Architecture of Wales overview from 18th century to the 19th century, excluding castles and fortifications, ecclesiastical architecture and industrial architecture. It covers the history of domestic, commercial, and administrative architecture.

Neoclassicism and Greek revival architecture

North Wales
Neoclassical architecture came to north Wales mainly as a result of the influence of Samuel Wyatt. Wyatt had worked for Robert Adam, the leading Neoclassical architect when he became the clerk of Works at Kedleston Hall in 1759. Between 1776 and 1779 he remodelled Baron Hill at Beaumaris on Anglesey for Viscount Bulkely, while his brother became estate manager for the Pennants at Penrhyn. Colvin remarks that Wyatt specialised in the designing of medium-sized country houses in an elegant and restrained neo-classical manner. Characteristic features of his houses were astylar elevations with prominent bowed projections which were domed and were either single or in pairs. His windows were often tripartite and overarched. He rarely deviated from the neo-classical, though he did a gothic revival building at Penrhyn Castle which was replaced by Hopper’s Neo-Romanesque Castle. At Kinmel Park near St Asaph, around 1790, he built a stylish house for the Rev Edward Hughes, who derived great wealth from the development of the Parys Copper mines on Anglesey. This house had a bowed front and panels with classical swags, possibly of Coade stone. It was burnt down in 1841, but fortunately it was recorded in a watercolour by John Ingleby in 1794. A further house in this style was the Old Bishop’s Palace in St Asaph which was probably by Samuel Wyatt, while at Brynbella in Tremeirchion a London surveyor, Clement Mead built Brynbella, for Dr Johnson’s friend Mrs Thrale. Bryn Bella was built between 1792 and 1795 with an ashlar facade and double bays and wings with pediments on either side. Another very fine bow fronted house, Gresford Lodge near Wrexham, was built for John Parry by James Wyatt, the brother of Samuel Wyatt around 1790. This house was domed over the bow front with a semicircular portico with Ionic columns and tripartite overarched windows. Gresford Lodge was demolished around 1950 due to subsidence caused by coal mining.

South Wales
In south Wales Neo-classicism was introduced by the Gloucestershire architect Anthony Keck and by William Jernegan, an architect who established a practice at Swansea. Keck who worked from Kings Stanley Gloucestershire may have worked with Sir Robert Taylor who would have introduced him to clients in Wales. He built a bow fronted house for Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747–1813) adjacent to Penrice Castle in Glamorgan in 1773–1780. This building, though earlier than Samuel Wyatt’s work in north Wales, lacks features such as the overarched windows. However, the Orangery he also built for Thomas Mansel Talbot at Margam Abbey from 1787 to 1790, exhibits a much more refined appreciation of Neo-classicism and may well be considered the best example of this architectural style in Wales. It is the largest Orangery in the British Isles of 17 continuous bays with vermiculated rustication to the more formal swags and arched windows.

A house of considerable importance was Piercefield between Chepstow and St Arvans. Originally known for its gardens laid out by Valentine Morris, it was rebuilt in 1793 to plans prepared by Sir John Soane which were to be modified by Joseph Bonomi. It still retained a Palladian appearance with a massive central block and side pavilions. The side pavilions and curved colonnade of Tuscan columns were the additions made by Bononi after 1795. The house to-day is in a ruinous state.

Greek revival architecture
A house which bridged the gap between late Palladian forms and Neo-classism was Middleton Hall in Carmarthenshire, built for Sir William Paxton to the designs of S P. Cockerell between 1793–5. The giant portico supported by five Ionic Columns was a theme which was to prove popular with architects working in Wales in the following century. The over-arched windows are Palladian derived and were used by Sir Robert Taylor for Carmarthen Town Hall. Cockerell had served his pupillage under Sir Robert Taylor, as had also John Nash and these windows are also seen on Nash’s Villa type houses in Wales, as at Llanerchaeron. Middleton Hall was burnt down in 1931, and its gardens, are now the site of the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Cockerell was also responsible for the design of the nearby Paxton’s Tower, a Gothic folly built in 1805 in commemoration of Lord Nelson. 1n 1810 Cockerell was responsible to Sir William Paxton for building the sea water Baths and Assembly Rooms at Tenby. Over the enclosed bow porch is a Greek inscription taken from Euripides The sea washes away all the ills of men.

