Singleton Abbey () is a large, mainly 19th-century

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Today, the buildings are used to house administration offices for

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

. They can be found at the eastern end of the Swansea University Singleton Park campus.

History

The nucleus of the house is a neo-classical villa, octagonal in plan, erected in 1784 under the name of Marino by Edward King, a customs official. In 1817 this was bought by the industrialist John Henry Vivian, who added rectangular one-bay extensions to either side. In 1823 Vivian commissioned the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

P. F. Robinson to re-model the house in the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style. Work started in 1827, and a decade later Robinson published ''Domestic Architecture in the Tudor Style'', a monograph in all but name on Singleton Abbey. The house then served as residence of the Vivian family for several years. The house survives, with limited losses, much as it appears in the engraved plates of the book. The back stairs, on the axis of the south front, and the ground-floor room in the centre of the south front, with a bowed inner end, survive from the original house of 1784. In 1919 the 2nd Lord Swansea sold Singleton Abbey to Swansea Corporation. In 1920 the Corporation rented and in 1923 sold the house and the nucleus of the estate to the University College of Swansea, which made the Abbey its headquarters.Newman (2004).

References

External links

Gathering the Jewels: Singleton Abbey, SwanseaSwansea University: Singleton AbbeySingleton Abbey: The history of the Singleton estate, Swansea

Reading

* {{Swansea University Houses completed in 1784 Swansea University Grade II listed buildings in Swansea Houses in Swansea Country houses in Wales Registered historic parks and gardens in Swansea Grade II listed houses in Wales