Iscoed

Cadw's description

Location

Approximately 2km NE of Ferryside, on the W side of a private road N of the Ferryside to Carmarthen Road.

History

Begun in 1772 for Sir William Mansel, possibly by Anthony Keck, architect who worked for the family at Penrice and Margam, Glamorgan. Apparently unfinished on Mansel's death in 1804, it was bought as a 'shell' by General Sir Thomas Picton, who died at Waterloo. It remained in the Picton family until 1919, after which minor alterations were undertaken for a subsequent owner by Glendining Moxham, architect of Swansea. Its last use was as council flats in the years after 1945, but has been empty since 1957. The S wing was partly restored c1979.

Exterior

A large late Georgian country house looking W over Carmarthen Bay. It is a symmetrical composition of a 3-storey 5-bay main range with outer wings attached by screen walls, and service range at the rear, enclosing a central courtyard. Now mainly a roofless shell, its main elevations are brick, rear elevations of rubble stone with red-brick dressings.

The main range has a central added porch reached by curved steps on either side with iron railings. Windows have flat brick arches, and in the lower storey are within arched recesses with raised stone impost band. The middle storey has a thick stone sill band. A stone cornice is beneath a roughcast parapet. Side walls are 3-bay, the R side retaining the polygonal walls of a former conservatory. On the L side the screen wall has a wide opening under a flat brick arch. On the R side the screen wall has a narrower round-headed opening. The outer wings, of which the R-hand (S) has a hipped slate roof and small-pane windows inserted c1979, have a single-bay W front with window in an arched recess and raised stone impost band. The 7-bay side elevations have a stone plat band. The 3 central bays are brought forward and in the S wing retain a gabled roof. The rear service wing forms a 12-window elevation to the road. Its projecting central entrance is under a tall round arch with oculus above it. Doorways are also set back from the R and L ends.

Interior

The interior had, in 1958, at least 4 finely designed and moulded mantelpieces of later C18, decorative plasterwork and stair with square balusters beyond Venetian archway in hall, although the condition of the house was already poor.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding its present condition, as a substantial Georgian country house retaining its overall architectural form, of interest for the unusual use of brick in Carmarthenshire, and as the home of General Picton, who died at Waterloo.