Dolforgan Hall

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Dolforgan Hall is a large manor house near Kerry, Powys. The first manor at Dolforgan was built in the 17th century as the home of the Fox family. In the mid-1600s the Herbert family bought the estate. Between 1790 and 1800, John Herbert heavily rebuilt and extended the house, essentially creating a new hall. This new building may have been designed by architect John Johnson, and some parts of the old house were kept at the rear. Between 1807 and 1818, an iron bridge was built to carry the main drive to the house, one of the earliest iron bridges in the world.

In 1846 Walter Long married Harriet Avarina Brunetta Herbert, the owner John Owen Herbert’s daughter. Harriet died the following year during childbirth, and Walter died three months later, with some saying it was from a broken heart. Dolforgan then passed to Walter’s brother Richard Penruddocke Long in 1867.

In 1868 James Walton bought the Dolforgan Estate, which included the Hall and about 4,250 acres of land to the northwest of Kerry. Walton moved in in 1870 and lived there as his main home until his death in 1883; he also served as High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire.

After Walton’s death, Dolforgan was sold in 1894 to John William Willans, the Chief Engineer of the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Willans died in 1895, and the estate passed to his son John Bancroft Willans. J. B. Willans lived at Dolforgan until his death in 1957. He was a historian and photographer, and he made an extensive photographic record of Dolforgan, now held by the National Library of Wales.

After Willans’ death, the Jones family bought Dolforgan, and they still own it. The Hall is now divided into five flats and is a Grade II* listed building.

In the early 1940s through the end of World War II, Dolforgan Hall served as a refuge for children escaping London bombing. One former child, Rosemary Daykin, recalls meeting Willans and a memorable moment with the redwood trees behind the hall.

The hall has a three-storey Regency-style front. The entrance features two full-height pilasters and four columns supporting an Ionic porch. There is also a Gothic-style sawmill on the grounds.