Tributes paid to Dame Shân Legge-Bourke

Dame Shân Legge-Bourke, widely known for her public service and her estate in Powys, has passed away at the age of 82.

Dame Shân served as patron, president, and sponsor of numerous local organisations, and was affectionately known as Mrs LB or simply Shân by those who knew her best.

Chair of Powys County Council, Cllr William Powell, described her as a “fearlessly independent voice and a defender of the rural way of life, which she felt was under threat”.

Glanusk Estate is situated on the outskirts of Crickhowell, Powys and was established in 1826 by ironmaster Sir Joseph Bailey.

The Estate has become a well-established and diversified country estate with farming, private residential, commercial, sporting, wedding and holiday-let interests. As well as salmon and trout fishing, controversy surrounds the Estate’s pheasant and partridge shoot.

In 2013, fifteen poisoned birds of prey, and five poisoned pheasants likely used as bait, were found on the outer estate grounds in what was reported as the “most significant wildlife poisoning case ever recorded in Wales”.

The birds were poisoned with Bendiocarb and the birds were discovered “on a forested area of the outer estate grounds”. A police investigation resulted in two arrests, but the Crown Prosecution Service advised that there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution

The estate is also a premier events venue which hosts, amongst others, the annual Green Man Festival and has previously been the site of Welsh Polo, Glanusk International Horse Trials and a number of smaller events and charitable functions including the annual NGS Open Garden and Estate Fair and Fun Ride.

In 2021, Channel 4 filmed Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker, in the workshop within the estate. It is a carpentry challenge show hosted by Mel Giedroyc. It is known as Good with Wood in USA and Canada.

Dame Shân’s daughter Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was famously nanny to Prince William and his brother Prince Harry, grew up at Glanusk and still lives on the estate.

Her commitment to the voluntary sector was particularly evident in her work with PAVO, the Powys voluntary sector body, where she served as President until 2021. Her contributions were so valued that no successor was appointed upon her retirement.

A tribute and reflection of her life shared on Facebook by the Glanusk Estate, underscoring the deep admiration and affection held locally for her.