Dolforgan Hall is up for auction this Friday

A spectacular and elegant country house, which enjoys an idyllic location set in 1.4 acres of gardens and wood near a Mid Wales village, is seeking a buyer who will restore it to its previous grandeur.

Grade II I* Listed Dolforgan Hall, located on the outskirts of Kerry, near Newtown, will be going under the auctioneer’s hammer on Friday with an enticing guide price of £150,000 at a collective property and land auction in Shrewsbury.

With original sections dating to the 17^th century, the property boasts significant architectural features and parkland views but is currently not habitable and requires complete renovation and refurbishment. 

Dolforgan Hall has been converted into six apartments with a floor area of approximately 14,599 square feet. The Grade II* Listing reflects its national architectural and historic significance. 

The property is being sold jointly by agents Halls, who are conducting the auction at 2pm on Friday, and Newtown agents Morris Marshall & Poole.

 “Dolforgan Hall is one of the most important country houses in the Kerry Vale and stands in what was once a substantial landed estate that influenced much of the surrounding parish,” said Allen Gittins, chairman of Halls. 

“Iconic features include a grand columned entrance portico, symmetrical Regency facades, a fine internal staircase and reception rooms, formal gardens and stunning views over traditional parkland. 

“The site was occupied by a manor house from the 17th century with much of the older house replaced with the elegant Georgian/Regency mansion seen today.

“It now requires complete renovation and refurbishment which will require a sympathetic eye and a passion for older buildings. The mature, architecturally landscaped gardens and wood will also require much tender, loving care.”

The original manor house was built for the Fox family and later purchased by John Herbert who extensively rebuilt and extended the property between 1790 and 1800.

Between 1807-‘18, one of the world’s earliest iron bridge was built to carry the main drive to the house. In 1846, Walter Long married 21-year-old Harriet Avarina Brunetta Herbert, only daughter of Captain John Owen Herbert, owner of Dolforgan.

Double tragedy struck when Harriet died the following year from childbirth complications and Walter died three months later. The hall passed briefly to Walter's brother, Richard Pedruddocke Long in 1867 but was purchased with the 4,250-acre Dolforgan Estate the following year by James Walton, High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire.

It remained Walton’s primary residence until his death in 1883 and the hall was then sold to John William Willans, chief engineer of Liverpool Overhead Railway who died unexpectedly in 1895.

John Bancroft Willans, a historian and photographer, inherited the hall and his extensive photographic record of Dolforgan is now in the National Library of Wales. He died in 1957 when the hall was sold to the family of the current owners.

During the early part of the 1940s to the end of Second World War, Dolforgan Hall was a refuge for children escaping the bombing of London. 

Viewing is by appointment with Halls on Tel: 01743 236444 or Morris Marshall & Poole on Tel: 01686 626160