Kemeys Folly

Cadw's description

Location

Located on the crest of the steep escarpement of Kemeys Graig, immediately S of Kemeys Manor. Aligned on a NE/SW axis.

History

Originally built in 1722 by George Kemeys of Kemeys Manor, as a hunting lodge. Rebuilt in 1911-12 by T E Watson following a severe fire, as a memorial to John Lawrence and Horton Addams Williams.

Exterior

Folly in Baronial style. Rectangular in plan. Three storey tower with embattled parapet rising from a corbel table. Four storey stair turret corbelled from first floor rises on the SE corner. Elevations of coursed local limestone rubble. Entered on the front (S) elevation via a large oak boarded door. This elevation is three windows wide. Memorial plaque above front door, set beneath stair turret as it corbels out. Windows to the second storey are square with Bathstone dressings. To the first floor are pairs of windows with similar dressings. The N, E and W elevations are lit only at second floor level by square windows set beneath the corbel table. All fenestration is modern. Modern single storey extensions to ground floor on NE and SW elevations.

Interior

Tightly winding spiral staircase rises from the hallway to the roof with Elizabethan Revival style oak newels and splat balusters. Dining room has plasterwork frieze running around the room at high level depicting hunting scenes with trees, men on horseback, dogs and boar. Plaster diamond lozenges to ceiling in C17 style. The principal bedroom on the first floor has decorative ribbed plaster ceiling in Elizabethan style with stylised flowers with pendants linked by plaster ribs. Principal rooms have stone four-centred C17 style fire surrounds with foliate spandrels.

Reason for designation

Listed grade II as a good example of a picturesque folly with historical associations.