Kilvrough Manor is a large country house near

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Its park is listed on the

Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and ...

History

The house was built for Rowland Dawkin, a member of the Gower family, in 1585. In 1820, Major Thomas Penrice of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

acquired the manor: in June 1831 he was ordered by the

Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart was the member of a family that ...

Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan. After 1729, all Lords Lieutenant were also Custos Rotulorum of Glamorgan. The post was abolished on 31 March 1974. Lord Lieutenants of Glamorgan to 1974 * Henry Herbert, 2nd E ...

, to tackle civil unrest associated with the

Reform Bill The Reform Acts (or Reform Bills, before they were passed) are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the U ...

. To his huge embarrassment, Penrice and his Yeomanry troops were disarmed by a large mob of rioters and, following an official inquiry, the local Yeomanry unit was re-organised by the Government. The house passed to Penrice's nephew and, through the nephew's daughter, to the

Lyons family The Lyons family (originally styled de Lyons, or de Leonne, Lyonne, and also spelled Lyon) is an eminent Anglo-Norman family descended from Ingelram de Lyons, Lord of Lyons, who arrived in England with the Norman Conquest, and from his relation ...

. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Lyons died there in 1908. In the 1930s it was bought by Arthur Thomas, a

businessman, and in 1949 it was bought by the Oxfordshire Education Committee. It is now an outdoor learning centre. The park surrounding the house is listed at Grade II on the

References

{{coord, 51.58471, N, 4.07960, W, region:GB-BKM_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Wales Grade II* listed buildings in Swansea Registered historic parks and gardens in Swansea Pennard (community)