A Chester architect showing considerable competence in classical revival architecture was Joseph Turner who worked extensively in Flintshire and Denbighshire. Apart Ruthin and Flint gaols, he was responsible for the County Hall at Ruthin, which served as a courthouse. It has an ashlar facade with a tetrastyle pedimented portico with Greek Doric capitals and the courtroom has Venetian windows on either side The use Greek revival Ionic Columns under a tetrastyle portico occurs again at Llanphey Court in Pembrokeshire which was completed in 1823 by Charles Fowler who was also the architect for the Covent Garden Market in London.

An architect who worked very competently in the Classical style was George Vaughan Maddox (1802–1864), a Monmouth architect whose work is restricted to Monmouth and the area immediately around. Maddox has been noted above as the architect for New Market in Monmouth which opened in 1837. This was part of a new street which was built on arches overlooking the river Monnow, which now forms a handsome entrance to the town from the North. He was architect for the houses in the street and other buildings in the town which include Foley House and the Masonic Hall in Hereford Street Monmouth.

Developed Classicism, Thomas Harrison of Chester and the Shrewsbury group of architects
This is comparatively well represented in Wales. As a style it is more severe and modelled more closely on Greek Architecture. Thomas Harrison of Chester was a leading exponent of the style and in Anglesey was responsible for the Holyhead Memorial and the Marquess of Anglesey’s Column in Llanfairpwll on Anglesey in 1816-7, to commemorate the feats of Marquess of Anglesey in the Napoleonic Wars.

Public buildings
The Greek revival style was chosen for many public buildings in Wales. Swansea Museum of 1839–1841, originally the Royal Institution of South Wales is a finely detailed and well balanced example with a three bay portico supported on Ionic columns. It is faced in Bath ashlar stone. It was built to designs by Frederick Long, a Liverpool architect.

A rather later use of Greek revival is the Shire Hall at Caernarfon of almost oversized proportions and facing Caernarfon Castle. It was built 1867-9 by the County Surveyor, John Thomas. It is of seven bays with a central doric portico with a pediment surmounted with the blindfold figure of justice Other work in the Greek Revival style in Wales includes Brecon Shire Hall (now Brecon Museum) by Thomas Henry Wyatt and Bridgend Town Hall by David Vaughan. Bridgend Town, a tragic loss, demolished as recently as 1971, was built in the style of a Greek temple with Doric columns supporting the portico in antis.

An early and unusual combination of Grecian and Italianate architecture is Swansea Old Town Hall. It is described by Newman as ‘‘as the noblest classical building in Swansea ……a grandiose Corinthian Palazzo’’. It was built to designs by Thomas Taylor of London between 1848 and 1852 which incorporated the earlier Town Hall of 1825– 27 by Thomas Bowen. The interior of the building, which is now the Dylan Thomas Centre, was extensively rebuilt in 1993–94

Gothic Revivalism and Historicism of the 18th and 19th Centuries.

Romanesque or Norman revival architecture
The derivation of Romanesque Revival architecture or Norman Revival architecture can be traced back to the late 17th century, but only became a recognisable architectural style around 1820. In 1817 Thomas Rickman published his An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest To the Reformation. It was now realised that round-arch architecture was largely Romanesque in the British Isles and came to be described as Norman rather than Saxon. The start of an archaeologically correct Norman Revival can be recognised in the architecture of Thomas Hopper. His first attempt at this style was at Gosford Castle in Armagh in Ireland, but far more successful was his Penrhyn Castle near Bangor. This was built for the Pennant family, between 1820 and 1837. The style did not catch on for domestic buildings, though many country houses and mock castles were built in the Castle Gothic or Castellated style during the Victorian period, which was a mixed Gothic style. The Welsh architect Thomas Penson, however, built churches in this style in Montgomeryshire

Strawberry Hill and the earlier Gothic Revival
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.

