page_title: Big House, Landshipping
section_title: The Stanley family
hierarchical_section_title: Big House, Landshipping / The Stanley family
caption_attribution_description: English: Report of a lease to mine coal at Landshipping in 1914
context_page_description: The Big House, also known as Landshipping House, is a historic house on the banks of the River Cleddau in Landshipping, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
  The house which was originally built in 1750 and owned by the Owens of Orielton who were the Landshipping Coal Agents. It was constructed using stone and roof materials from an older, ruined inland mansion. This building would have been a simple rectangular design with an entrance facing South-West, before several alterations occurred. The final alterations occurred in 1830 by architect William Owen. Owen added a third storey to the western wing and moved the entrance to the North facade, between two bows that were added at the same time to look out over the River Cleddau. His design was inspired by Slebech Hall and Picton Castle. The house remained occupied until the late 1800s when it fell into disrepair and by 1890 it was a ruin. However the cottages at the rear remained lived in until the 1970s. In 1922 the Landshipping Estate, including Big House, was sold at auction.
context_section_description: The property was purchased and held under the Trust of Sir Edmond Stanley who had died in 1843. The beneficiaries of this Trust were Mary Ann Stanley, Sir Edmonds’ daughter, and her two sons, Edmond and James. At the age of 14, Mary Ann, the only child and heiress of the wealthy Sir Edmond Stanley, ran off with Captain Edward Trant Bontein to Gretna Green where they married. The couple had two sons, Edmond born in 1818 and James Talbot born in 1819. After her husband died in 1820, Mary Ann returned to live with her parents. Her sons were given the name of Stanley and she called herself Mary Ann Bontein Stanley.
  The Trust of Sir Edmond Stanley was able to purchase properties and one of these was Landshipping Estate. For a few years in the early 1860s John Talbot Stanley, one of the beneficiaries of the Trust, lived in Big House (then called Landshipping House) and started some mining activities. However these terminated in 1865 when he encountered serious personal financial difficulties. Shortly after a lease was given by the Trust to John Maule Sutton to conduct mining activities. It is believed that he lived in the house for several years while he undertook excavations. However in 1867 his firm the Landshipping Colleries Company was wound up due to insolvency. 
  In 1868 Isaac John who was a farmer was reported in a newspaper to be living in the house and in 1878 John Thomas was the resident in the property. However neither of them appear to have stayed there for long.
  In 1875 Edmond died and in 1881 Mary Ann died. By 1883 the Landshipping Estate appears to be owned by two grandchildren of Mary Ann, that is, Captain later Major Edward Stanley (1853-1896) and James Douglas Talbot Stanley  but is still subject to the control of the Trust. In 1888 a new seam of coal was discovered at Landshipping but little was done to reactivate the mines. In 1896 Major Edward Stanley died and James Douglas Talbot Stanley seems to have become owner of the property. In 1914 he granted a lease for a company to mine but this also did not seem to progress.
  James died in 1918 and in 1922 the Estate was divided into lots and sold at auction. By this time Big House was a complete ruin and had not been inhabited for decades.
caption: Report of a lease for the Landshipping Estate in 1914
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