History

Bodorgan was one of a number of townships from which the Bishop of Bangor derived his income, and is first recorded in 1306. The estate forms the Anglesey seat of the Meyrick family, whose ancestors were tenants from the late C14, the surname was first documented in 1537. The estate expanded greatly from the early C18 onwards, and by the late C19 was the largest on the island. In 1770 the estate passed to Owen Putland Meyrick, who in 1779 engaged John Cooper, architect from Beaumaris, to design and build a new mansion. Cooper had come to Anglesey in 1776, working as assistant and clerk of works to Samuel Wyatt. Bodorgan was Cooper's first independent commission, and secured his reputation as a skilled architect. By the time the work at Bodorgan was nearing completion in 1783, Cooper was already drawing up plans for a programme of work to be carried out at Plas Newydd.

Cooper's plans show the main, 2-storey block (with central bowed projection of 3-bays) with a long, 3-storey service wing to the rear; across the yard, and detached from this service wing are the laundry and the brewhouse, constructed mainly from the rubble created from the demolition of the old house. The house was faced with locally quarried stone; the main construction of the service wing and internal walls of the main block were built of brick (the clay dug locally and bricks made in 4 kilns on the site; the brickmaker Edward Bond). The domestic offices were mostly completed in 1780, followed by the shell of the main block in 1781. The master mason was Samuel Forrest, who also worked on the fixtures and fittings. By 1782 the exterior of the main house was roofed and complete, as well as the fixtures and fittings for the domestic offices. The outbuildings (including new stables and cowsheds) were also completed during the summer. Cooper oversaw the work on the interior of the main house throughout 1783 (the stucco artist Peter Robinson and the painter James Heslip), which was finished in the summer of 1784. The total cost of the house was c.£5000.

The house was altered by Owen Fuller Meyrick c.1830, when the main entrance was moved from the centre of the bow to the NE side of the house, and a porch constructed. The old driveway was replaced by 2 balustered terraced gardens to the front of the house, and 2 wings of soft yellow sandstone built; one an orangery, the other an aviary. The design is attributed to James Defferd, a builder employed on the Penrhyn estate, who died in 1813 (therefore the wings were designed some years before their construction). Alterations were also made to the interior; columns of green veined marble were placed in the staircase hall and a C18 fireplace in the circular salon replaced by one of Italian marble. The parks and gardens were altered mid C19 when a programme of work on the estate was carried out, and some of the lodges and estate workers' accommodation constructed; a 3-storey block was also added to the NW end of the main service wing to the rear of the house probably mid-late C19.

Exterior

Compact Neo-Classical mansion; principal SE elevation a symmetrically planned 2-storey, 9-window range with central 3-window bowed projection; recessed single-storey wings (c.1830 additions); courtyard to rear bounded by service wings to SW and NE.

Walls of main house faced with limestone ashlar masonry, 1st floor windows with continuous, plain sill band and shallow parapet with moulded cornice; windows are slightly recessed 2-pane sashes, ground floor windows deeper than 1st floor. Shallow, hipped slate roof (central bowed projection with shallow domed roof) with tall rectangular ashlar axial stacks . Side elevations are similarly detailed, of 6-windows; the right (NE) return forms the entrance front, with added, central limestone porch of paired Tuscan columns supporting an embossed frieze and moulded, dentilled cornice. Wings of soft yellow sandstone (added c.1830).

The NE wing, to the right (formerly the aviary, now the billiards room), with ashlar walls, has a stressed moulded and dentilled cornice with shallow parapet, and continuous bevelled plinth. To centre is a slightly advanced entrance of 3-bays; the central bay echoing the design of the NE porch, with French windows between paired columns under friezes depicting cherubs. Flanking bays slightly recessed, each with round-headed recess under a moulded arch with stressed keystone supported on engaged Tuscan pilasters. There is a similarly detailed recess set into the curving, slightly advanced bays at each end of the aviary wing, the moulded capitals of the pilasters extending across the faces of the advanced bays.

The SW wing, to the left (the orangery) comprises 3 pavilions linked by shorter, plainer, recessed blocks, each with square-headed doorway with plain, stressed architrave. The 3 pavilions each have arches echoing those of the NE wing; the central, of 3-bays, with Tuscan pillars between French windows set into each arch; paired Tuscan pilasters at the angles. The left (SW) pavilion has paired arches on Tuscan pillars, paired Tuscan pilasters at the angles; this pavilion is open with seating along the rear wall; the right (NE) bay is similarly detailed but with blocked arches and the whole is raised by one storey to match the construction of the main house. Cornice and parapet detail as for NE wing.

Service wings to rear; main wing to NE end; a 3-storey range contemporary with main house, and similarly detailed; windows arranged symmetrically with floors divided by string courses. Extended (?mid-late C19) with a tall, 3-storey, square-plan block at the far NW end; each side with 4-windows, arranged 1-2-1 and recessed to give the impression of Tuscan pilasters between and at angles, supporting a moulded cornice and shallow parapet. Windows are rectangular 2-pane sashes, 1st floor under lintels with recessed panels with moulded surrounds; similar detailing to recesses without lights in 1st and 2nd floors.

Abutting the SW side of the main service wing is the NE side of the Poultry court, comprising a series of single storey buildings (larders) faced with limestone; the 4-window range at the SE end (in the angle between main house and main service wing) raised to 3 storeys with limestone rubble with ashlar block lintels to ground and first floor windows. Advanced from its right (SE) end is a polygonal, single-storey larder built of snecked limestone masonry (large stones at angles) with a hipped slate roof. To the left (NW) end of the NE side of the Poultry court is a single-storey ashlar building, 3-windows with doorway at far left (NW) end and octagonal pavilion at SW corner, with window to each face. Hipped slate roof, the roof of the octagonal pavilion surmounted by a Coade stone globe finial and the eaves projecting and supported on brackets carried down to wall posts on plain corbels; to the front of the main part of the building is a glass and cast-iron verandah, brackets supported on plain corbels. The floor of the Poultry court is flagged, with steps leading down to a doorway in the low, linking block between the buildings along the NE side of the court.

Along the SW side of the Poultry court is a single storey range (former brewhouse and laundry), built of rubble masonry with limestone and brick dressings. The range has been altered throughout (refurbished 1990). It is linked to the rear of the SW wing of the main house by a low, single-storey, snecked limestone masonry wing; with voussoir lintels over openings, plank doors and casement windows.

Interior

It was not possible to inspect the interior at the time of the survey but according to Mapp, the ground plan of the main house at Bodorgan was planned around the central, circular entrance hall; this leads to the staircase hall to the rear and is flanked by the principal reception rooms (the staircase hall also with flanking oblong rooms, one of which is the library). The service wing to the rear leads off the staircase hall and consists of a series of rooms to either side of a wide, central passage (formerly included a large kitchen, housekeeper's room, servant's hall and butler's pantry). The principal rooms contain decorative moulded cornices and friezes (the lesser rooms with plain moulded coving and the staircase hall has a stucco border around the skylight), and fireplaces of Kilkenny marble (the fireplace in the circular salon replaced by one of Italian marble).

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a fine example of a late C18 Neo-Classical mansion by a notable local architect. The house is the Anglesey seat of the Meyrick family, who played a significant role in the development of Anglesey in C18 and C19.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Bodorgan Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4936725

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.

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