JAILHOUSE ROCKS
SOME Welsh properties are so unique, steeped in history and dripping with an atmosphere formed through the centuries that they take your breath away. This is certainly the case with the Grade II-listed, Gothicrevival, Victorian Coes Faen Hall, better known locally as The Clock House.
This spectacular waterside dream home with a surprising history achieved its Grade II listing in 1995 by being “an unusual and interesting Victorian lodge-scale house in a very striking location and with group value with the Barmouth bridge”.
It’s not every home that can claim a landmark bridge as a neighbour either, and this one is just one of the absorbing views that this truly remarkable property in Ceredigion offers.
It sits on the Mawddach estuary, with the towering peaks of the Cader Idris range dominating the horizon and the start of the Snowdonia National Park around 500m away.
Current owner Sara Parry-Jones is constantly mesmerised by the location.
She said: “We’re contemporary, so we’d call it a view to break the internet. In the past poet William Wordsworth called the Mawddach estuary the sublime estuary.
“And when I looked in an 1890s travel guide, it said ‘certain it is, that no other spot in Wales has such grand scenery as the Mawddach estuary’.
“I’ve always thought it’s the closest to being on a boat without actually being on the sea because the water is right below you and we’ve got a slipway that takes you out onto seven miles of beach. It is the most amazing family house because you can go straight out onto the estuary by boat and we used to go and do our shopping by boat on good weather days.
The history of the estate dates back to about 1865 when the railway arrived at the Ceredigion coastal community, expanding it from a small fishing location to a popular Victorian seaside resort.
The majority of the Victorian building that exists today was created around that time, adding wings to the existing structure and Gothic style design that demands attention.
Sitting on the veranda, watching the sunset across the sparkling water with the mountains as the perfect Welsh backdrop is a special experience.
But it hasn’t always been a peaceful and idyllic location because research into the site’s location has revealed the building actually started life as a courtroom and jail. Prisoners were brought to the property via boat and taken through an entrance at water level to the cells inside.
Thankfully, now you can moor your boat at the floating pontoon and arrive at the house in style, rather than in chains; how very James Bond.
Although the prisoners’ former entrance is now not open as a working door to the house, the pontoon has steps to the garden to the main front door, once you have secured the boat.
But the history of the building has not been forgotten, with the cinema room above the prisoners’ entrance providing not just movie entertainment, but also a window to the past; literally.
Sara added: “Sections of the property date back to the 12th century. There’s a wall downstairs that dates back that far but I know that the lower floor is a lot older. The family room is actually the old courtroom because Barmouth only had holding ‘drunk’ cells really. So prisoners were brought here by boat, tried in the courtroom and held in the two cells here, one of which is now a wine cellar and the other is a pantry.”
At that time, Sara said the building had two dungeons too.
Another distinctive feature of the house is the clock tower.
Sara said: “You can go up into the clock tower by ladder but you can get up there for maintenance, but the clock is now not a mechanical clock. Since the house was refurbished about 20 years ago it’s a computerised clock, so it’s the same clock but the way of getting it to chime is now computerised. So it’s set for 8am to 11pm except on New Year’s Eve, when it goes to 12, but it’s the chime as it used to be and we know that because it’s the same company who deal with it, who originally put the clock in.”
The variety of accommodation on offer at The Clock Tower spans three stories and oozes charm and character. Sara said the property is a versatile and substantial family home.
She said: “The building’s original name was Coes Faen Hall, but it’s been built onto and built onto, so all the rooms are family-sized rooms, so they’re all usable.”
On the lower ground floor, the section that dates back the furthest, you’ll find the stone-walled family room that used to be the courtroom, as well as the converted cells that are now the wine store and pantry, located just off the courtroom.
Off the family room is a kitchenette with a stable door looking out to the garden and views, so entertaining in the family room is easy, there’s no need to walk up the beautiful Victorian staircase to the kitchen on the
ground floor.
This lower level also has a bonus wing that contains a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room or a sixth bedroom, and is used as a self-contained family suite.
But the climb up to the next storey is totally worth it as here, as well as the light and welcoming hallway, you will find arguably the most appealing space, the drawing-room. This extension juts out onto into the waterway, and if the house was a ship it would arguably be the bridge of the ship.
The charming roofed outside veranda and lower terrace offer a number of wonderful spots to drink in the views as well as enjoy a sip of something cool in the sunshine.
On this ground floor a formal dining room and separate sitting room both mimic the layout of the grand drawing room with lots of space and a bay window too.
The kitchen is a stunning space, boasting quarry floor tiles, hand-built Shaker style units including a sizeable island unit, plus an eye-catching cobalt blue Aga.
The study on this level is a charming room with a feature fireplace and looking out over the garden and a utility room and cloakroom completes the accommodation on this floor.
Up to the final floor and the central landing features a glass lantern roof window, meaning light cascades down the centre of the house, but if you look up there’s the best view of the clock tower to stop you in your tracks.
The principal bedroom occupies the “ship’s bridge” position and can boast oodles of built-in storage as well as water and mountain views.
There are three further bedrooms on this top floor, one of them with an ensuite, and two family bathrooms.
Of course, with this house continually offering something unique around every corner, one of these bathrooms is designed into one of the high roof eave spaces of this Gothicinspired building. Its five-star hotel worthy interior design offers luxury as well as quirkiness.
The Clock House has, for many decades, been a family home, and the ambience it oozes is one of a warm m welcome as well l as steeped in colourful history.
Also for sale, le, separately to The Clock House, ouse, is the estate’s former er lodge house, transformed fformedd into Coes Faen en Spa Lodge, the he UK’s first car--bon-positive hotel.