page_title: Thomas Johnes
section_title: Mansion
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Johnes / Hafod Uchtryd Estate / Mansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Hafod Uchtryd, circa 1795
context_page_description: Thomas Johnes FRS was a Member of Parliament, landscape architect, farmer, printer, writer and social benefactor. He is best known for his development of the Hafod Estate in Wales.
  Johnes was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, England. Upon moving from his family home at Croft Castle to an isolated area near Cwmystwyth, in Ceredigion, Wales, Johnes began his life works by building a church for the local tenants, a school, and magnificent gardens, walks and bridges.
  He undertook experiments in sheep and cattle breeding together with the growing of new crops and a thriving dairy was established. Trees were planted in great quantities on land considered unsuitable for crops; Johnes obtained the Royal Society of Arts medal five times for planting trees. He encouraged his tenants to improve their farming practices when in 1800 he published A Cardiganshire Landlord's Advice to his Tenants, with a Welsh translation and offered prizes for good crops. He was also one of the chief supporters of the Cardiganshire Agricultural Society, founded in 1784. Johnes devoted his entire life fortune to improving Hafod Estate.
context_section_description: A new mansion at Hafod was built in 1785 by Johnes, after the demolition of the Herbert structure, from the designs of Thomas Baldwin of Bath in the Gothic style. Johnes collected many rare and noble books on natural history and manuscripts in Welsh, French and Latin, which also included many by Edward Lhuyd and many manuscripts and printed editions of the French chronicles of the later Middle Ages.  
  On 13 March 1807, a fire broke out that completely destroyed the mansion including the contents of the library. Johnes was in London attending Parliament when he heard the news and that his wife and daughter had escaped. The family moved to a rented house in Castle Hill near Aberystwyth. Baldwin of Bath was again hired as architect. On 1 September that year, on Johnes's birthday, construction to rebuild the mansion began.  Contractors had agreed to pay a heavy financial penalty if the mansion house was not roofed-in by Christmas.  Expectant upon moving in Johnes set about replacing the contents of the home. Many of the furnishings were purchased from the Palladian mansion known as Fonthill Splendens, owned by William Thomas Beckford and nterior French glass doors and a number of chimney mantle pieces were also purchased. These items were stored at Hafod until the mansion was complete. During construction the family left Castle Hill making tours of London and Scotland, each year returning to find the house unfinished.  Construction delays continued until Johnes remained in Wales and made weekly visits, personally overseeing the progress.  Altogether the project took three years to complete.
caption: Hafod House, circa 1795 by John Warwick Smith
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