Aberbechan Hall was a timber framed mansion in the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Aberbechan within the parish of Llanllwchaearn in the historic county of

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

. The township of Aberbechan was transferred to

Bettws Cedewain Bettws Cedewain (), also known as Bettws Cedewen, is a small village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It lies in a sheltered valley on the banks of the River Bechan, north of Newtown, on the B4389 road. The community is known a ...

and more recently moved, with the township of Dolforwyn, into the community of

Abermule with Llandyssil Abermule with Llandyssil, formerly just Llandyssil (), is a Community (Wales), community in Powys (historically Montgomeryshire), Wales, including the villages of Abermule and Llandyssil, and had a population of 1527 as of the 2011 UK Census. I ...

. The Hall was originally built by the Blayney family, passing to the Price and Lloyd families, before becoming the property of Sir Gervais Clifton. In 1810 it was sold to David Pugh of Llanerchydol near

Welshpool Welshpool ( ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales, historically in the Historic counties of Wales, county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn. The c ...

. The Hall was demolished in 1870 and replaced by the present Hall.

History of the Hall

This was a house that had been built by the senior branch of the Blayney family, but Rhys ap Morris (Blayney) became High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1565, the family name changed to Price (ap Rhys). The house descended to Sir John Price, who swapped sides in the Civil War and became the Parliamentary Commander of

Montgomery Castle Montgomery Castle () is a stone castle looking over the town of Montgomery in Powys, Mid Wales. It is one of many Norman castles on the border between Wales and England. Its strategic importance in the Welsh Marches meant that it was destroy ...

. The Hall then passed to his son Sir Richard Price. The house passed to the Lloyd family, but in 1766, the heiress Frances Lloyd married Sir Gervais Clifton. This was probably a case of an ''Englishmen prowling for Welsh heiresses''. Sir Gervais Clifton 6th.Baronet was a leading Nottinghamshire landowner and is likely to have been an absentee landlord. The house and its estates were later sold in 1810 to David Pugh, ''a fabulously wealthy'' London Tea dealer, who was to build the

castellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

house at Llanerchydol Hall, on the outskirts of Welshpool.

Visit of Thomas Pennant

In 1786,

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

, who was staying with Arthur Blayney at

Gregynog Gregynog () is a large country mansion in the village of Tregynon, northwest of Newtown in the old county of Montgomeryshire, now Powys in mid Wales. There has been a settlement on the site since the twelfth century. From the fifteenth to t ...

and they passed Aberbechan when visiting

Dolforwyn Castle Dolforwyn Castle () is a Welsh medieval castle above the village of Abermule, Powys. The fortification was established by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Gwynedd in the late 13th century. It is sited on a wooded ridge commanding excellent ...

.Thomas Pennant ''A Tour in Wales''. Bridge Books reprint 1990, Wrexham, Vol 2, 372 Pennant in 1796 commissioned John Ingleby to produce two watercolours of Aberbechan Hall, which presumably he intended to use an illustration in a future edition of the ''Tour in Wales''. These watercolours, which are now in the collections of the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

, would appear to be the only surviving depictions of the Hall, which must have been an impressive timber-framed building. The Hall, as shown in Ingleby's watercolours is likely to have been built in the earlier years of the 17th century or perhaps slightly earlier. The Hall must have been one of the grandest in the county, and appears to bear much in common with the Herberts’ house at Lymore on the outskirts of Montgomery. Both houses were built in a combination of brick and timber-framing and both have series of triangular roof gables with windows set in them. More striking is the way in which Aberbechan Hall is jettied out on each floor. The brick chimneys are square sectioned, in contrast to the star sectioned chimney stacks seen on earlier timber-framed houses of the area.

Literature

* Humphreys M ''The Crisis of Community: Montgomeryshire 1680-1815'', University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1996, pg 103

References

External links

*Ingleby Watercolours in the National Library of Wales Ingleby Watercolour

{{Authority control Timber-framed houses in Wales Buildings and structures in Powys Houses in Powys