Folly Gothic
In the 1780s there was another style evolving which sometimes is referred to as a ‘Folly Gothic’, houses which were intended as eye-catchers. Possibly the best example of this is Clytha Castle the work of architect and garden designer John Davenport. This style was a less archaeologically correct form of Gothic revival and was widely used in Wales during the period 1780 to about 1810. Greater emphasis was placed on prominent arrow slits in round towers, blanked quatrefoil windows and stepped and angled battlements on gables. The earliest example of this may be the re-building of Penrhyn Castle, sometime before 1782 by Samuel Wyatt for Richard Pennant, who was to develop the Bethesda slate quarries. This building is only known from drawings by Moses Griffiths, though parts of it were incorporated into Thomas Hopper’s rebuilding of Penrhyn. While it shows the features of this evolving style, the doorway shows the influence of Strawberry Hill gothic. Folly Gothic was a style which was widely adopted for park gates and lodges and for small houses sited in picturesque positions in locations frequented by tourists. A good example is Ogwen Bank near Bethesda, built by Lord Penhryn, possibly to a design by Samuel Wyatt, for visitors to the Ogwen falls. In the Montgomeryshire at Berriew Bodheilin was built was built in a prominent position overlooking the valley of the river Severn. This was burnt down in 1906, but an engraving shows a fantastic villa with five towers fronted with a Neoclassical portico.

In Wales pointed Gothic windows continued to be widely used until about 1810. In Montgomeryshire iron framed Gothic windows were used to embellish vernacular houses. Grander houses such as Dol-Llys in Llanidloes, built for George Mears around 1800, by an unknown architect, but in the villa style of John Nash, had wooden Gothic windows. One of the most eye-catching gothic follies in Wales is Paxton’s Tower. Built by Sir William Paxton (1745–1824), Paxton made his first fortune while with the HEIC in Calcutta with Charles Cockerell, brother of the architect. He purchased the Middleton Hall estate about 1790 and built this tower 1808. Designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell who also worked for Paxton in the development of Tenby. The tower was built to commemorate Nelson’s death at Trafalgar. The tower is 36 feet high. The lower part of the tower is triangular in shape with a turret at each corner and on the first floor there is a banqueting room. On the second floor there is a hexagonal prospect room surrounded by roof terraces.

Castellated Gothic
Castellated Gothic was a style that emerged in Wales following the Napoleonic Wars and has been little studied, although a considerable number of Country Houses were built in this style up to about 1870. It is largely derived from the earlier Castellated Gothic Mansions built Robert Adam in Scotland and Adam was also the designer of one house built in Wales, Wenvoe Castle in Glamorgan in 1776/7 of which only one wing of the building now survives. This Welsh style of Castellated Gothic lacks the historical precision of detailing seen in Strawberry Hill Gothic, but it has borrowed the turrets and battlements some Medieval Castles in Wales such as Raglan and the earlier Cardiff Castle. In some cases Medieval castles which were still inhabited were by re-built in this style. Powis Castle on the outskirts of Welshpool was extensively re-built with new windows and battlements in the castellatted gothic style by Sir Robert Smirke between 1815 and 1818. while Ruthin Castle was rebuilt in this style firstly in 1826 and then more extensively between 1848 and 1853 by Henry Clutton. In many instances these Castellated Gothic houses, such as Llanerchyddol near Welshpool, have not been attributed with certainty to any architect, and are likely to have been the work of a local architect or one working in Shrewsbury. The main features of these houses are the prominent machicolated towers and the horizontal, rather than vertical, architectural composition. Rough hewn stone rather than ashlar was often used and rectangular windows under Tudoresque drip moulds.

Initially older houses such as Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire or Hensol Castle had large extensions added to them. At Stanage Park in Radnorshire the design has been attributed to John Adey Repton, but he employed as the building contractor John Hiram Haycock. Haycock, from Shrewsbury, was equally competent as an architect and may have contributed to appearance of the building. This has led Thomas Lloyd to suggest that the similar appearance of Glandyfi (c. 1812) in Ceredigion, may also be the work of Haycock. At Brynkinalt in Denbighshire the addition of castellated towers and other feature (now removed) on a late 17th-century house was the work of another Shrewsbury architect Joseph Bromfield. However, the Gothic entrance gate that can be attributed to Bromfield survives.

