Gregynog Hall

Gregynog (Welsh pronunciation: [ɡrɛˈɡənɔɡ]) is a large country mansion in the village of Tregynon, 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Newtown in the old county of Montgomeryshire, now Powys in mid Wales. There has been a settlement on the site since the twelfth century. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century it was the home of the Blayney and Hanbury-Tracy families. In 1960 it was transferred to the University of Wales as a conference and study centre by Margaret Davies, granddaughter of the nineteenth century industrial magnate and philanthropist, David Davies 'Top Sawyer' of Llandinam.

The original mansion was rebuilt in the 1840s by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley. Its concrete cladding, designed to replicate the black-and-white timber-framed architecture of Montgomeryshire farmhouses, is among the earliest examples of concrete use in building in the modern era. The Sudeleys were also pioneers of the use of concrete in the building of new cottages and farmhouses on the Gregynog estate, and many Cadw-listed examples can still be seen in Tregynon and the surrounding countryside. At its largest, the Gregynog estate was over 18,000 acres (73 km²) in extent, but the estate was broken up in 1913, leaving the mansion with 750 acres (3 km²) of farms, woodlands and formal gardens. The sunken garden and arboretum are of particular note.