Newton House, Llandeilo

Dinefwr Park has a history of occupation spanning at least two millennia. A polished stone axe dated to the Neolithic period was unearthed on the site in 1976, and during the Iron Age, a farm existed on the property. The current Newton House was completed in 1660 under the command of Edward Rice. In the late 1700s, George Rice and his wife Cecil began the construction of a landscape garden, and hired eminent architect Capability Brown in 1775 to assume responsibility for the development. Turrets and battlements were added between 1760 and 1780, giving the property a more romanticised appearance. During the Rebecca Riots of 1843, Colonel George Rice was awoken one night in September and found an empty grave dug in the grounds, warning him that he would be buried in it by October 10. Newton House fell into a turbulent period after the death of Walter Rice, 7th Baron Dynevor in 1956. His son Charles Rhys, 8th Baron Dynevor, died just six years later, and most of the estate and a number of family's assets had to be sold off to pay duties. In 1974, the property was sold by Richard Rhys, 9th Baron Dynevor, and later fell into disrepair: it was occupied by squatters and thieves who removed beams and furniture. The house, along with Dinefwr Castle, have since been restored by the National Trust and Cadw respectively. The National Trust acquired the deer park in 1987 and Newton House three years later. ==Architecture==

Edward Rice ordered the construction of a Jacobean house on the site of an earlier medieval mansion in 1659, A limestone refacing occurred at the same time. Newton House is a Grade II* listed property, as are its summer house and the inner and outer courtyard ranges. The nearby dairy cottage, ha-ha, dovecote, fountain, deer abattoir, icehouse, home farmhouse, corn barn and byre/stable range are Grade II listed in their own right. The authors of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion consider the heavily decorated late 17th-century ceilings of the house to be "the finest single architectural legacy among the country houses of the region". As in Plas Taliaris and several other country houses in the county, the ceilings are panelled, with "thick moulded beams and wreaths in the panels and winged cherubs' heads in the corners". The entrance hall contains a columned Doric screen with a 19th-century ribbed and bossed ceiling. The old dining room to the right of this features a coffered ceiling dated to the 17th century, containing "low plaster relief mouldings including guilloché, acanthus and egg and dart". The chimney piece has been removed. The drawing room to rear of the property also features a richly adorned coffered ceiling with "frieze bearing rosette bands" and a "centre oval with bay leaf design". The 17th-century staircase features thick balusters and prominent finials, with foliage patterns ingrained in the plasterwork of the handrail. A billiard room was added to the house in 1896. A strongroom with walls and heavy steel fire-proof doors was added in 1914, for the Dynevors to keep their important documents and valuables. On the upper floors are rooms with 18th-century fittings, including "panelled dados, lugged architraves, low relief plaster ceilings and closets within angled turrets". The bedroom on the northeast of the house features a particularly detailed coffered ceiling with floral patterns. The house contains several paintings of note, including William Powell Frith's Mary, Queen of Scots Bidding Farewell to France (1561) and Godfrey Kneller's portrait of the Bishop of Salisbury, William Talbot, dated to 1718. Two showrooms at the house are open to the public. Aside from the tearoom, the exhibition in the basement and ground floor contains numerous displays related to the Rhys family, the history of the estate and World War II, and is designed as if the year is 1912. ==Park and garden==

s at the house The house is surrounded by a deer park which was landscaped from 1775, including a winding path through the park and planted deciduous trees in key places to frame the house and castle. Brown's beech clumps survive in the present day. The park is registered at Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. Writing in 1862, Benjamin Clarje considered the park to exhibit "perhaps a richer display of varied landscape than any spot of similar size in the kingdom". He notes that the surface in the upper area of the park is "diversified by gentle undulations and has been planted with great judgment and taste" and that the River Towy flows in the vicinity. The Wildlife Trust West Wales acquired the nearby woodland in 1979. The BBC's Peter Crawford wrote of it in his book, The Living Isles: "The woodland is primarily oak and wych elm," he writes. "The shrubs and ground cover are outstanding with cherry, holly, spindle, dog violet and the parasitic toothwort. Lichen communities are of importance and include the rare lungwort. Overlooked by the romantic Castle of Dinefwr the fine old parkland has a herd of fallow deer. The mature trees attract woodpecker, common redstarts and pied flycatchers. In winter, the water meadows draw large numbers of ducks". ==Haunting==

The National Trust states that Newton House is "thought to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain", by a lover whom she had rejected. The house was later the subject of an investigation in the 11th and 15th series of the Most Haunted programme. ==See also==