Newton House is a
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 Irel ...
country house situated just to the west of the market town of
Llandeilo
Llandeilo () is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated at the crossing of the River Towy by the A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. Its population was 1,795 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to the westernmost point of the B ...
in
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 as ...
, Wales. It is partially owned and maintained by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and lies within
Dinefwr Park
Dinefwr Park National Nature Reserve is an estate about a mile (1.5 kilometres) from the centre of Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire owned by the National Trust, with a mansion in the centre. The highest point is occupied by the ruined Dinefwr Castle ...
(sometimes anglicised as "Dynevor") and the grounds of
Dinefwr Castle
Dinefwr Castle (also known as Old Dynevor Castle) is a ruined castle overlooking the River Towy near the town of Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on a ridge on the northern bank of the Towy, with a steep drop of one hundred feet to th ...
. The park and gardens are listed on the
Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The original house was built during the Medieval period on a site which has been occupied for at least two millennia. The current house was built by Edward Rice in the
Jacobean style
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign ther ...
in 1660, though extensive changes were made in the 1850s in the Venetian Gothic style. The house played a role in the
Rebecca Riots
The Rebecca Riots (Welsh: ''Terfysgoedd Beca'') took place between 1839 and 1843 in West and Mid Wales. They were a series of protests undertaken by local farmers and agricultural workers in response to levels of taxation. The rioters, often me ...
of 1843, when the occupant of the house at the time, Colonel George Rice, received a death threat with an empty grave dug in the ground. After 1956 the property fell into turbulent times when two owners died within the space of a few years. It was sold in 1974, and later fell into disrepair; it was occupied by squatters and thieves who removed beams and furniture.
The house, along with Dinefwr Castle, have since been restored by the National Trust and
Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...
respectively. It is a three-storey castellated structure, built from grey stone, with four tall towers in each corner, with sloping slate roofs. The front features a grand central porch. Two rooms are open to the public, including a tearoom and exhibition in the basement and ground floor which contain numerous displays related to the history of the estate and occupants. The deer park which surrounds the property was landscaped by
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
in 1775. The surrounding woodland consists mainly of
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and
wych elm
''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches i ...
. Newton House is cited as one of the most haunted houses in Wales, noted in particular for its ghost of Walter the Butler, a former employee whose tobacco smoke purportedly wafts through the air.
History
![George Rice Hoare](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/George_Rice_Hoare.jpg)
Dinefwr Park has a history of occupation spanning at least two millennia.
A polished stone axe dated to the Neolithic period was unearthed on the site in 1976,
and during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, a farm existed on the property.
The Romans later built a pair of forts here, with one partly overlying the other.
There are traces of
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
s and tracks, some of which may have been part of the
Carmarthen
Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...
–
Llandovery
Llandovery (; cy, Llanymddyfri ) is a market town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 and A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and west of Brecon.
Histo ...
Roman road. A Roman milestone and a
Roman coin
Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denom ...
hoard were unearthed near
Dinefwr Castle
Dinefwr Castle (also known as Old Dynevor Castle) is a ruined castle overlooking the River Towy near the town of Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on a ridge on the northern bank of the Towy, with a steep drop of one hundred feet to th ...
, and pieces of
amphorae
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
and
Samian items have been excavated near Dinefwr Farm.
During the 12th century,
Dinefwr Castle
Dinefwr Castle (also known as Old Dynevor Castle) is a ruined castle overlooking the River Towy near the town of Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on a ridge on the northern bank of the Towy, with a steep drop of one hundred feet to th ...
was built by
Lord Rhys
Rhys ap Gruffydd, commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh ''Yr Arglwydd Rhys'' (c. 1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197 and native Prince of Wales.
It was believed that he ...
, Prince of Wales. The castle and grounds were seized by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
in 1531, and the estate owners, who changed their family surname to Rice, subsequently had to buy back their property from the Crown.
The family were elevated to the peerage of Great Britain as
Baron Dynevor
Baron Dinevor, of Dinevor in the County of Carmarthen (usually spelt Dynevor or Dinefwr), is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 17 October 1780 for William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, with remainder to his daughter, Lady C ...
.
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
is documented to have restored some of the land back to the Rhys family, but it was not until the reign of
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 ...
that the family fully regained their properties.
![Carriage awaiting bride and groom after a wedding at Newton House, Dinefwr - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Carriage_awaiting_bride_and_groom_after_a_wedding_at_Newton_House%2C_Dinefwr_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1537798.jpg)
Newton House was originally built during the medieval period at some distance from the castle. It is documented to have been later modified in 1595 and 1603.
