Slebech Park is the home of Geoffrey and Georgina Philipps, members of a family
whose history has been inextricably linked with West Wales and Pembrokeshire in
particular since the 12th Century.
The seat of the Philipps family since the late 15th Century has been Picton Castle,
situated some 2 miles west of Slebech Park. It was then that Owain Dwnn, the direct
descendent and heiress of Sir John Wogan who built the Castle at the turn of the
12th Century, married into the Philipps family who were descended from an 11th century
magnate from Carmarthenshire named Cadifor Fawr.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Philippses of Picton Castle were the
most powerful family in Pembrokeshire, exercising tremendous political, social and
economic influence over all aspects of local life. They were prominent philanthropists
and for generations supplied Pembrokeshire with sheriffs, justices of the peace,
deputy lieutenants, lords lieutenants and members of Parliament - something that
has continued to this day. In consequence, Picton Castle which is today owned by
a family trust, was and to an extent still is a focus of local social and cultural
life.
The connection between the Philipps family and Slebech Park spans many centuries
and on more than one occasion the two houses have been linked by marriage the last
being in the late 1930s when an heiress to Picton married the heir to Slebech. Immediately
after the 2nd World War Slebech Hall and the Slebech Park Estate was sold outside
the family only to be bought back into the family by Geoffrey Philipps' father in
the late 1950s.