History

The original house is said to date from C16; a reset tablet in the gable apex of the projection to the front of the house is inscribed 1529 / J / OO. Reconstructed c1820 for the Hampton Lewis family and with a date tablet, 1848, referring to subsequent alterations and remodelling.

The estate dates from the C16, created by descendants of a Welsh clan leader Llywelyn Aurdorchog of Ial in Denbighshire (also owned substantial amounts of land in Rhoscolyn). By early C17 the family had adopted the surname Owen, and John Owen (d.1702) was probably responsible for the shape of the present house. The estate was passed down through the distaff side of the family who married landowners and thus increased the estate holdings; one heiress married Rev. Lewis of Plas Llanfigael, another, later, married into the Hampton family of Henllys, near Beaumaris and the two names were linked by John Hampton of Henllys who inherited the Bodior estate, added Lewis to his name, and for whom the house was substantially rebuilt. When he died in 1843 the estate passed to his son, John Lewis Hampton Lewis, who married Frances Elizabeth Ianson and for whom the house was further remodelled in 1848. The Hampton-Lewis family owned the estate until 1946.

Exterior

Two-storeys with attics; 6-window range with 4-window service wing advanced left of the front elevation. Built of rubble masonry, rendered; roof of thin slates, stone copings and tall, rectangular, rendered axial and gable end stacks with cornices. Recessed windows with rendered sills, and small gabled dormers to attics, with slate-hung cheeks, plain bargeboards and small globe finials. Main entrance elevation a 2-3 window range with an advanced storeyed porch to left of centre, with embattled parapet, between; windows are 12-pane sashes, and one transomed and mullioned paired light right of the porch. Entrance with large square-headed doorway flanked by round-headed lights set into a square frame. Above the door is a diamond-shaped slate plaque with the inscription HL / HFE / 1848. The upper storey has a small Palladian window; returns with round-headed lights to upper storey and square-headed lights to lower. The service wing has a gabled projection near the centre with a crow-stepped gable, and a blind window at ground floor, probably in lieu of former entrance, with a tablet above inscribed 1529 / J / OO. Single window in the lean-to extension left of the projection; all other windows to the right. Lower storey has 2, tall, transomed and mullioned paired casements; other windows are 12-pane sashes. The rear of the main range has a balanced, mirrored composition of 2 and 3-light transomed and mullioned casement windows with margin lights; with french windows to far right and single door toward left end, attics with small gable dormers, with slate-hung cheeks, plain bargeboards and small globe finials. The service wing has a further storeyed wing set at right angles to the rear parallel to the end bay of the main block; an enclosed yard is formed in the resulting space, with single storey lean-to's to the main block.

Interior

The main range has its entrance into a sitting room containing the main early C19 staircase with closed string decorated with a carved floriate panel and a moulded rail on turned balusters; recessed panelling below shield the steps leading down to the basement. Doorway to the right leads to the games room; to the left another sitting room, music room, main kitchen and servants kitchen housed in the lean-to extension at the far end. Ground floor rooms have panelled shutters to the windows, picture rails and moulded cornices and some rooms have a moulded plaster 'kite' design on the ceilings. Doors are panelled, and cast-iron decorative grates are set within enamelled slate or oak panelled surrounds. The service wing contains the former dining room, also with panelled shutters and kite design on the ceiling; pantry, larder and store rooms. Many of the upper storey and attic bedrooms also retain early C19 fire surrounds, many of which are enamelled slate.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a good example of a gentry house with early origins but with a coherent architectural character derived from its early C19 remodelling. It retains many early C19 features including some fine interior fittings.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29484844

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)