History

Built between 1847 and 1849 as part of Leighton Farm and probably designed by the Liverpool architect W.H. Gee for John Naylor. Poolton was possibly designed for the farm manager, with Gortheur as an original service wing. Naylor acquired the Leighton Estate in 1846-47 and embarked on an ambitious programme of building, principally Leighton Hall, church and Farm, all 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.

Leighton Farm was a model farm where rational farming methods were employed using techniques derived from science and industry. It was similar to other contemporary model farms, for example Prince Albert’s Flemish farmstead at Windsor of 1858 where the same logistical planning and recycling of manure as fertiliser were in evidence, but is especially notable for its highly ambitious scale and its pioneering of new technology. Apart from the rationalisation of farm design, its principal aims were to provide better shelter for livestock and fodder, to recycle manure as fertiliser, and to introduce mechanisation, principally in the form of turbines and hydraulic rams.

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.

Exterior

The main house (Poolton) is 2-storey with basement and has a parallel single-storey NE wing, and a rear wing (Gortheur) of one-and-a-half storeys. Of brick with slate roof, coped gables on moulded kneelers, and gable stacks (stack to R replaced). Two-window W front with prominent cornice in white and red brick, 16-pane sash windows, in the upper storey below the eaves, in the lower storey with hood mould. The basement has 2-light small-pane casements under flat brick arches. The R gable is continuous with cross-gable of rear wing, to R of which is a further recessed bay with dormer. The dormer has a small-pane casement; the cross-gable has a similar window with hood mould, while the gable of the main house has a sash window with hood mould to R. R gable of main range also has a porch with steps leading up to 4-panelled door on the E side and a cornice similar to front of house. In S wall of porch is a fixed light with stained glass margin glazing. To L of porch is a doorway to basement with double doors. To R of porch are 2-light mullioned windows with hood moulds to rear wing, with doorway to extreme R. The door is modern, inside a shallow modern porch. The rear wing is built on a sloping site and has a brick plinth with stone plinth band. The doorway is reached by brick-paved path on a rubble stone plinth and bounded by iron gate and railings. The L gable end of main house has doorways to the house and basement similar to front but plainer. The NE wing has sash windows similar to the front.

Interior

Not inspected (November 1996).

Reasons for Listing

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. Poolton and Gortheur are an important element of this whole ensemble at Leighton and especially important to the architectural setting and social context of Leighton Farm, a Victorian model farm of national importance. Both are prominently-sited, well-detailed mid C19 houses retaining their original character which contrast with the plainer brick labourers cottages built elsewhere on the Estate.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29487552

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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