page_title: Orielton, Pembrokeshire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Orielton, Pembrokeshire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Engraving of Orielton, a historic house in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
context_page_description: Orielton is a historic country house near Hundleton in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is used as a field studies centre for environmental sciences.
context_section_description: The first known house at Orielton was a fortified manor built by the Wyriott family in about 1200, which was mentioned by the historian Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 1146 –  c. 1223).
  Orielton was the seat of the Owen baronets. The first Owen at Orielton was Sir Hugh Owen, the son of Owen ap Hugh (1518–1613), of Bodeon, near Llangadwaladr, Anglesey. Sir Hugh married Elizabeth Wirriot, who had inherited Orielton from her father George Wirriot. Sir Hugh left Orielton to his grandson, also Sir Hugh Owen (1604–1670), who was awarded the title Baronet of Orielton in 1641.
  The more recent Orielton House is said to have been built in 1656 and rebuilt in 1734.  It passed down in the Owen baronetcy until it was inherited in 1806 by John Lord (1776–1861), a wealthy mineowner and politician, who remodelled the house in 1810 to its current form. Lord changed his surname to Owen, and became a baronet in 1813 when the Orielton baronetcy was recreated for him. At this stage, Owen had considerable wealth; the properties in north Wales had been disposed of in 1808 for nearly £100,000 and his status in Pembrokeshire has been enhanced by the purchase of the Llanstinan estate. In later years, however, his profligacy led him to sell Orielton in 1857, along with other property in Pembrokeshire.
  Orielton was requisitioned during the Second World War and used as a base for Australian airmen.
  In 1954 Orielton was bought by the naturalist and author Ronald Lockley (1903–2000). The estate then covered 260 acres. Lockley used Orielton for biological research, including into the rabbit disease myxomatosis. He wrote The Private Life of the Rabbit whilst at Orielton. In 1977 he wrote Orielton, The Human and Natural History of a Welsh Manor about his time there.
  The palaeontologist Martin Lockley is Ronald Lockley's son, and was brought up in Orielton.
  In 1963 Orielton was bought by the Field Studies Council, for use as a field studies centre.
caption: Orielton in 1818
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