Castellated Gothic was the style employed by Robert Lugar when he built Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil for the iron master William Crawshay, in 1824–25. It is two-storied and battlemented with a turreted entrance porch which leads into a Gothic entrance hall with ribbed ceiling. Robert Luger was also employed at Maesllwch, Glasbury from 1829 to 1850. The main portion of this house was demolished in 1951 leaving the eastern tower, service wing and later tower. Between 1818 and 1830 John Preston Neale published his Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in which he included several examples of Castellated houses in Wales, showing this had become an established style. Further prints of Welsh castellated mansions were included in the Rev Francis Orpen Morris’s The County Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland which was published in six volumes of coloured lithographs in 1870; and also in the engravings in Thomas Nicholas’ Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales; containing a record of all ranks of the gentry … with many ancient pedigrees and memorials of old and extinct families published in two volumes by Longmans in 1872. These volumes give the impression that both the established gentry and the Nouveau riche bankers and industrialists in Wales needed to justify a legitimacy for building in this style and the expenditure they were lavishing on them.

Tudor Gothic
In the 1830s the Castellated Gothic was developed further by Thomas Hopper, who had been responsible for the severe Romanesque revival Penrhyn Castle and the Shrewsbury architect Edward Haycock, Sr. at Margam Castle in Glamorgan which was built between 1830 and 1840. This was a more ornate and flamboyant form of Tudor Gothic with a massive central lantern tower, modelled on the 16th-century prospect tower at Melbury House in Dorset. Newman sees the Hopper and Haycock deriving their designs from James Wyatt’s Ashridge of 1808–13 and William Wilkin’s Dalmeny House near Edinburgh of 1814–17. While the exterior is Tudor Gothic, there is a spectacular staircase inside the tower in a late Gothic or Perpendicular style with impressive fan-vaulting At Ruthin the Medieval castle was partly rebuilt in 1826 and then transformed in 1848–1853 by the architect Henry Clutton for Frederick Richard West. Clutton demolished much of the main block of the earlier house and replaced it with a three storied castellated building in bright red sandstone and placed at the west corner a big octagonal tower.

Plas Rhianfa
An important development in the development in Gothic rival architecture in Wales was the building of Plas Rhianfa (recently renamed Chateau Rhianfa) in 1849–50. Plas Rhianfa in Llandegfan near Beaumaris overlooks the Menai Straights. The architect was Charles Verelst of Liverpool, who was also known as Charles Reed, but the building was inspired by Lady Sarah Hay Williams of Bodelwyddan Castle, who commissioned the building for her two daughters. Lady Hay Williams, an artist, had sketched the Chateau of the Loire, and presumably greatly influenced the designs of her architect. The house is described as a forest of steep French roofs covered in fish tail slates, and a skyline fretted with curved and straight pitches and spires, which are level with the road at the back. On the seaward front narrow drum towers with conical roofs. Inside there are highly decorative fireplaces, similar to those in Bodelwyddan Castle, which can be seen as precursors to similar decorative work at Cardiff Castle by William Burges. Stylistically this is the architecture that Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was pioneering in France and it predates the publication of Henry Clutton’s Remarks…..on the domestic architecture of France which was published in 1853.

