Old Gwernyfed () is a house dating from the medieval period in the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
of
Gwernyfed,
Powys
Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...
, Wales, close to the village of
Felindre Felindre, also anglicised as Velindre, derived from the Welsh place-name "melindref", meaning "mill town", may refer to:
Wales
* Felindre, Swansea, village in Swansea, Wales
* Felindre Farchog, village in Pembrokeshire, Wales
* Dre-fach Felind ...
. It remains a private home and is a
Grade I 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 ...
. The gardens are listed on the
.
History
The Gwernyfed estate is of ancient origin; it is reputed to have been given by
Bernard de Neufmarché
Bernard de Neufmarché (), also Bernard of Newmarket or Bernard of Newmarch was the first of the Norman invasion of Wales, Norman conquerors of Wales. He was a minor Normans, Norman lord who rose to power in the Welsh Marches before successfully ...
(), the earliest of the
Norman marcher lords, to Peter Gunter.
It came into the ownership of the Williams family at the end of the 16th century. David Williams (d.1613), made his fortune in the law, serving as
attorney general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
for South Wales from 1581-1595,
Recorder of Brecon 1581-1604,
Serjeant-at-law in 1593 and a judge of the
King's Bench in 1604. His earnings funded extensive land purchases including the Gwernyfed estate which he bought from John Gunter in 1600. He also built up a substantial estate centred on
Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire where he died in 1613. Subsequent generations of his family served as
members of parliament and as
High sheriff. In the 17th century, the original medieval manor house was rebuilt. It contains a
screens passage on which
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
is said to have left a coded message for
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...
when the king stayed at the house after the
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Roundhead, Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Sir Th ...
in 1645. Charles was the guest of Sir Henry Williams (c.1603-c.1656), a staunch
royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
on whom the king had bestowed a
baronetcy
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
the previous year. A later Williams,
Sir Thomas Williams, 1st Baronet, served as doctor to the king's heir,
Charles II. A major fire gutted the main wing of the house in the 1680s, and this remains ruinous. In the 1730s, the Williams moved their main residence to
Llangoed Hall and the old mansion descended to the level of a farmhouse.
The baronetcy, and the male Williams line, ended with the death of
Sir Edward Williams, 5th Baronet in 1804. The estate passed to his daughter, Mary, and on her marriage to
Thomas Wood passed into their possession. In the 1870s, the family returned to the Gwernyfed estate, commissioning
William Eden Nesfield
William Eden Nesfield (2 April 1835 – 25 March 1888) was an English architect. Like his some-time partner, Richard Norman Shaw, he designed several houses in Britain in the revived 'Old English' and 'Queen Anne' styles during the 1860s and 1 ...
to build a new house, Gwernyfed Park, about 1 km north-west of the ancient manor, as a wedding present for
Captain Thomas Wood. Since the 1950s, Gwernyfed Park has been the main building of
Gwernyfed High School.
After a period as a hotel,
Old Gwernyfed returned to a private residence
and has been undergoing restoration in the 21st century.
Architecture and description
Old Gwernyfed conforms to a ''E-'' plan, reputedly in honour of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
.
The original building was likely a
long house
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from lumber, timber and ...
form, to which the additional wings were added in the 17th-century rebuilding. It is constructed of
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
under a slate roof. The central porch block, and the two wings are
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d, with the wings having large
chimney stacks. The interior retains much of the original medieval
hall plan, with a screens passage bisecting the house.
Many of the buildings on the estate have
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 ...
status. The house is listed at Grade I.
Three sets of gates framing entrances to the house are listed, two at Grade II* and one at Grade II. A range of former agricultural buildings also has a Grade II listing. Towers to the north and south of the main entrance gate are listed at Grade II*.
The quite separate building of Gwernyfed Park (now Gwernyfed High School) has a Grade II* listing,
while its stable block is listed Grade II. The
kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
, the gardener's cottage, the greenhouses, a set of garden gates, and the lodge gates and walls, all have Grade II listings. The gardens are also listed, at Grade II*, on the
, and the
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
earthworks are a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
.
Notes
References
Sources
* {{Cite book
, last1 = Scourfield, first1 = Robert
, last2 = Haslam, first2 = Richard
, series=The Buildings of Wales
, title=Powys: Montgomeryshire,Radnorshire and Breconshire
, url=http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300185089&nat=false&sort=%24rank&sf1=keyword&st1=Powys&m=1&dc=1
, year=2013
, location = New Haven, US and London
, publisher=
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, isbn=978-0-300-18508-9
Country houses in Powys
Grade I listed buildings in Powys
Grade II* listed buildings in Powys
Registered historic parks and gardens in Powys