Dolaucothi Estate

The Dolaucothi Estate (also Dolaucothy) is situated about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of the village of Caio up the Cothi Valley in the community of Cynwyl Gaeo, in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Dolaucothi means ‘the meadows of the Cothi’. The medieval manor house overlooking the fast-flowing River Cothi was rebuilt by the Johnes family and, in 1873, the estate encompassed 3,172 acres (1,284 ha). The park is registered at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The house was demolished in 1952. Dolaucothi House could be approached by two drives of considerable length, that to the east skirting the Roman gold mines (Ogofau, near Pumsaint), while that to the west was flanked by four lines of ancient oaks — the "very noble oaks" remarked upon by George Borrow (1803–1881) after walking along the avenue in 1854 for a glimpse of the house, charmed by the thought that "he had never seen a more pleasing locality".