Orielton House

Description

Orielton is a 3-storey plain mansion with basement in painted stucco with a 20th century timber cornice concealing a low roof. The Owen family (from Anglesey) married into the Wyrriot family in 1571 and inherited the site. Sir Hugh Owen may have built the core of the present house in the late 17th century. Sir Arthur Owen may have rebuilt in 1734. John Owen rebuilt the house after 1813 (possibly including the present interiors and the exterior stucco) but, heavily in debt, sold the furniture in 1842 and the rest of the estate 1856. In the later 19th century the east front was shortened by five bays. (Source: CADW listed buildings database, 29 September 1993). Ian Archer, RCAHMW, 21st March 2005 (Coflein)

C17, C18 and 1810 great county house of the Owen family; said to have been built in 1656 and rebuilt in 1734. Described in 1802 as "neither ancient nor modern, being fronted with brick, and the frames of the windows and the cornerstones of freestone, somewhat in the style of Llanforda (near Oswestry) before it was burnt". Remodelled in 1810 for Sir John Owen the extent of the alterations uncertain but presumably including the present interiors and the exterior stucco. The Owen family came from Bodowen, Anglesey; in 1571 Hugh Owen married the heiress of the Wyrriots of Orielton (a family recorded there from 1188) and died 1613. His grandson Sir Hugh Owen, 1st Baronet (d 1670), inherited and may have built the core of the present house. Sir Arthur, 3rd Baronet, may have rebuilt before his death in 1754. Sir Hugh, 6th Baronet, was a minor and died young in 1809. He left the estate, but not the title, to his cousin John Lord of Pembroke, later John Owen who was made baronet in 1813. He rebuilt the house immediately but by 1820 was heavily in debt, spent vastly on the election of 1831, sold the furniture from Orielton in 1842 and the rest of the estate 1856. In the later C19 the E front was shortened by five bays. (Listed Building Report)

The Vernons and the Wiriets had strong houses respectively at Stakepole and Orielton (Laws 1888)

Comments

Home of the Wirriott (Wyrriott) family from at least the C12 until the end of the C16 when passed to the Owen family. The Wirriotts were knightly, sometime Sheriff of Pembroke or Carmarthen. It would not be unreasonable to expect their home to be dressed up with the symbols of that status, such as battlements etc. (Possible comparable to Stackpole Court or the somewha more modest Eastington Manor). The house is also likely to have been sufficiently well walled as to resist the causal raids of the pirates that menaced the Pembrokeshire coast.