1. Picturesque house designed for Uvedale Price by John Nash in 1794, enlarged in 1858 by E.H. Martineau. Became the nucleus of Tomas Savin's Castle House Hotel, eventual home of the University College of Wales, designed by J.P. Seddon. It was replaced in 1894 by a new central block designed by C.J. Ferguson.
G.M.Edwards, RCAHMW, 19/01/1998.
2. In the late eighteenth century, Aberystwyth castle was owned by Thomas Johnes of Hafod. Uvedale Price, his friend and co-enthusiast for the Picturesque, was granted by the burgesses of Aberystwyth in 1788 a lease of a portion of common land for a summer retreat, next to the castle ruins and the sea - the first encroachment on the town common. The key texts of the Picturesque were being formulated by Price and Payne Knight, Johnes' cousin, at this time. Simultaneously, Nash was building Castle House for Uvedale Price in Aberystwyth: that 'Fantastic house in the castellated form' on the edge of the shore, a three-sided villa and, as Uvedale Price wrote, 'The form of it is extremely varied from my having obliged him [Nash] to turn the rooms to different aspects' - the sea, the castle and the cliffs. A china model of the house survives and Castle House is shown in drawn and photographic views of Aberystwyth, but it was demolished in 1897 to make way for expansion at the Old College (nprn 23302), having latterly been the university principal's residence.
Source: Victorian Society tour notes 1999.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 10 April 2006.