History

Plas Dinefwr has previously been known as Newton House and Dynevor Castle.

Restoration house built l660-70 for Sir Edward Rice, a descendant of RhysáapáThomas; possibly occupying the site of the Tudor house. Refitting of interior and Georgian doorcases etc added ca l720. Victorian Gothic recasing with diagonal turrets and other additions by RK Penson, architect of Oswestry, l856-7. Billiard room added l896; subsequent alterations include removal of steep turret roofs in l934.

Exterior

Snecked, grey-shale facings with pale sandstone dressings with redstone patterning. Castellated exterior has symmetrical 3-storey and basement entrance front with splayed angle turrets and massive central porch. Corbelled, openwork quatrefoil parapet; machicolated and crenellated turrets with inset red stonework. 5 windows with shouldered and chamfered top-storey openings set into segmental outer arches, paired casements. Pointed relieving arches to 2-light timber cross-windows on lower floors; heraldic shields to tympani of ground-floor openings, corbelled sills over segmental basement openings. Low coped parapets to areas flanking robust Gothic porte cochere with tall chamfered openings; tripartite to outer face with hoodmoulds and quarter-round shafts.
Trefoil-headed surround to inner doorway. Low l storey and attic extension of l896 to left with decorative loops to side elevation and link corridor. Hipped slate roof (modern chimney and dormers), panelled parapet, 5 windows with pointed relieving arches, quatrefoils and frames as before.

More elaborate W elevation with fine tall chimney stacks, topped by crenellated and corbelled cornices, set behind parapet. Slightly asymmetrical with most detailing as before, plus openwork corbelled balconies to lst floor left and elaborate 2 storey venetian Gothic stone verandah to centre. Side walls topped by tall pinnacles and flying buttresses, openwork parapet over 6-light glazed balcony with inset red dressings to quatrefoil tracery. 3-bay arcade to rib-vaulted ground floor with quatre foil columns, foliage bosses etc. Tall boundary wall runs from SW corner of house and returns W to enclose S side of walled garden.

Interior

Plan-form including thick, spinal wall and large parts of exceptional late Cl7 and Cl8 interiors remain; some later alterations.
Entrance hall with columned Doric screen plus Cl9 ribbed and bossed ceiling, right-hand wall rebuilt with modern concrete beam. Old dining room to right with splendid Cl7 coffered ceiling enriched with low plaster relief mouldings including guilloche, acanthus and egg and dart; dado rail, architraves and raised fields to door panelling (chimney piece removed). Old drawing room to rear with rich Cl7 plasterwork including pulvinated frieze bearing rosette bands; coffered ceiling patterned as before plus centre oval with bay leaf design. Lugged architraves and panelling with foliage sprays on plain fields. l911 dining room at rear.

Splendid C17 openwell timber staircase with some Cl9 additions, open balustraded handrail, plaster foliage patterns to soffits, fine early classical detailing to strings and cornices; Cl9 rose pendants and finial to newels (some inserted. Half-landing with ribbed archway to Gothic balcony with glazed room and ornamental iron brackets. Cl9 top lighting to staircase with foliage trails to coffering.

Upper floors with good quality Cl8 fittings including panelled dados, lugged architraves, low relief plaster ceilings and closets within angled turrets. NE bedroom with console cornice and reached diagonally through thick spinal wall, is almost polygonal in shape and is linked en suite along entrance front to room overlooking main porch. This room has very rich coffered ceiling with foliage and guilloche cornice band, large bed recess etc.
Topmost floor under oak trussed roof with morticed principals (for purlins of former roof with dormers); remarkable bedroom retains deep Georgian bed recess with wide, flattened and keyblocked arch.

Stone flagged basement retains vaulted cellars, strong room and slate shelving to wine store.

Reasons for Listing

One of the most important houses, historically, in South Wales.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17742347

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments