page_title: Architecture of Wales
section_title: Strawberry Hill and the earlier Gothic Revival
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Wales / Gothic Revivalism and Historicism of the 18th and 19th Centuries. / Strawberry Hill and the earlier Gothic Revival
caption_attribution_description: English: Garth, Guilsfield. Lithograhic pint of Garth, by C. J. Greenwood. Published by Henry Colborn 1847
context_page_description: Architecture of Wales is an overview of architecture in Wales from the Medieval period to the present day, excluding castles and fortifications, ecclesiastical architecture and industrial architecture. It covers the history of domestic, commercial, and administrative architecture.
context_section_description: A surprisingly early example of Gothic Revival architecture in Wales is the south wing of Hensol Castle in Glamorgan.  Hensol had three storied east and west wings added with tower-like semi-octagonal bays which were fenestrated with pointed gothic windows and surmounted by battlements. It has been suggested that this very early Gothic architecture was the work of Richard Morris who also designed Clearwell Castle  in Gloucestershire about 1728. One of the towers at Hensol is dated 1735 and much of the evidence for this early phase at Hensol has been disguised by the later gothicisation of the building.
  Another example of the simple Gothic revival style was Gnoll near Neath. This was a remodelling, starting in 1776, of an existing house for Sir Herbert Mackworth, owner of a local copper works. It had a crenulated parapet and round towers at the two corners of the frontage.  The architect was John Johnson an Essex architect who had been associated with Mackworth's banking interests in London.
  Following this,  examples of Strawberry Hill Gothic start appearing in Wales, the most significant of which was Hafod. The first stage of Hafod was started 1786 by Thomas Baldwin of Bath for Thomas Johnes, in a Gothic revival style with gothic window,  battlements and pinnacles and then in 1793–1794 John Nash added a top-lit galleried library and a 300 ft long conservatory.
  Another early pioneer of the Gothic style was James Wyatt who was employed by the Earl of Uxbridge to build Beaudesert in Staffordshire in the Gothic style in 1771–1772. The Earl was to employ him again at Plas Newydd on Anglesey to rebuild the West front and the interior in a Gothic style from 1793 to 1799 Wyatt worked with the Lichfield architect James Potter and the style of plasterwork lacks the lightness of Strawberry Hill gothic. 
  Plas Newydd was followed by the more remarkable Gothic mansion at Garth at Guilsfield in Montgomeryshire, built for Devereux Mytton, probably in the late 1790s. 
  Another house with Strawberry Hill Gothic features was Bodelwyddan Castle which had a Gothic wing and gothic interior added between 1802 and 1808 by an unknown architect.  During this period a number of other houses in Wales were given Gothic facades with arched pointed windows, such as Llewenni in Denbighshire. At Hawarden Castle the Palladian  house, on a different site to the medieval castle, was transformed by Thomas Cundy in 1809–1810 for Sir Stephen Richard Glynne. It was refronted and machicolations, towers and turrets were added.  A west wing was added with gothic windows. At Rhiwlas, near Bala the ancient house was re-cased as a Gothic castle in 1809 with three storeys and three polygonal towers, but the house was largely replaced by new house in 1954. The Gate arch by Thomas Rickman of 1813 still exists.
caption: Garth, Guilsfield
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