Coldra House originally dates to the 1860s and was build by the Powell family, owners of the powerful Powell-Dyffryn industrial company.

Following the murder of Thomas Powell in Abyssinia in 1869 the house was leased by the company until 1915 when it was bought by Thomas Beynon, whose father had been twice mayor of Newport.

Beynon made changes to the building, including a new wing and the installation of two windows depicting The Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle which had formerly been at Bryn Ifor Hall, the home of his father.

In the 1930s the house was sold and opened in 1940 as the Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital in memory of Thomas' mother. The hospital closed in 1977 and the building declined significantly, but in 1980 it was bought by the Celtic Inns Company and its transformation into the Celtic Manor resort began.

Sir Terence Matthews, the founder of the Celtic Inns Company and the Celtic Manor Resort, was one of over 60,000 babies born in the building when it was a maternity hospital.