Iscoed,

Ferryside Ferryside ( cy, Glan-y-fferi) is a village in the community of St Ishmael, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is south of Carmarthen near the mouth of the River Tywi. Originally a ferry crossing, then becoming a fishing village, it has developed as a ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known ...

, Wales is a ruined eighteenth century mansion attributed to the architect

Anthony Keck Anthony Keck (1726–1797) was an 18th-century English people, English architect with an extensive practice in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and South Wales. Life Keck was born at Randwick, Gloucestershire in 1726 He designed i ...

. Constructed for Sir William Mansel in 1772, it was purchased by the

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

general

Sir Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascib ...

as an incomplete shell in 1812. The house remained the property of the Picton family until the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. Used subsequently as council housing, it has been empty since the 1950s, and is now a derelict shell. The house is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History

The house was constructed for Sir William Mansel in 1772. The design is attributed to Anthony Keck, in part because Keck is known to have worked for the Mansel family elsewhere. Following Mansel's death in 1804, the unfinished shell, and surrounding estate, was bought by General Sir Thomas Picton in 1812. Picton soon regretted the purchase and made plans to sell the house, which were curtailed by his death at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh C ...

in 1815. The house remained the home of the Pictons until the early twentieth century. After a period as council-run housing, the building was abandoned after 1945 and was described at the time of listing in 1982 as a "roofless shell." Coflein states that renovation work was to begin at that time, but planning applications for redevelopment were being made in the early twenty-first century. As of 2018, it was listed for sale by auction.

Architecture

Pevsner considers Iscoed "one of the most important Georgian mansions of the county." Of three storeys and five bays, the main house is cuboid, with wings extending to each side. The brick construction of the house is unusual for its date and location, Pevsner notes its similarity to Whitson Court, Monmouthshire, another house attributed, at least in part, to Keck. White, Walford Davies and Melangell Dafydd are less complimentary of this feature, describing the house as; "this bare box of brick."

Notes

References

* * {{cite book , last1 = White , first1 = Paul , last2 = Damian , first2 = Walford Davies , last3 = Sian , first3 = Melangell Dafydd , title = Ancestral Houses: The Lost Mansions of Wales , url = https://www.worldcat.org/title/ancestral-houses-the-lost-mansions-of-wales-tai-mawr-a-mieri-plastai-coll-cymru/oclc/827197539 , year = 2012 , publisher = Gomer Press , isbn = 9781848513891 , oclc = 827197539 , ref = {{sfnRef, White/Walford Davies/Melangell Dafydd, 2012 Country houses in Carmarthenshire Grade II* listed buildings in Carmarthenshire