Gileston Manor is a manor and country house located next to St Giles' Church in the small village of

Gileston Gileston ( cy, Silstwn) is a small Welsh village near West Aberthaw in ''Bro Morgannwg'' (the Vale of Glamorgan) on the coast of South Wales. Location It is located some 15 miles along the coast from Cardiff and lies between Barry and Llantwit ...

near

St Athan St Athan ( cy, Sain Tathan) is a village and community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales. The village and its parish church are dedicated to Saint Tathan. The church dates to the 13th–14th century, though an earlier ch ...

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

History and description

The house contains remnants of a late medieval building, but the exterior and some of the internal fittings date from the 18th century.Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan, Volume 4, Part 1
by

Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; cy, Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectur ...

(1981), pp. 274–276, . The building is square in plan has two main storeys as well as an attic and cellars. A wide staircase occupies the middle of the house while the front bedrooms are lined with 18th-century

wall panel A wall panel is single piece of material, usually flat and cut into a rectangular shape, that serves as the visible and exposed covering for a wall. Wall panels are functional as well as decorative, providing insulation and soundproofing, combin ...

ling. The west wing is the oldest part of the building, with

roof truss A timber roof truss is a structural framework of timbers designed to bridge the space above a room and to provide support for a roof. Trusses usually occur at regular intervals, linked by longitudinal timbers such as purlins. The space between each ...

ess suggesting it dates to the early 1500s. The exterior south (front) facade is a later remodelling of the early 1700s, with a symmetrical arrangement of windows and a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. The house has a large 18th-century walled garden and summer house. The manor is believed to have been held by a family with the surname Jule or Giles, until the last male heir died in 1673. The house was then passed on to two female heiresses and subsequently, during the 18th century, was occupied by a succession of village clerics. For example, in 1771 the

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...

recorded that the village population consisted of a farmer, his wife, son and servants, an old man and an old woman, while the rector and his family was also the

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a ...

and occupants of the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

. The manor house became a Grade II*

listed building 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 Irel ...

in 1952. In 2009 the house and grounds were reported to be on sale with an asking price of £2.5 million."Viewings rise brings sales hope"
BBC News, 24 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2013.

References

{{coord, 51.39415, -3.41336, type:landmark_region:GB, format=dms, display=title Houses in the Vale of Glamorgan Grade II* listed buildings in the Vale of Glamorgan Manor houses in Wales Country houses in Wales St Athan