William and Mary and Queen Anne style
An early example of the Queen Anne revival style was Garthmyl Hall, Berriew in Montgomeryshire by J K Colling. It was completed in 1859 and was a pioneering example of the use of Terracotta ornamentation. A more developed example of Queen Anne revival style can be seen nearby in the Severn Valley at Cefnbryntalch in Llandyssil. The house of 1867–69 by G F Bodley was completed by Philip Webb. It was built for was Richard Jones, who had made a fortune in the flannel trade in Newtown. The exterior is of cleanly detailed and well-executed in red brick, with prominent string-courses. The south front with three big gables and a balance of irregular chimneys and near-regular windows, has many C18 features – a hipped roof, two bays, sash-windows, and the central Venetian window. The symmetrical entrance front is rather C17 vernacular, while the west front is picturesque and irregular in contrast, an asymmetrical gable anchored by a shafted chimney; lower tile-hung wing. In many respects this house is the precursor of the later Arts and Crafts houses in Wales and the close studded upper storeys is a feature of houses such as Bryniago at Rhayader by Stephen W. Williams. The Queen Anne style was further developed by William Eden Nesfield, a close associate of Norman Shaw at Kinmel Park in Denbighshire. It was constructed 1872-4 incorporating parts of the earlier houses by Samuel Wyatt and Thomas Hopper. The house consists of 15 bays on the E. front with end pavilions

Terracotta revival architecture in Wales
For a short period at the start of the 16th century, Italian craftsmen introduced the art of highly fired Terracotta moulded brickwork and ornamental plaques into Tudor England. The use of terracotta was largely limited to Great Houses in Eastern England. Then in the 1830s and 1840s a number of architects started sourcing terracotta from the brickyards that were associated with coal mines in the West Midlands.

One of the earliest architects to make use of this source was the Welsh architect Thomas Penson, who worked from offices in Oswestry. There appears to be good evidence that he sourced his terracotta from the brickyards which were associated with the Oswestry coalfield at Morda and Trefonen on the Welsh border. Penson used terracotta moulding for church architecture, most notably St Davids, Newtown and Christ Church, Welshpool. As yet no examples the use of the terracotta from these brickyards for domestic buildings is known, although the Trefonen brickyard, which was described as a terracotta works, was later owned by the railway engineer Thomas Savin and may have been used for some of his projects. James Kellaway Colling used extensive terracotta decoration for Garthmyl Hall, Berriew in Berriew in Montgomeryshire. This was almost certainly sourced from J M Blashfield’s terracotta works at Stamford.

From about this time terracotta production with matching bricks started to be produced on a large scale in the Wrexham area in association with mines of the north Wales Coalfield. This was centred on Ruabon and many companies sprang up. The last of these to go out of business was J. C Dennis in 2010. However the most important and best known of these companies was J C Edwards, who about 1867 opened up the Pen-y-bont brickyard. This brickyard produced a distinctive rich red brick and terracotta ornamentation that can be readily recognised. This was recognised and used by some of the leading architects of the period, most notably Alfred Waterhouse who used it for the Prudential Insurance Offices in both London and Birmingham. Examples of Ruabon terracotta can be seen on buildings, particularly banks and public institutions throughout England, but as might be expected, terracotta was particularly popular in Wales. Most towns having several examples often including banks, shops and sometimes houses.

Doulton faience glazed terracotta
Even more remarkable is use of white Doulton faience glazed terracotta for the Motor Palace at Llandrindod Wells by Richard Wellings Thomas in 1906–10. Now the National Cycle Museum, it has a curving facade of nine bays of white-faience ware and blocked pilasters dividing the display bays, surmounted with lion finials. It is an early example of steel framed construction. The building reflects that Llandridod was the social capital of Wales at the time and Tom Norton, for whom it was built was both an early bus proprietor and also aviator, hence the fascia letting CYCLES – MOTORS- AIRCRAFT. This style of architecture for garages was continued after the Ist World War with Humphrey’s Garage in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, still displaying the names of the makes of car that it was selling in the 1930s and Pritchard’s Garage in Llandridod Wells, with a curving facade, using similar lion finials to those on Tom Norton’s Automobile Palace.

Polychrome brickwork
The use of patterned or polychrome brickwork, sometimes associated terracotta was popular in the towns in Montgomeryshire and North Eastern Wales in the 1870s and 1880s. A striking example is the Plas Castell Gatehouse at Denbigh, a Tudoresque machicolated tower with bars of yellow brick contrasting with the red bricks. The tower was built in 1882. In Kerry, Montgomeryshire the estate architects J W Poundley and D Walker produced an unusual composition of a terrace of houses built for the Naylors next to the former Kerry workhouse. The red bricks are punctuated by a double string of white brick and a pattern of white and black bricks below the eaves and for the upper voussoirs. The use of curved bricks in the voussiors give the impression of an Egyptian pharonic head-dress.

voussiors give the impression of an Egyptian pharonic head-dress.

