Castell Malgwyn
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Castell Malgwyn (alternatively Castle Malgwyn or Hammet House) is a grade II listed Georgian-style country house standing in a landscaped estate in the
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
of
Manordeifi Manordeifi ( cy, Maenordeifi) is a parish and community in the hundred of Cilgerran, in the northeast corner of Pembrokeshire, Wales. The population of the community in 2001 was 478. It has an elected community council and is part of the Cilgerra ...
, Pembrokeshire, lying on the south bank of the
river Teifi , name_etymology = , image = File:Llyn Teifi - geograph.org.uk - 41773.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Llyn Teifi, the source of the Teifi , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...
opposite the village of Llechryd. The house is now a hotel.


History

The present house was constructed c.1795 for Sir Benjamin Hammet, a wealthy entrepreneur from
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
, Somerset, who bought the estate in 1791. It is built in three storeys of local Cilgerran stone with a hipped slate roof, a five-bay frontage and a two-storey wing. It replaced a previous house and was originally named Castle Malgwyn. Hammet, who founded and co-owned the bank of Esdaile, Hammet & Co. was elected MP for his home town of
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
in 1782. He had originally bought the estate to acquire the associated tinplate works at nearby Penygored. He was given permission to close the public road from Llechryd to
Cilgerran Cilgerran (previously Kilgerran or Cil-Garon) is both a village, a parish, and also a community, situated on the south bank of the River Teifi in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was formerly an incorporated market town. Among Cilgerran's attractions a ...
which ran through the estate and to reroute it further south to skirt the estate. This entailed building the Castell Malgwyn bridge over the "canal", a conduit which fed water to the tinworks, and Hammet Bridge over the Morgenau brook. The grounds were landscaped by local landscaper, Charles Price. After Hammet's death in 1802 the estate passed to his son, John. By 1806 the works were demolished and on John's early death in 1811 the house contents were sold. When Sir Benjamin's wife Lady Louisa died in 1824 the estate was sold to Abel Anthony Gower of Glandovan, who let the property. On Gower's death in 1837 his nephew, Abel Lewes Gower, inherited and moved in, investing a large amount of money on improving the property, commissioning Ambrose Poynter to build the lodge, grand entrance and stable court. When he also died young in 1849 his widow remained in residence until her own death in 1886, when it passed to Abel Lewes's brother, Robert Frederick Gower, who had also inherited Glandovan from their father. Castell Malgwyn passed down in the Gower family until it was sold in 1948, and became a hotel in 1962. The house was renamed Hammet House in 2012.


References

{{coord, 52.0606, -4.6069, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Pembrokeshire Grade II listed buildings in Pembrokeshire Hotels in Pembrokeshire