Falcondale

There were three estates in and around Lampeter, Maesyfelin, Peterwell and Falcondale all having substantial houses. Only Falcondale (the youngest of the three) now exists. Maesyfelin was resided in from the 16th century by the Lloyd family. Sir Lucius Lloyd, High Sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1746, married Anne, daughter of Walter Lloyd of Peterwell. On his death in 1750 his estates were inherited by his widow's family. Only a few garden walls remain of this property, as stones from this house were used to remodel Peterwell House. and corner towers after 1755, but before his suicide in 1769. Peterwell Estate was sold to Richard Hart-Davies in 1807, who was a partner of Harford Bank in…

In 1850 John Battersby-Harford married Mary von Bunsen, daughter of the Prussian ambassador to St. James's. He, and much of his family, spent time in Europe, especially in France and Italy; as testified in Alice Harford's Annals of the Harford Family. This could explain the Italian features seen at Falcondale. Once his training for the bar had ended he decided not to follow his Uncle into Harford bank, but "settle at Falcondale, and gradually to bring order out of the chaos into which the estate had sunk, and to provide decent houses and buildings for tenants". His letters of 1854 to his uncle explains his motivations which contain a hint of the Harford family's Quaker philanthropy. It is…