Italianate style architecture
Prompted by Queen Victoria’s Osbourne House, the Italianate style of architecture became popular in the second half of the 19th century. Features of this stye include belvedere towers and roofs with a shallow slope and wide eaves. In WalesR. K Penson was a leading exponent of the style. Penson had an extensive practice in the south of Wales, particular in church building and restoration, but examples of his use of the Italianate style include the Town Hall at Llandovery and the gate lodge to Nanteos. The style was popular for country houses in Carmarthenshire and include the now demolished Pant Glas at Llanfynydd and Gellideg at Llandyfaelog. Pant Glas was built in 1850 and Gellideg in 1852. The architect for the latter being William Wesley Jenkins. A later example of the Italianate style is the Parc Howard Museum on the outskirts of Llanelli, originally known as Bryncaerau Castle. The house, faced in Bath stone was built to designs by J. B. Wilson between 1882–6.

John Pollard Seddon and the Old College, Aberystwth
J.P. Seddon was a London architect who developed an extensive practice in south Wales. Initially he worked with John Prichard from 1853 to 1859 and then with John Coates Carter, who had an office in Cardiff, until 1904. Seddon was surveyor to Llandaff Cathedral and most of his work was church building and parsonages for the Llandaff Diocese. However he built some notable country houses such as Llanilar at Abermad in Ceredigion in 1870-2 and most notably the Old College Building of Aberystwyth University. The Old College Building is on the seafront and replaced Castle House which had been built for Uvedale Price by John Nash in 1791-4. Castle House had been bought by the railway entrepreneur Thomas Savin in 1864 and he employed Seddon to rebuild it as a hotel. Following Savin’s bankruptcy in 1866 it was purchased by the future University and until 1890 Seddon together with his partner John Coates Carter continued to rebuild and extend the building. The Builder described it as one of the most original and characteristic monuments of the Gothic Revival, while Thomas Lloyd writes Seddon’s originality lies in his very fluid use of curves and complex geometrical forms, and in the blurring of angles and joints, syncopation that has something of Art Nouveau. Seddon mixes detail of Early English with Venetian and French late Romanesque and Gothic Architecture. The stone used comes from Cefn at Minera, dressed with Bath stone. He also used an artificial stone and concrete in parts of the building. John Coates Carter was to go on to design the Paget Concert Rooms at Penarth in 1906 and the remarkable monastery complex on Caldey Island, Pembrokeshire.

William Burges
William Burges’ contribution to Welsh architecture was notable but limited to three buildings, Cardiff Castle, Castell Coch and Park House, all three in Cardiff. His castles also had little influence on other architecture in Wales, with the possible exception of the Settlement Tower on Lake Vyrnwy with its conical roof. The reason for this would appear to be that Burges started working in his distinctive style for his patron John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, in 1865 and by this time the Gothic Revival style of architecture was already starting to fall out of fashion. The influence of Park House was much more significant; John Newman considers the house “revolutionized Cardiff’s domestic architecture” and the Cadw Grade I listed building status given to the house records it as “the pattern for much housing in Cardiff in later C19. Perhaps the most important (nineteenth century) town house in Wales.” While Burges’ style was highly creative it is often difficult to pin down the stylistic sources of his designs. Mordaunt Crook remarks that Burges’‘drew on his extensive travels and the studies he had made of the campanilii of San Gimaggnano, Florence and Siena. He included recollections of Nuremberg and Palermo, of the Chateau de Chillonon on Lake Geneva, the Castello at Milan and the Palais des Papes at Avignon. Nearer home he took elements from Conway, Caernarvon and Durham Castles. The main influence on his work does appear to be French Gothic architecture, particularly as interpreted by Viollet le Duc. Curiously an earlier Welsh example, of 1840 of this style, at Plas Rhianfa in Anglesey has been noted above, but there is no reason to think that Burges or his patron were influenced by this.

