She said: “I am the eldest of the four grandchildren, and in fact I was born in the Rectory and spent my earliest years growing up there.
“My mother Margaret still lives with me up in Yorkshire.”
The rectory, built for the Rev Ebeneezer Morris in the 19th century and later known as Pen-y-Graig, became a bustling home for his large family.
By the time of his death in 1902, he had nine children.
Ms Copp’s grandfather, Rev Canon C A Davies, became rector in 1946.
She was born in the rectory in 1961.
She described the house as “what a house it was for a small child to grow up in!”
On the ground floor was a stained-glass porch used only by visitors and parishioners, while the family used a side entrance.
There was a study, a library, a rarely used dining room, the breakfast room kitchen, where the only fire in the house was kept burning.
The house also included a back kitchen with a cast-iron range, a larder, and a butler’s pantry.
Outside, there was a coal house, WC, potting shed, cold room for meat, and a large vegetable garden, now replaced by flats.
Upstairs, a broad staircase led to five bedrooms, a bathroom, and a linen cupboard.
Two of the rooms had once been used as day and night nurseries for the Morris children.
Servants’ quarters with three bedrooms and a water tank room were above.
A narrow servant’s staircase ran from the first floor to the back kitchen, originally designed so staff could avoid the family’s private rooms.
Ms Copp said it was “a perfect place for playing hide and seek.”
The breakfast room still bore the remains of an old servant bell system, with each room labelled.
She said: “A bell push in each room would enable the family to summon servants, and the box on the wall would indicate which room had called for attention.
“How the other half lived.”
Ms Copp also revealed that her ex-husband’s grandfather was a builder in Barry and likely built Unity Hall in 1923.
The hall was the subject of a recent piece in this column.
Built in 1891, the pub stands prominently at 110 Barry Road and is fondly remembered for its skittles alley.
