History

Hendrefoilan House was built for Lewis Llwellyn Dillwyn, an eccentric industrialist and amateur scientist, in 1853. He was MP for Swansea in 1855, following his father, the photographer Lewis Weston Dillwyn. The house is by William B Colling and was laid out in grounds on the site of an earlier farmhouse of the same name. The front is influenced by Pugin, whilst the remaining elevations are in the more typical Tudor-Gothic style of this period.

The house and adjoining estate were purchased in 1964 by University College Swansea. New buildings, particularly student accommodation, were built in the grounds, whilst the house is now the Department of Adult Education.

Exterior

Massive square mansion of 2 storeys and an attic, of snecked grey stone under renewed slate roofs. Grand asymmetrical entrance front to N in Puginesque style. The S garden front and E and W walls are symmetrical. The house is characterised by stepped gables with large finials, moulded string courses to each storey, plinth, quoins and square-headed windows with transoms and hoodmoulds. Brick ridge stacks with clustered octagonal shafts, generally in fours, cast iron rainwater goods, the hoppers with decorated bosses.
The asymmetrical entrance front has a steeply-pitched gabled porch to L of centre, with 2-centred entrance arch with shallow chamfered mouldings, below a hoodmould. The gable has prominent kneelers with ball finials, shoulders and a sandstone tablet in the centre bearing a shield. Buttresses to angles, 2-light side windows with lancet heads. Main doorway under a similar 2-centred head containing a half-lit door with 3 panels and 3 lights with small panes. Cross-window in upper storey above porch. A large stairlight dominates the bay to the R of the porch, which is slightly advanced. Four-light, 3-tier window containing lancets under a square hoodmould with raised arched motif to centre bearing stylised initials, and a shallow relieving arch. Sill string course, below which is a single small lancet in a heavy square surround. Narrow bay to R, with a single-light transomed window to each storey. The 2 centre bays have steeply pitched half-dormers with cross-windows. To the L and R of the entrance front are large advanced gabled bays. That to the L of the porch is dominated by a central chimney breast with 2 shafts and 2 string courses, the upper one rising over a recessed square sandstone tablet with initials (possibly D and H) in relief. The R gabled bay has a large 4-light transomed window to the ground floor under a relieving arch, 2 cross windows above, and a smaller cross-window to the attic. Slit to gable apex. A lower 2-storey 3-window range joins the NW angle of the house at right angles, and is part of a U-shaped service wing. Its E front has a wide gabled bay to the R with a 5-light transomed window to the ground floor under a relieving arch and a matching 3-light window above, both with horizontal glazing bars below the transom. Cross-windows to L and centre, except for ground L window which is 3-light. Gabled N end with small window. Below and to the R, a short linking corridor with cross-window leads to a single storey 7-window range, facing N and with 6 sash windows and a 3-light transomed window to L. Canted bay window to E gable end with hipped roof and 1-light windows to each side.
Symmetrical 4-bay garden front. The outer bays are gabled, with 2-storey canted bay windows. Parapets with angle-posts, head-boss corbels and in the centre, a raised, arched motif over a shield. Steps lead up to the bays, although the full-height ground floor windows do not appear to have replaced French doors. Side windows to bays. The garden front has 3-light windows with transoms, except the centre L bay which is 4-light. The inner bays have gabled half-dormers. Cross-windows to attic storey.
The E and W walls are both 3-bay. Gabled outer bays to E wall with single-storey bay windows with crenellated parapets and central motif as in S wall. Transomed 4-light windows to ground floor, 3-light windows to 1st floor outer bays, cross-window in centre, above which is a half-dormer. Cross-windows to attic storey. A metal fire-escape staircase leads from the central attic window, down to the parapet of the R bay window and hence to ground level. The W wall has a 5-light central bay window in the same style as the E wall. Cross-windows to 1st floor with horizontal glazing bar below transom. The central window is blind. Half-dormers with cross-windows to outer bays. To the L, a range of the service wing joins the house at right angles, above which is a cross-window in the gable of the W wall. In the angle of the 2 ranges and facing S is a 2-centred arched doorway flanked by side windows, in a shallow porch, which now leads into a late C20 glazed corridor leading to a portakabin classroom. To the L of the door is a 5-light window with horizontal glazing bar below the transom. The upper storey has similar windows below gablets, 4-light to L and 3-light to R. The gablets have square recessed tablets with rosettes in relief. To the L is a short single-storey range with 4-light window. End stacks to range.
The U-shaped service wing defines a courtyard to the W. Single storey lean-tos against interior N and S walls. That to S has 2 windows and a doorway set back with shouldered head. The N lean-to has a hipped roof with set-back planked door to L. Additional panelled door with overlight to W-facing wall. Horned sash windows, generally 16-pane in square stone surrounds.

Interior

The entrance leads into an L-shaped hall, which turns to the R and has 3 high arches with shallow pointed heads and chamfered mouldings. Rooms to front and sides, staircase to rear. Panelled doors and window shutters. Wide half-turn staircase of wood, with large square newel posts and narrow turned balusters with polygonal bases and decorative heads. Roll moulding to handrail. Boarded underside to staircase. The large stair window contains stained glass depicting heraldic shields and emblems on a background of yellow and blue and with coloured margin glazing. Two-light windows with trefoiled heads in sides of staircase bay look down into hall and room to R. Opposite the bottom of the staircase is a blocked fireplace with segmental head.
The main reception room is to the front L. Ornate plasterwork, with panels and bands of festoons, cornucopia and rosettes. Moulded coving with deep fleur-de-lis frieze, and ceiling decorated with a foliate band. Pale marble fireplace to N wall with scrolled head and decorative consoles to jambs. The room to the front R is a library and now provides access into the central reception room. The library has a heavy wood panelled ceiling in the form of octagons and small squares. Deep coving to match with foliate brackets. Wooden fireplace with shouldered lintel. The central room has a marble fireplace with segmental head and tiled panels to sides, and coving with pronounced foliate bosses and rosettes.
The room to the L of the hall is entered through a door in a half-lit Gothic-arched screen. The glazed panels have arched heads. The walls are half-panelled in dark wood. Pale brown marble fireplace with Tudor arch and foliate motif. Panelled plaster ceiling with geometric and foliate bands.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* for its special interest as an almost entirely unaltered Victorian mansion blending symmetrical and Puginian styles, with good external and internal detail, and with interesting historical associations. Group value with stable block.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17743841

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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