Summary
Beautifully sited, the house presides above the Llanfyllin to Llynclys road, in a small landscaped park. It was built by Lawton Parry (d. 1820), in 1790 – he having succeeded to family property both at Glan-yr-Afon and in Llanyblodwell. Parry served as High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1795, Mayor of Oswestry in 1802 and he was a Lieutenant in the Oswestry Rangers from 1803.
His house is of red brick with painted ashlar dressings, a compact three-by-three bay block with a full height projecting bow at the centre of the garden front taking advantage of the views across the Tanat valley. This has tripartite windows that are divided by demi-columns. The entrance front has a slightly recessed centre bay embraced by composite columns. Within, there is a handsome top-lit stone staircase with cast iron stick balusters. The marble chimneypiece of the drawing room – behind the bow window – is flanked by Corinthian columns, whilst the William Kent style wooden chimneypiece of the dining room has been brought from elsewhere.
For much of the nineteenth century until the middle years of the past century, Glan-yr-Afon Hall was the seat of the Hamer family. The Hamers inherited from Margaret Parry, Lawton Parry’s sister. Captain John Parry Hamer (1847–1901), a keen cricket player and the son of John Hamer of Glan-yr-Afon, whom he succeeded in 1875, was himself succeeded by his eldest son, John Lawton Parry Hamer (1879–1939) at his death in 1901.
John Lawton Parry Hamer married Clara Alice Frances Slack, in 1935, but died just four years later leaving a four-year-old son, John Lawton Hamer. Glan-yr-Afon was sold and, in 1965, was occupied by William Marshall Dugdale CB, DSO (b. 1881), a scion of the Wroxall Abbey family.
Offered for sale in 1983, the house became the property of Mrs C. Lambert but was sold again in 1998 when it was purchased by the present owners.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Country Houses of Shropshire , pp. 267Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021