Cardiff Castle
The Marquis of Bute first met William Burges in 1865 and this was the start of a momentous partnership that was to last for sixteen years, and Cardiff Castle was to be transformed into a Neo- Gothic dream palace. Work on the castle started in 1869 with Bute’s workmen pulled down the houses built against the South Curtain Wall. Burges restored the stonework, and he added a covered parapet walk with embrasures and arrow slits. The Clock Tower was built on the site of a Roman bastion and completed in 1875. The scheme included the Medieval buildings of the West wing which had been ‘‘gothicised’’ by Henry Holland in 1774. In 1872 Lord Bute married the Hon. Gwendolen FitzAlan Howard. The couple had four children, and Burges designed a Nursery especially for them. Work continued with the rebuilding of the Bute Tower and Herbert Towers, as well as the new Guest and Tank Towers. The 15th-century Octagon Tower was restored with the addition of a timber fleche or spire above the battlements. Burges created a Library and the Banqueting Hall within the late medieval residential block. When Burges died in 1881, his work was continued by his former assistant William Frame. Frame built the Animal Wall and was responsible for restoring the newly discovered Roman remains.

Castell Coch
Castell Coch, a ruined Medieval castle, lying to north of Cardiff, was intended as an occasional summer residence for the Marquess of Bute. Burges’s reported on the proposed reconstruction of Castell Coch in 1872 but construction was delayed until 1875, partly because of the pressure of work at Cardiff Castle. The exterior comprises three towers, “almost equal to each other in diameter, but arrestingly dissimilar in height .”The Keep tower, the Well Tower and the Kitchen Tower incorporate a series of apartments, of which the main sequence, the Castellan’s Rooms, lie within the Keep. The Hall, the Drawing Room, Lord Bute’s Bedroom and Lady Bute’s bedroom comprise a suite of rooms that exemplify the High Victorian Gothic style in 19th-century Britain. A superb fireplace by Thomas Nicholls features the Three Fates, spinning, measuring and cutting the thread of life. The octagonal chamber with its great rib-vault, modelled on one designed by Viollet-Le-Duc at Councy, is “spangled with butterflies and birds of sunny plume in gilded trellis work.” Off the hall, lies the Windlass Room, in which Burges delighted in assembling the fully functioning apparatus for the drawbridge,

Park House, Cardiff
Park House was built between 1871 and 1875 for James McConnochie, the dock engineer to Bute Estate. McConnochie was Mayor of Cardiff in 1880. The house has been used as a restaurant since 2012. The house draws on various French Gothic elements and is reminiscent of the Town Hall of St. Antonin, restored by Viollet le Duc in 1843, with late Romanesque and a Gothic arcade, but with added 15th-century dormer windows. It is built with grey Caerphilly stone and Bath stone dressings; steeply-pitched slate roofs, stone chimneys. Features of the house were imitated by other late Victorian houses in Cardiff, but it should be noted that similar houses such as Llanilar at Abermad (1870–72) in Ceredigion were being built by John Pollard Seddon.

During the latter part of the 18th century and during the 19th century, the laying out of towns, villages and industrial settlements gathered momentum. It was work often done by architects and landsuryors. The layout and design of Aberaeron can now be confidently assigned to Edward Haycock. and he probably was involved in the development of Aberystwyth. William Jernagen of Swansea …. at Milford Haven. At Newtown the development of the Crescent and Pen ygloddfa to the work of Thomas Penson The grid pattern layout at Pembroke Docks has been attributed to the land surveyor George Gwyther, while the Royal Dockyard and its buildings were probably to the original design of John Rennie and carried out by Edward Holl, architect to the Navy Board. In the 19th many estate villages were laid out by large landowners, often by the architects to build or rebuild their own houses. Intriguingly Lord Sudeley at Gregynog was to experiment in 1870 with concrete houses for his estate workers The following is a selection of some of the Industrial and Estate village built in this period.

Source from Wikipedia