The current Newton House was completed in 1660 under the command of Edward Rice.
In the late 1700s,
George Rice and his wife
Cecil
Cecil may refer to:
People with the name
* Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name)
* Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Canada
*Cecil, Alberta, ...
began the construction of a landscape garden, and hired eminent architect
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
in 1775 to assume responsibility for the development.
Turrets and battlements were added between 1760 and 1780, giving the property a more romanticised appearance. During the
Rebecca Riots
The Rebecca Riots (Welsh: ''Terfysgoedd Beca'') took place between 1839 and 1843 in West and Mid Wales. They were a series of protests undertaken by local farmers and agricultural workers in response to levels of taxation. The rioters, often me ...
of 1843, Colonel George Rice was awoken one night in September and found an empty grave dug in the grounds, warning him that he would be buried in it by October 10.
Newton House fell into a turbulent period after the death of the 7th Baron Dynevor in 1956. His son
Charles Arthur Uryan
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
, the 8th Baron, died just six years later, and most of the estate and a number of family's assets had to be sold off to pay duties.
In 1974, the property was sold by the current Baron Dynevor, and later fell into disrepair: it was occupied by squatters and thieves who removed beams and furniture. The house, along with Dinefwr Castle, have since been restored by
Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...
and the National Trust respectively. The National Trust acquired the deer park in 1987 and Newton House three years later.
Architecture
![Newton House - Llandeilo - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Newton_House_-_Llandeilo_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1912527.jpg)
Edward Rice ordered the construction of a
Jacobean house on the site of an earlier medieval mansion in 1659,
and it was completed the following year. Turrets and battlements were added between 1760 and 1780. Though the property remains Jacobean, around 1856, there were significant changes made in the Venetian Gothic style, which today emanate the ambiance of the
Victorian period.
The tower was added, and alterations were made by R. K. Penson of
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
.
The National Trust writes of it: "Most of what you see of the grand building today dates back to the 1850s, when it was given a fashionable Gothic facelift, with stone cladding and four impressive turrets".
A limestone refacing occurred at the same time. Newton House is a
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 Irel ...
property, as are its summer house and the inner and outer courtyard ranges. The nearby dairy cottage,
ha-ha
A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...
, dovecote, fountain, deer abattoir, icehouse, home farmhouse, corn barn and byre/stable range are
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 Irel ...
in their own right.
Newton House is a three-storey castellated structure,
built from grey stone, with four tall towers in each corner, with sloping slate roofs.
The front features a grand central porch.
The authors of ''Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion'' consider the heavily decorated late 17th-century ceilings of the house to be "the finest single architectural legacy among the country houses of the region". As in
Plas Taliaris and several other country houses in the county, the ceilings are panelled, with "thick moulded beams and wreaths in the panels and winged cherubs' heads in the corners". The entrance hall contains a columned Doric screen with a 19th-century ribbed and bossed ceiling. The old dining room to the right of this features a
coffered
A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.
A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...
ceiling dated to the 17th century, containing "low plaster relief mouldings including
guilloché
Guilloché (; or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a ros ...
,
acanthus and
egg and dart
Egg-and-dart, also known as egg-and-tongue, egg-and-anchor, or egg-and-star, is an ornamental device adorning the fundamental quarter-round, convex ovolo profile of moulding, consisting of alternating details on the face of the ovolo—typically ...
". The chimney piece has been removed. The drawing room to rear of the property also features a richly adorned coffered ceiling with "frieze bearing rosette bands" and a "centre oval with bay leaf design".
The 17th-century staircase features thick
baluster
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s and prominent
finial
A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
s, with foliage patterns ingrained in the plasterwork of the handrail. A billiard room was added to the house in 1896.
A
strongroom
A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults a ...
with walls and heavy steel fire-proof doors was added in 1914, for the Dynevors to keep their important documents and valuables.
On the upper floors are rooms with 18th-century fittings, including "panelled
dados, lugged
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
s, low relief plaster ceilings and closets within angled turrets". The bedroom on the northeast of the house features a particularly detailed coffered ceiling with floral patterns.
The house contains several paintings of note, including
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...
's ''Mary, Queen of Scots Bidding Farewell to France'' (1561) and
Godfrey Kneller
Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to Kingdom of England, English and Br ...
's portrait of the Bishop of Salisbury,
William Talbot, dated to 1718.
Two showrooms at the house are open to the public. Aside from the tearoom, the exhibition in the basement and ground floor contains numerous displays related to the Rhys family, the history of the estate and World War II, and is designed as if the year is 1912.
