Gregynog Hall

Gregynog (Welsh pronunciation: [ɡrɛˈɡənɔɡ]) is a large country mansion in the village of Tregynon, 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Newtown in the old county of Montgomeryshire, now Powys in mid Wales. There has been a settlement on the site since the twelfth century. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century it was the home of the Blayney and Hanbury-Tracy families. In 1960 it was transferred to the University of Wales as a conference and study centre by Margaret Davies, granddaughter of the nineteenth century industrial magnate and philanthropist, David Davies 'Top Sawyer' of Llandinam.

The original mansion was rebuilt in the 1840s by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley. Its concrete cladding, designed to replicate the black-and-white timber-framed architecture of Montgomeryshire farmhouses, is among the earliest examples of concrete use in building in the modern era. The Sudeleys were also pioneers of the use of concrete in the building of new cottages and farmhouses on the Gregynog estate, and many Cadw-listed examples can still be seen in Tregynon and the surrounding countryside. At its largest, the Gregynog estate was over 18,000 acres (73 km²) in extent, but the estate was broken up in 1913, leaving the mansion with 750 acres (3 km²) of farms, woodlands and formal gardens. The sunken garden and arboretum are of particular note.

Gregynog was bought by Margaret and her elder sister Gwendoline Davies in 1920 with the intention of establishing a centre of excellence for the arts, crafts and music which would enrich the lives of the people of Wales in the aftermath of the World War One. It became famous for music, fine printing and for the sisters' art collections which they bequeathed to the nation. These can now be seen in the Davies Galleries of the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Theirs was one of the most important British collections of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting acquired before 1920. Their advisor Hugh Blaker was the younger brother of their governess Jane Blaker. The French collection was only one aspect of their interests – it hung at Gregynog alongside Old Masters, prints by Dürer, Rembrandt and Whistler, Chinese and Islamic ceramics, contemporary hand-made furniture commissioned by the sisters, Welsh vernacular furniture as well as contemporary ceramics and crafts. Seen as a whole, the sisters' collections are a tribute to the multiplicity and Catholicism of their tastes.

...
Wikipedia