Author Description

Hafodunos Hall is one of the most important buildings at risk in Wales, playing a key part in Welsh cultural history during the nineteenth century. Its rooms and galleries were once the home to the largest collection of sculpture by the famous Welsh sculptor, John Gibson. It provided much inspiration for the renowned poetess Margaret Sandbach, author of Aurora and first wife of the builder of the Hall. Hafodunos was designed by the eminent architect Sir George Gilbert Scott and is described as his most spectacular example of domestic architecture in Wales. A famous conifer arboretum and plant collection was gathered from all over the world and grown within the gardens which were advised upon by Sir William Jackson Hooker of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Neglected for years the house had become a haven for vandalism and theft; the Victorian Venetian-Gothic masterpiece's famed interiors perished in a devastating fire on 14th October 2004.