History
The Bodfel estate developed during the early C16 but was greatly augmented when John Wyn ap Hugh of Bodfel (d.1576) was presented with some of the lands of the former abbey of Bardsey, including the island itself and lands on the mainland of Caernarfonshire, for his service under the early of Warwick (later Duke of Northumberland) at the time of Ket's rebellion, 1549. He was sheriff of the county of Caernarfon in 1550 and again in 1559. Nevertheless he was accused in the Court of Star Chamber in 1569 of 'being captain, chief and only supporter, defender and maintainor' of the piracy which was rampant in the area, using Bardsey as a base. Subsequent generations, who eventually adopted the name of their home as the family surname, became county sheriffs as well. They were also noted patrons of the bards. The family's status was sealed in the early C17 with the marriage of John Bodvel in 1614 to a daughter of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir and subsequently, through the influence of the Gwydir family, who procured a knighthood for him. It was probably during this period of prosperity that the present building was built, being planned originally as a gatehouse, but Sir John Bodvel's more ambitious plans for a new house were aborted uncommenced when he died in 1631. The style of the classical treatment however could be later, perhaps the work of his son Col. John Bodvel, a member of the Long and Short Parliaments in the mid C17. The gatehouse was later converted to the main dwelling. Following considerable litigation concerning the will of Col. John Bodvel (d.1663) the estate was inherited by his grandson Charles Bodvel Robartes but a major part, including Bodvel itself, had to be sold to cover legal costs. It was bought in 1671 by Robert Stapleton of the Inner Temple and following the Act of Toleration (1672) it was licensed for dissenting worship and was occupied in 1676 by the dissident divine James Owen. By 1684 it was owned by Samuel Hanson, a sugar planter from Barbados, whose daughter, Silence, married Thomas Fowkes of Great Barton, Suffolk. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas Hanmer, Speaker of the House of Commons. They separated however and she bequeathed her property to the Hon. Thomas Hervey, second son of the Earl of Bristol. A branch of the well-known Salusbury family of the Vale of Clwyd rented the property for a few years and in 1741 Bodfel was the birthplace of Hester Lynch Salusbury, who became Mrs Thrales (later Mrs Piozzi), authoress and renown bluestocking and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson. The Hervey family continued to own Bodvel until it was sold to the Vaynol estate in 1831. The house was extensively modernised in the C19.