Kinmel Hall

Kinmel Hall is an example of a “calendar house” it has 365 windows, 122 rooms, and 12 entrances.

Kinmel Hall was originally owned by the Reverend Edward Hughes in 1786 It was then passed on to his son, Lord Dinorben(1767-1852), and although Lord Dinorben had a son he was disabled and only lived to the age of 8 months after which the “Dinorben” title became extinct and the land was passed down to Lord Dinorben‘s cousin, Hugh Robert Hughes.

The present chateau-style house, the third on the site, was built for the Hughes Copper mining family and was designed by W E Nesfield in the 1870s, The adjoining Venetian Gardens were designed by his father W A Nesfield, and the Neo-Palladian style stable block is attributed to William Burn..Materials for the construction were bought from the nearby LLeweni Hall and the building was completed in the 1850s

Ownership of the house has been dominated by the Hughes, Lewis, Fetherstonhaugh, and Gill families, and there are many heraldic shields displayed throughout the house which show evidence of the unions between these families

The property was last used as a private home in 1929 after which Mrs. Florence Lindley, formerly headmistress of Lowther College at nearby Bodelwyddan Castle, converted it into a health centre for the treatment of people with rheumatism.

Post-war the hall became Clarendon School for Girls but after extensive fire damage in 1975 the school was forced to close and move to Bedfordshire.

Restored by businessman, Eddie Vince as a Christian Conference centre the house was sold at auction in 2001 but a proposed redevelopment failed to materialise, Since then it has been bought by another property company that intended to develop the property into a hotel but sadly these plans never materialised and the property now lies derelict.

The wider estate surrounding the Hall has been owned by the Fetherstonhaugh family since 1786 but freehold of the Hall was sold in 2001.

Kinmel Hall was identified by the “Victorian Society” as one of the top ten at-risk Victorian and Edwardian buildings in 2015 and in 2021 the “Kinmel Resurrection” campaign began with the aim of shaming the owners into either explaining their intentions, fully restoring it, or selling it on. Pressure is also aimed at Conway Council and the Welsh government into helping to preserve the building, this is ongoing Let us hope it can be preserved and returned to its formerly known name as “The Welsh Versailles” or even ”Discount Downton".