Llandeilo / Newton House

Everyone thinks of Newton House and Dinefwr Castle being essentially within Llandeilo town, but in the medieval period they were part of the town next door, of Dinefwr, which has completely disappeared.

The parkland is just full of hidden history – there is an iron-age hillfort, two Roman forts, two medieval townships – but little that you can see. It may look like a natural landscape, but it is heavily designed. The famous designer Capability Brown even added a few touches like the clumps of trees. And of course there are the famous white Dinefwr park cattle, which add to the pastoral scene.

The castle was modified as a romantic ruin around 1660 when Edward Rice (an Anglicised form of the ancient name Rhys) rebuilt Newton House here.

The house

The exterior of Newton house belies the wonderful interior – the skin of nineteenth century stonework in Victorian ‘Baronial’ style hides a well-preserved seventeenth century manor. This is what you’d call Venetian Gothic. Paintings, probably commissioned back in 1660 when the new house was built, show how the house was seen in its original landscape.

The house has been modified several times since it was build, but the best feature is the remarkable seventeenth century ceilings on the ground floor.

The staircase is original to the 1660s, but the Victorians were concerned that it was moving, so they fitted columns which spoil the beauty of the original, which was cantilevered.

The National Trust have been restoring the house over the last few years, and it is looking fantastic now.