Rhiwlas is an estate about to the north of the town of

Bala Bala may refer to: Places India *Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India * Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan * Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Romania * Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedinţi ...

, Wales. It has been in the possession of the Price family for over four centuries. Rhiwlas Hall, a

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

extravaganza, was demolished in the 1950s and replaced by a smaller house designed by

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architec ...

. Many of the estate buildings remain and are listed structures and the hall's gardens and landscaped park, landscaped by

William Emes William Emes (1729 or 1730–13 March 1803) was an English landscape gardener. Biography Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post ...

, are listed at Grade II 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. Th ...

History and architecture

The Price family have owned the Rhiwas estate since at least the 1540s.

Richard John Lloyd Price Richard John Lloyd Price DL, JP (17 April 1843 – 9 January 1923), was squire of Rhiwlas Estate (about 64,000 acres in North Wales). He was a journalist, author, and judge at field trials and dog shows — best known as the organizer of th ...

(1843-1923) was a noted sportsman, who hosted the UK's first sheepdog trials at Rhiwlas in 1873. Robin Price, the 15th generation of his family to farm at Rhiwlas, died in 2016. The estate remains privately owned by the Price family. The 19th century Rhiwlas Hall was a large building constructed in 1809.

RCAHMW 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, architectura ...

describes it as being "three-storeyed and castellated with turrets", while

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 ...

considers it was a "enormous rambling mansion". The architect is unknown.

Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

undertook some work on the estate at the time of the reconstruction, including the entrance gate, but Pevsner does not ascribe the house to him. The hall was demolished in 1954, having suffered both wartime requisition and

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

. The replacement, designed by

, is considered by Richard Haslam, Julian Orbach and Adam Voelcker, writing in their 2009 volume, ''Gwynedd'' in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, to be among his best work. The gardens were designed by

and are designated Grade II on the

. A number of historic estate buildings survive and are listed, all at Grade II. These include; the

game larder A game larder, also sometimes known as a deer or venison larder, deer, venison or game house, game pantry or game store, is a small domestic outbuilding where the carcasses of game, including deer, game birds, hares and rabbits, are hung to mature ...

, the ice house, the castellated stables, and the main gateway and estate walls.

Notes

References

Sources

* {{cite book , last1=Haslam , first1=Richard , last2=Orbach , first2=Julian , last3=Voelcker , first3=Adam , title=Gwynedd , series=The Buildings of Wales , url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1023292902 , year=2009 , publisher=

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, location=New Haven, US and London , isbn=978-0-300-14169-6 , oclc=1023292902 Grade II listed buildings in Gwynedd Registered historic parks and gardens in Gwynedd