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Great House, Pendine

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NPRN17402
Map ReferenceSN20NW
Grid ReferenceSN2292308599
Unitary (Local) AuthorityCarmarthenshire
Old CountyCarmarthenshire
CommunityPendine
Type Of SiteHOUSE
PeriodPost Medieval
Description
Great House, a gentry farmhouse with linear outbuildings, is known to have been so named by 1610 (although in 1878 it was noted to have held the court leet and been named Court House some sixty years previously), when it was conveyed to William Barrett (died 1635). By the 1670s it was owned by Price family, who may have rebuilt the present building, which is thought to be seventeenth century in date. In 1753 the house was sold to the Gwynne Vaughan family. At around this time it was tenanted by the James (subsequently Rees) family. Mr James also leased the farms, Cadno, Pudlack (then Lower House) and a small farm adjacent to St Margaret Marlos Church (NPRN 103 811)(sub-let to Howel family). The house was subsequently sold to Dr John Jones, Haverfordwest, whose daughter married Thomas Lloyd, Bronwydd, Cardiganshire (died 1807). The Rees family were reputedly unequalled in kindness to the poor and hospitality to all. Mrs Rees would reportedly say to her domestics 'Give to all that ask'. Every summer, Irish immigrant workers (having landed at Milford) sheltered at Great House before continuing eastward. When there were many, some would shelter at Big House (NPRN 17097). In 1880 Big House and Great House (Saunders family) were noted to have been the only houses in the vicinity to let apartments. Mrs Lloyd, grandmother of Sir Thomas Lloyd (member for Cardigan in 1880), spent much time at Great House and donated land for the Moravian chapel (NPRN 12601) around 1770, on the condition that there should be no chapel service when there was a church service. Before the church's 1869 restoration, tombs to the Rees and Saunders families were located to the left (Price) and right (Saunders) of the communion table (within the rails). They were removed and memorial stones placed against the external south wall.

The front garden walls and gate piers (NPRN 418568) dilineate a formal garden enclosure, and are Grade II listed. An outside kitchen (NPRN 418567), thought to date to the eighteenth or early nineteenth century, is located some 10m north-west of the house. In 1880 there was noted to have previously been an unenclosed kitchen garden behind the house, extending to the stream. On the stream's other side was an orchard, also belonging to the house.

The present house consists of two storeys and attic. Its front elevation is cement rendered and has a long four-window front with projecting two-storey porch. Above are three four-pane horned sash windows. Three PVCu windows replace the sashes below. The porch gable has a square PVCu upper window and cambered-arched doorway with PVCu door. The north wall is whitewashed rubble stone, with one first floor PVCu window. The rear wall, with south-west wing and end stack, is also of rubble stone. The rear wall has a first floor centre window and twentieth century ground floor left window. The interior is a three-room plan with staircase hall between the kitchen (north) and one room (formerly two) (south). The middle front room has a small nineteenth century fireplace with iron grate. The south room has a large stone fireplace with stone voussoirs at its north end. The staircase is earlier nineteenth century. Interior doors are six-panel and date to the earlier nineteenth century. The kitchen is modernised but noted to have a fireplace of some 4.3m by 1.2m behind the present north wall. In 1880 the fireplace was described as having been large enough to hold several people. In 1880 the kitchen was noted to have been where the Rees family would join their domestics to engage in family evening prayer. One of the daughters, Miss Rees, was post mistress in 1880, and was noted to have the ancient settle from the kitchen of Great House in her home, the Post Office (some 600m south-south-east, depicted as Magnolia Cottage on modern Ordnance Survey mapping). The first floor has high ceilings and a corridor along rear wall. The rear wing first floor room was formerly a grain loft, and has a nineteenth century three-sided boarded ceiling.

The outbuildings are attached to left. First is a whitewashed lofted range with corrugated iron roof, coped gable and centre cambered-headed door. The next section is thought to be a later addition, and may have been a stable and carthouse. It is lower than the first section, with a corrugated iron roof. Next is a twentieth century lean-to milking parlour. Then five doors all with stone voussoirs, some part-blocked as windows. The final, L-plan, section has a partly collapsed roof constructed of asbestos sheet and slate. It has a window and door with stone voussoirs in its main section, while the return has a cart entry with oak lintel and loft light above. Its gable end has a loft door and outside steps.

Sources include:
Cadw, Listed Buildings Database
Curtis, M, 1880, The Antiquities of Laugharne and Pendine and their Neighbourhoods: Carmarthenshire, Amroth, Saundersfoot, Cilgetty, Pembrokeshire, South Wales (1880)

N Vousden, RCAHMW, 6 March 2013