History
The present building is at least the fifth on the site since the 13th century. The property was held by the Lloyd family from the C14-C16, followed by John Holland, Duke of Exeter. In the Civil War it was held by Col John Carter, twice knighted, first by Cromwell in 1657, and then by Charles II in 1660. It later came to Sir George Wynn, 1729-81 and David Roberts, 1781-86, both of whom had interests in the lead extraction industry in North Wales. Their now ruined house, Old Kinmel, was succeeded by one built by Samuel Wyatt in 1791 for Rev Edward Hughes, owner from 1786 and partner in the Parys Mine Company, Amlwch, for the exploitation of the world's richest copper lodes. This house was seriously damaged by fire in 1841 and rebuilt in 1842-3 by Thomas Hopper in a Greek Revival style, for William Lewis Hughes, 1st Lord Dinorben. The present house is a modified and reduced design by W E Nesfield, probably utilizing the old foundations, for Hugh Robert Hughes in 1870-1874, inheritor of the Parys mountain wealth and banking enterprises. William Eden Nesfield (1835-1888), son of the famous landscape gardener, W A Nesfield, nephew of architect Anthony Salvin, and pupil of William Burn, began his career c1865, sharing an office with Richard Norman Shaw 1866-9, with whom he developed his distinctive personal styles, a Dutch-French Classical termed 'Queen Anne' and the 'Old English'. Kinmel was his first great undertaking, which was to be shortly followed by the remodelling of Bodrhyddan, Clwyd, 1872-3, Plas Dinam, Powys, 1873-4, and by Gwernyfed Park, 1877-80. The design of the house is influenced both by the Wren's Hampton Court style, and by the French Henri I-ere style of Mansart's Chateau de Balleroy, whilst the connecting wing to the stables shows influence of the earlier French Renaissance style of Jean Bullant. After the death of H R Hughes in 1911, the succession was problematical, and the house suffered various vissicitudes, becoming a school (Kinmel School) in 1929. It suffered damage by fire in 1934, and after closure it became a Rheuma Spa under Mrs Florence Lindley of Bodelwyddan for four years until it was requisitioned for use as a military hospital in 1940. After the war it was a hotel for a short period until taken on by Clarendon School as a boarding school for girls in 1948, eventually closing after another major fire which broke out on 29.9.1975, damaging the roofs and service wing. It is now, after 3 years of derelicton followed by extensive repairs, leased as a Christian Conference Centre.