and. no doubt, replicated elsewhere, we had two isolation units where girls who had broken the rules by absconding or fighting for example, were placed in metal doored, metal gridded, 10 x 10 units from one to four days depending on the seriousness of the offence. These units were used only occasionally and were very much a last resort. Both units faced west and are on the ground floor and third floors respectively.

In later years the school was run by a private venture , which itself ended 20 or so years ago and which took in wayward boys up to the age of 18.

There has no doubt been a serious deterioration since Troy was closed and I can only describe the place now as derelict and a complete shadow of its former state.

The church is now a rotting hulk, with no hope of restoration, and the same can be said of all the window frames in the main building, which, because of its Grade II Listed status, cannot, I believe, be replaced by modern materials.

The once well stocked orchard to the west of the manor house has precious few apple trees and is owned privately, having been purchased from the Order of the Good Shepherd in the mid 1990s. The only piece of land the Order retain is the cemetery which holds 20 former Nuns and five former orphans. This is maintained in a good state to this day and lies against the west wall of the original Troy orchard.

I feel extremely privileged to have been part of, however briefly, of a phase in Troy's history, when the place was beautiful inside and out, with a thriving community of devoted and dedicated Nuns and staff.

These memories and many more anecdotes. will remain with me to the end of my life. I saw the beginning of the Approved School and its sad but necessary end.

The Nuns sold Troy mansion to a consortium based in Chepstow in 1978.

Putting aside the present planning application pros and cons, this great building will surely survive and continue to serve the community in some way. One can only speculate what the Beauforts and Somersets would have made of all this.

There is so much more to write about such as the superb garden located in Troy orchard, which supplied the Convent with vegetables of all kinds; the three cows, Blacky, Daisy and Buttercup. My father milked by hand for 30 years and more. The bee boles located in the north and east facing walls which housed bees several centuries ago to pollinate the 50 to 60 apple and pear trees within Troy's orchards, and an ancient door and stone archway with the inscription "C.E.S", which is an abbreviation for Charles and Elizabeth Somerset, and much more.

I must end this journey for now; it has been for me a journey back in time - from Troy's magnificent past to its uncertain future.

Let us all hope the future of this building, standing proud in the magnificence of the Wye Valley, is assured for future generations.

Mike Tamplin