History
House, mostly late C19 to early C20, known as Dovey Bank until earlier C20. Part of Glandyfi Castle estate of Jeffreys family until 1906.
On the site of Melin y Garreg mill, possibly of C17 origins, disused in 1787, leased 1791 by Edward Jeffreys of Shrewsbury to Francis Chalmer, owner of a snuff-mill just upstream (now Mill House). By 1794 Chalmer had built a range 'intended to be made into a mill or manufactory' and there was a 'dwelling-house and counting-house or office' adjoining. By the 1845 tithe map, the site had a large rectangular building, apparently used as dwellings, but a mill only on the snuff-mill site. The 1841-61 census returns show labourers living on the site. The gentry house, Dovey Bank, was presumably remodelled from existing buildings in the late C19 as the outline is not very different in 1888 from 1845. At the 1871 census, occupied by Christina Jones, aged 72, gentlewoman, and in 1881, by Harriet B. Manley, aged 50, from Warwick.
It was probably remodelled after that for the agent to Glandyfi Castle, in mildly Gothic style consonant with the castle and Ranger Lodge. Shown in 1906 photograph as a basically three-bay house, without the SE block or so large a service range.
In 1906 described as recently enlarged and improved: with hall, good dining-room, drawing-room recently redecorated, small study, pantry, large kitchen, larder and offices. A part of the ground floor had not yet been restored but could be converted to three other rooms with bedrooms and dressing-rooms over. There were 4 bedrooms, store, boxroom, incomplete bathroom and a large and handsome drawing room upstairs. The house had been let from 1897 to C.R. Kenyon at low rent as he had covenanted to put the dwelling-house into fit and tenantable repair at his own expense.
The Glandyfi estate was sold in 1906 to Lewis Pugh Pugh of Abermad, who sold on the principal houses, Glandyfi Castle and Dovey Bank. Dovey Bank was sold to Percy W. Boughton-Leigh, who probably altered the interiors, and added the large SE block and a gabled addition to the service range, all before 1916. Then sold to Rowland Pugh, a younger son of L.P. Pugh. He renamed it Voelas and lived there to 1946.
The front range with three ground floor rooms of average size may be the original mill, but with no obvious blocked openings. It has a large N end chimney and front right lateral chimney. The narrower parallel rear range with entrance hall and stairs is probably late C19. Aligned with this, to N, is the kitchen range. The stonework is continuous, but the large kitchen chimney suggests some earlier range incorporated here. The former stable yard is to W of the kitchen range, it had loose-box, stable and outhouses, altered to domestic use after 1906.
The SE block added c. 1906-16, with inglenook lounge under three bedrooms, is in matching style. The E side porch, and a bed-room built over the service yard may also be of 1906-16. The whole building has a uniform character with big tooled slate lintels and timber windows with Gothic top lights.