Thomas Davies Lloyd lived a life of Gothic fantasy, but died in financial ruin. Upon coming into his inheritance at the age of 25, he went on a building spree. He began with Bronwydd in Ceredigion, transforming the modest 18th-century house into a Gothic castle.
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By the mid-1850s work was complete. Bronwydd became what Lloyd described as ‘a romantic Rhineland castle with patterned roof-tiling’. Splendidly and dominantly sited, with its towers and turrets, baronial hall, lavish interior with mural paintings and stained glass.
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But Lloyd was not satisfied. Three years later he set out on a project to build a house within the surviving walls and towers of Newport Castle. Happily, the work at Newport survives; that at Bronwydd does not. Sold by his heirs in 1937, now it lies in ruins.
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📸: Broomwicks
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📸: Broomwicks
Lloyd also rebuilt and restored many churches within his lordship, including the church at Llangynllo. His architect, John Middleton of Cheltenham created a splendid High Victorian church, with its - still unspoiled - Tractarian and ecclesiologically ‘correct’ interior.
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With architect R J Withers, Lloyd rebuilt St Dogfael’s, Meline. ‘An object lesson in High Victorian solid geometry and minimal extraneous detail’, the church is almost exactly as Lloyd and Withers left it in 1865. It closed in 2017, and we are proud to have adopted it.
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Thomas Davies Lloyd died in 1877, leaving his estate in debt to the tune of a £100,000. Fulfilling Gothic fantasies didn’t come cheap.
And, although his dream home at Bronwydd is now little more than a memory, his other works still, fortunately, survive to be seen.
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And, although his dream home at Bronwydd is now little more than a memory, his other works still, fortunately, survive to be seen.
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