The house was built by Thomas Baldwin of Bath in June 1786 in a fantasy Gothic style. It was enlarged by John Nash circa 1794 with the addition of the octagonal domed library which had a gallery supported on 8 Doric columns and also by the addition of a small square pavilion on each corner. The house also contained fine medieval stained glass, removed there from St Mary's Church, Cardigan (NPRN 306605). Sadly all of this was destroyed by fire in 1807, including a number of priceless Welsh manuscripts and fine art. Hafod was rebuilt by Baldwin as before. Hafod came under the ownership of the Duke of Newcastle who owned it for several years. When he died it was bought by Sir Henry de Houghton who employed Salvin, 1846-51, to build a large Italianate mansion beside and partly on old Hafod. However this was never finished. The house was left to ruin in the 1930s and was demolished in 1958 by the Forestry Commission.

Overall the mansion had three different architectural styles. At the northern end there was an Indian pagoda, the middle part had the appearance of a Grecian villa and the southern end had a Gothic tower. All that is left of the mansion are the Bath-stone ruins and the Victorian sewers which are lined with ceramic tiles and capped by a massive cast-iron manhole. The cellars still survive underneath the demolition rubble.

Lloyd, Thomas, The Lost Houses of Wales, page 51.

RCAHMW, January 2011