Newbridge Lodge | |
Type: | House |
Map Relief: | yes |
Coordinates: | 52.9691°N -3.0628°W |
Location: | Newbridge, Wrexham County Borough |
Built: | 1827–1828 |
Architecture: | Neoclassical |
Owner: | Privately owned |
Designation1: | Grade I |
Designation1 Offname: | Newbridge Lodge |
Designation1 Date: | 23 August 1955 |
Designation1 Number: | 16872 |
Designation2: | Grade I listed building |
Designation2 Offname: | Entrance gates and railings at Newbridge Lodge |
Designation2 Date: | 23 August 1955 |
Designation2 Number: | 16873 |
Newbridge Lodge is a gatehouse to the Wynnstay estate near Ruabon, in Wrexham County Borough, North Wales. Designed by Charles Robert Cockerell in 1827–1828 for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet, it is a Grade I listed building. Its gates and railings have a separate Grade I listing.
The Williams-Wynn baronets of Wynnstay Hall were, in the 18th and 19th centuries, "the richest, most powerful and most profusely hospitable" family in North Wales. Their Wynnstay estate saw extensive development; firstly by the 3rd baronet, who engaged Francis Smith of Warwick in the mid-18th century, and subsequently by the 4th and 5th baronets. The 5th baronet commissioned Charles Robert Cockerell to undertake work at the hall, and also to construct the Newbridge Lodge, purportedly in anticipation of a Royal visit which did not, in fact, occur.
Edward Hubbard, in his Clwyd volume in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, applauds the "brilliant originality" of Cockerell's design. The lodge is of two storeys, the lower floor with an arcaded and rusticated loggia. The construction material is local ashlar. The lodge is set back from the road and enclosed by a set of elaborate gates with railings. Both the lodge and the gates are Grade I listed buildings, the Cadw listing record describing them as "one of the finest lodge designs of its period in Britain."