Glandyfi Castle | |
---|---|
Type | House |
Location | Glandyfi, Ceredigion |
Coordinates | 52°33′08″N3°55′49″W / 52.5523°N 3.9302°W |
Built | 1812 |
Architectural style(s) | Mock castle |
Governing body | Privately owned |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Glandyfi Castle |
Designated | 21 January 1964 |
Reference no. | 9874 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Gatepiers to Glandyfi Castle |
Designated | 23 November 2004 |
Reference no. | 83263 |
Glandyfi Castle in Glandyfi, Ceredigion, Wales, is a mock castle dating from the early 19th century. It was built for George Jeffreys, a barrister and High Sheriff of Cardiganshire, in around 1819.
Jeffreys’ great-uncle, Edward, had purchased the estate in 1792. The architect is not known, although John Hiram Haycock has been suggested. Jeffreys and his wife were friends of Thomas Love Peacock, the novelist and poet, whose wedding took place at the castle in 1820.
The only castellated country house in the county, Glandyfi is a Grade II listed building.
A Great Western Railways 7800 'Manor' Class locomotive was named after the castle, but was withdrawn and scrapped in the 1960s.
The Jeffreys were originally from Shrewsbury and had moved to Ceredigion (then Cardiganshire) in the mid-18th century to develop lead smelting mills. Edward Jeffreys bought the Ynyshir estate, which included the site of the present castle, in 1792. [1] He died in 1801, his son Robert died in 1802, and his other son, another Edward, was killed in the Peninsular War in 1812. The estate therefore passed to his brother, George, a lawyer, who began to build the castle immediately on his inheritance. [1]
In 1819 Jeffreys was made High Sheriff of Cardiganshire and the following year his close friend, Thomas Love Peacock, married Jane Griffith, an event celebrated by their reception at the castle. [1] Jeffreys died in 1868 and the death of his second son, Charles, in 1906 saw the sale of Glandyfi.
In 1906 The castle and its 370 acre estate were sold to Lewis Pugh Pugh of Abermad, who subsequently sold on the castle, with a reduced acreage, to a Major Spurrell, of Bessingham, Norfolk. [2]
In the 1950s, the property was purchased by the Birmingham Small Arms Company, for the use of its chairman, Sir Bernard Docker. Docker and his second wife, Norah Collins, were known for their extravagant lifestyles, generally funded from the assets of Docker's companies rather than their own. Their profligacy saw Docker's abrupt removal from the chairmanship of BSA, and the sale of Glandyfi, in 1956. [lower-alpha 1] [3] [4] Since the Docker era, the castle has undergone restoration and refurbishment. [5] [6]
The castle was later used as an hotel, [7] a wedding venue and a bed-and-breakfast establishment [8] That usage ended in September 2019 when the property was listed for sale, described as beautifully restored by Country Life magazine. [2] The castle then included 10 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and 31 acres (13 ha) of land. [9] In April 2022 the castle was again listed for sale. [10]
The Agrarian and Industrial revolutions of the mid-18th century saw the emergence of Gothic Revival architecture, which began to challenge the dominance of the Baroque. [11] This saw an explosion of castle-building; notable examples within Wales were Penrhyn in the north and Cyfartha in the south. Glandyfi is on a much smaller scale, but stands comparison with Stanage Park at Knighton, just over the border in Powys. [12] Stanage was designed by John Hiram Haycock and the connections are such that Pevsner suggests Haycock as the architect for Glandyfi, [12] although Cadw notes the lack of documentary evidence to support this. [1]
The castle consists of a two-storey central block, with a three-storey tower to the left and a large buttress to the right. A dining room and a small tower are later additions. [12] Battlements crenellate the whole. The interior contains imported wood panelling. The castle is a Grade II listed building, its listing record noting that it is "the only example [of a] Georgian country house in picturesque castellated style in the county". [1]
Ceredigion, historically Cardiganshire, is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Aberystwyth is the largest settlement, and together with Aberaeron is an administrative centre of Ceredigion County Council.
Powis Castle is a medieval castle, fortress and grand country house near Welshpool, in Powys, Wales. The seat of the Herbert family, earls of Powis, the castle is known for its formal gardens and for its interiors, the former having been described as "the most important", and the latter "the most magnificent", in the country. The castle and gardens are under the care of the National Trust. Powis Castle is a Grade I listed building, while its gardens have their own Grade I listing on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
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Trawsgoed is both a community and an estate in Ceredigion, Wales. The estate is 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Aberystwyth, and has been in the possession of the Vaughan family since 1200. The Vaughans are descended from Collwyn ap Tangno, founder of the fifth noble tribe of North Wales, Lord of Eifionydd, Ardudwy, and part of Llŷn, who had his residence on the site of Harlech Castle.
The Dolaucothi Estate is situated about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of the village of Caio up the Cothi Valley in the community of Cynwyl Gaeo, in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Dolaucothi means ‘the meadows of the Cothi’.
Edward Haycock Sr. was an English architect working in the West Midlands and in central and southern Wales in the late Georgian and early Victorian periods.
John Hiram Haycock (1759-1830) was an architect who built many notable buildings in Shropshire and Montgomeryshire. He was the son of William Haycock (1725-1802), a carpenter and joiner of Shrewsbury. He was apprenticed to his father and became a freeman of the Shrewsbury Carpenters’ and Bricklayers’ Company in 1796. From about 1814 he worked in partnership with his son Edward Haycock, Sr., and became the Shropshire county surveyor in 1824.
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