Gatehouse at Aberglasney

Cadw's description

Location

On the NW side of the house.

History

Aberglasney was built by Bishop Rudd of St Davids from 1600 and was one of the largest houses in Carmarthenshire according to the hearth-tax assessment of 1670. It was sold in 1710 to Robert Dyer, who rebuilt and extended the house in the general form in which it now survives. It has been argued that the general layout of the gardens was the work of the Rudd family in the C17. Further major development was undertaken in the early C19, after the purchase by the Philipps family, which included the construction of coach houses and farm buildings around a courtyard NW of the house.

Though superficially of late medieval type, the gateway is too low to allow a carriage or a rider on horseback to pass through comfortably and its upper-storey doorway would require steps to be placed in front of the archway. It has been argued, on the basis of archaeological evidence, that it was built in the early C17 by Bishop Rudd; and an alternative suggestion is that it is an early C18 picturesque folly. This latter suggestion is unlikely because attached ranges are known from archaeological evidence and from gabled roof lines to the outer sides of the gatehouse.

Exterior

A 2-storey gatehouse of rubble stone. The NW front has a freestone round arch enriched by double roll mouldings and capitals. The side walls retain stub walls and the gables of former lower single-storey wings. The rear has an arch similar to the front, but plain and with cut voussoirs. Above the gateway is a camber-headed first-floor doorway. The passage is tunnel-vaulted and retains a cobbled floor. A cobbled driveway, of different character, continues on the S side towards the house.

Reason for designation

Listed grade II* as a major prominent component of one of the most important historic gardens in South Wales.