Shell House Hermitage Information

A Visit to The Cilwendeg Shell House Hermitage

The Cilwendeg Shell House Hermitage near Boncath in Pembrokeshire is perhaps one of the most unusual and secluded architectural treasures in West Wales -- certainly well worth taking the time to visit when travelling in the region. Set within an ornamental estate farm and approached along a deeply atmospheric woodland walk originating near the Cilwendeg Mansion, it is an intriguing building waiting to be ‘discovered’ in a glade at the top of a quiet path. Small, rustic, and thoroughly picturesque it seems to emerge out of the romantic gloom of its rural surroundings a shimmering lost pavilion. The charming gothic entrance is flanked by rockeries and the entire front elevation is dressed with rough white quartz and notched Cilgerran stone. Through the open door the lavishly decorated interior offers a wondrous surprise for all first time visitors, and continues as a perpetual source of fascination for visitors who return to see it illuminated in different lights. The interior walls and ceiling are profusely decorated in complex ornamental gothic patterns made up of mainly native shells and sparkling minerals, as well as shards of coloured glass. The floor is laid out in ornamental ‘tiles’ made of the knuckle-bones of sheep and oxen, arranged in delicate designs representing knots, swirls, hearts, crosses and butterflies.

The exquisite ensemble was created by an unknown architect in the mid 1820s for Morgan Jones Jr. of Cilwendeg Mansion, one of the wealthiest landowners in the Teivy Valley during the early 19^th century. His income, and that of his benevolent uncle before him (also named Morgan Jones), was derived mainly from the Skerries Light, the last privately-owned lighthouse in the nation. By the 1820s the family income was calculated at a staggering £20,000 per annum – a very considerable sum at the time. The Cilwendeg Shell House was created as a small garden retreat for the Jones family -- the fireplace heated the room in the winter months for secluded reading or taking tea. In the summer it must have served as a place of cool quiet contemplation, as it still does today. The use of mainly local ‘native’ materials in its decoration is suggestive of the hand of a Hermit – a prevalent romantic pre-occupation for wealthy estate landowners in the 18^th and early 19^th century -- corresponding to the rise of the popular Gothic novel and more generally to an increased interest in antiquarianism in Wales.

The overall Gothic architectural motif pays homage to the perceived native origins of the owners of this place. It appears to offer symbolic praise to Morgan Jones Sr. (the uncle and benefactor to it builder) the venerable old uchelwyr (high man) of the previous generation who had re-built the nearby church of Capel Colman from an ancient ruin. The elder Jones was renowned for his ‘reclusive habits, wealth, piety, and benevolence’. In the Welsh bardic tradition, Jones Sr. was one of the handful of Teifiside squires to merit an elegy: Hen Gymro trwyadl oedd efe (he was a thorough Welshman) —‘of ancient lineage and charitable works’. Here at Cilwendeg it could be reasonably said that he had ‘tamed a wilderness’. His apparent ‘rustic disposition, lacking in urbane manners’ led to his being characterised by many as a ‘very strange man’ – yet one who, it was universally observed, ‘accomplished good deeds by stealth’. The Cilwendeg Shell House, in its romantic whiteness -- and being hidden deep in the woods – recalls the origins of the place name ‘Cilwendeg’ or gilwendeg: translated from the old Celtic as ‘the fair white nook’. We might say then that the Cilwendeg Shell House was intended as an Hermitage of sorts-- but rather than a desolate cell, it is a ‘fair white nook’, celebrating the beauty and variety of nature, tamed by the civilising hand of an extraordinary man and his forebears.

The Shell House was exquisitely restored several years ago by The Temple Trust and can be visited on Thursdays (9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.) between April and the end of September. Cilwendeg is located off the B4332 near Boncath (on the way to Newchapel).  Admission is free, but site donations are always welcome. For more information please visit The Temple Trust website: www.thetempletrust.org.uk or phone the trust line at: 020-7482-6171