Park and garden
The house is surrounded by a
deer park which was landscaped by
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
from 1775. He established a winding path, known as Capability Brown path, through the park and planted deciduous trees in key places to frame the house and castle.
The deer park contains notable herds of rare
White Park cattle and fallow deer. A small garden behind the house, overlooking the deer park, Moorish in style with a central fountain, has been
restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
to its former glory.
Brown's
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
clumps survive in the present day. The park is registered at Grade I on the
Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Writing in 1862, Benjamin Clarje considered the park to exhibit "perhaps a richer display of varied landscape than any spot of similar size in the kingdom". He notes that the surface in the upper area of the park is "diversified by gentle undulations and has been planted with great judgment and taste" and that the
River Towy
The River Towy ( cy, Afon Tywi, ) is one of the longest rivers flowing entirely within Wales. Its total length is . It is noted for its sea trout and salmon fishing.
Route
The Towy rises within of the source of the River Teifi on the lower sl ...
flows in the vicinity. The Wildlife Trust West Wales acquired the nearby woodland in 1979. The BBC's
Peter Crawford wrote of it in his book, ''The Living Isles'': "The woodland is primarily
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and
wych
Salt, also referred to as table salt or by its chemical formula NaCl (sodium chloride), is an ionic compound made of sodium and chloride ions. All life depends on its chemical properties to survive. It has been used by humans for thousands of ...
elm," he writes. "The shrubs and ground cover are outstanding with
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
,
holly
''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
,
spindle
Spindle may refer to:
Textiles and manufacturing
* Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn
* Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool
Biology
* Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...
,
dog violet
Dog violet is the common name for various species of the plant genus ''Viola'' with unscented flowers. The term arose to differentiate them from the scented sweet violet. Species so named include:
*''Viola canina'' – heath dog violet
*'' Viola l ...
and the parasitic
toothwort Toothwort is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
*''Cardamine'', a genus of plants in the mustard family, Brassicaceae
*''Lathraea'', a genus of parasitic plants in the family Orobanchaceae
Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a fam ...
.
Lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[lungwort
''Pulmonaria'' (lungwort) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae, native to Europe and western Asia, with one species (''P. mollissima'') east to central Asia. According to various estimates there may be between 10 and 18 spe ...]
. Overlooked by the romantic Castle of Dinefwr the fine old parkland has a herd of fallow deer. The mature trees attract
woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
,
common redstart
The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus ''Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to be ...
s and
pied flycatchers. In winter, the water meadows draw large numbers of
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
s".
Haunting
The National Trust states that Newton House is "thought to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain",
and ''
Wales Online
Media Wales Ltd. is a publishing company based in Cardiff, Wales. As of 2009 it was owned by Reach plc (formerly known as the Trinity Mirror Group). It was previously known as the Western Mail & Echo Ltd.
History
The ''Western Mail'' was fo ...
'' cites it as one of the most notable ghostly houses of Wales.
Over the years, many ghost sightings or paranormal activity have been allegedly witnessed at the house. The servants' basement is one of the purported centres of activity, with numerous sightings, particularly of a ghost known as Walter the Butler who worked at the house. People have reported smelling his tobacco smoke in the room, muffled voices and lights eerily turning on and off on their own accord.
Visitors have reported feeling as if they are being choked when walking up and down the cantilever staircase; this is believed to be related to the strangling of Lady Elinor Cavendish, the cousin of the lady of Newton House in the 1720s,
by a lover whom she had rejected.
The alleged hauntings at the property began to be investigated by television journalists in the 1980s, and on one occasion crewmen mysteriously fell ill one after the other while shooting there. During one investigation, the spectre of a young, beautiful girl was said to have glided across the room and disappeared through the cupboard door.
The house was later the subject of an investigation in the 11th
and 15th
series of the ''
Most Haunted
''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken seri ...
'' programme.
See also
*
Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...
*
*
List of National Trust properties in Wales
Below is a list of the stately homes, historic houses, castles, abbeys, museums, estates, coastline and open country in the care of the National Trust in Wales, grouped into the unitary authority areas. Many areas of land owned by the trust, both ...
*
Grade II* listed buildings in Carmarthenshire
In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance; Grade II* structures are those considered to be "particularly ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
Paintings at National Trust, Newton House, Dinefwr Park and Castle{cbignore, bot=medic – BBC "Your Paintings" collection from Newton House
Country houses in Carmarthenshire
Museums in Carmarthenshire
Historic house museums in Wales
National Trust properties in Wales
Reportedly haunted locations in Wales
Llandeilo
Grade II* listed buildings in Carmarthenshire
Grade II* listed houses in Wales
Registered historic parks and gardens in Carmarthenshire