19520

 

II  

Designated  

20/03/1998  

20/03/1998  

Leigh and Glanllyn  

 

Powys  

Forden with Leighton and Trelystan  

Forden  

Leighton Farm  

324311  

305357  

 

Situated immediately N of Leighton Farm and on W side of a minor road through Leighton. Leigh is to S, Glanllyn to N.  

Domestic  

 

Built c1860s and later than the remainder of Leighton Farm, from which it stands apart. Originally the ground floor was as a 3-bay shed for parking traction and ploughing engines which could also be used to power ancillary machinery at Leighton Farm, while the basement incorporated a smithy, a maintenance shop and a storage area. Converted to 2 dwellings by Herbert Carr, Montgomeryshire County Surveyor, in 1931 when Montgomeryshire County Council purchased Leighton Farm. Leigh and Glanllyn are an integral part of Leighton Farm, the model farm of the Leighton Estate, which was acquired by John Naylor in 1846-47. Naylor embarked on an ambitious programme of building, principally Leighton Hall, church and Farm, which was largely completed by the mid 1850s. He continued to extend and improve the Estate until his death in 1889. His grandson, Captain J.M. Naylor, sold the Estate in 1931, when Leighton Farm was bought by Montgomeryshire County Council. The main farm complex is roughly square in plan and enclosed by perimeter roads (although important buildings were added beyond it). The farm was a piecemeal development but it is structured either side of a central E-W axis in which a threshing barn was built with hay and fodder storage buildings either side of it, all of which were linked by a broad gauge railway. On the N and S sides of this axis stockyards were built, served by 2 N-S service roads in addition to the perimeter roads. By 1849 4 small yards (Stockyard IV) had been built S of the Threshing Barn with a Stable fronting the road, these 3 elements forming the central block of buildings. On the E and W sides, fronting the road to the S, houses were built (on the W side with an office and further livestock sheds behind). After 1849 3 stockyards (Stockyards I, II, III) were built on the N side of the main axis. By 1855 there had been additions beyond the perimeter road, with the building of a Mill and Pig and Sheep houses (which enclose 2 further stockyards) on the N side and a further stock shed with yard on the W side. In the late 1850s a Sheep-Drying Shed and a further Fodder Storage Building in line with the main E-W axis had been added, followed by a Root Shed at the south-east corner of the complex in the 1860s. The buildings were carefully designed to achieve a strong visual impact when approached from the roads to the N or W. The landscape was carefully controlled so that Leighton Farm could not be seen from the main Buttington to Forden road to W, alongside which was a mixed woodland plantation. The main entrance to the farm was intended to be from the N side where there is an imposing gateway and lodge beside the church. The pig and sheep houses in particular create a grand facade when approached from the N, but Stockyards I and II, the Fodder Storage Buildings, Stable and Poolton at the south-west corner, are all designed to impress when viewed from the outside  

One-and-a-half storeys with basement, symmetrically planned about a central entrance and consisting of main range flanked by cross-wings and with lean-to running between the wings at basement level to rear. Of brick with rock-faced stone dressings on a basement of snecked, rock-faced Cefn stone, and with coped gables on moulded kneelers and slate roof with added skylights. Axial stacks to L and R in main range and 2 lateral stacks to each cross-wing added 1931. The main range has a central, buttressed cross-gable to front within which is a tall round-headed doorway with prominent key. Above the arch is a blank shield in relief. To L and R of the cross-gable is a half-lit door with overlight under a stone lintel. The cross-wings were said to have had large openings blocked up when the building was converted to dwellings. They have a blank shield in relief above a 3-light casement window under a segmental head, which was inserted through a shaped gable, now roughcast, and within which is a canted bay window with small-pane glazing inserted 1931. In the side walls are 2x 12-pane sash windows and 2 flat-roof dormers added in 1931 (and C20 additions to R cross-wing). To rear the cross-wings have sash windows under segmental heads in the ground floor and attic with boarded-up 3-light mullioned window under a stone lintel in the basement. The lean-to is of a purple-coloured brick distinct from the red brick of the main building. It has a shallow cross-gable to centre with a tall round-headed window with stone imposts and key. It is part boarded up with some glazing bars visible behind. To L and R are 2 windows under lintels now boarded up.  

Not inspected (November 1996).  

The Leighton Estate is an exceptional example of high-Victorian estate development. It is remarkable for the scale and ambition of its conception and planning, the consistency of its design, the extent of its survival, and is the most complete example of its type in Wales. Leighton Farm is one of the principal foci of this development and is a Victorian model farm of national importance, representing the pioneering use of new technology, displaying a highly-structured layout and achieving an impressive architectural unity. Leigh and Glanllyn are an integral part of the farm complex in the Leighton Estate style, representing the use of advanced technology at Leighton. They are of additional interest for their conversion to dwellings in the 1930s, part of a major development of small-holdings carried out by the County Council in this period.