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Penrhiw Priory was originally built in 1884 by the Church in Wales as a Vicarage. It was built on the site of a large longhouse farm building. The design was carried out by John Middleton and Son of Cheltenham.

Penrhiw is a fine example of high Victorian architecture, built in Tudorbethan style with squared Caerbwdi rubble stone, limestone ashlar dressings, steep slate roofs with bargeboards, terracotta ridge tiles and tall stone stacks. The interior woodwork is pitch pine; deep skirting boards. Large panelled doors, panelled window reveals and a lovely staircase. There are also two fine fireplaces with decorative tiles by William De Morgan the celebrated Arts and Crafts ceramics maker.

During the 20th Century Pen Rhiw ceased to be a vicarage and saw other uses. The local Doctor lived there and then Colonel and Mrs Weir ran it as a guest house for many years. During their tenure Anthony Eden [later Prime minister of the U.K.] stayed at Penrhiw a number of times.

In the 1960′s the property became a Priory for the Community of St. John the Evangelist and was extended to 20 bedrooms, three reception rooms and a chapel. In 1985 the nuns left the Priory and it was sold by the Church in Wales in 1988 to Steve and Lis Cousens who ran it until 2000 as a centre for groups, hosting up to 30 people at a time. Tim Sime ran it as a Retreat for 4 years and then it was sold it to Adam Hill and Rachael Knott in 2004. Penrhiw was acquired by The Retreats Group Trust in 2009.

A restoration contract was awarded to Carreg Construction in July 2009 under the design and supervision of Architects Acanthus Holden.
Penrhiw will re-open as a Retreat in May 2011.

Twr y Felin Hotel
Penrhiw Priory

Converted from a 200 year old windmill, Twr-y-Felin Hotel features a Grade II listed windmill tower. You can still see the old mill stones lying at the front of the building.

Originally known as Felin Wynt, the Welsh for windmill, the tower and some of the surrounding buildings were first built in 1806 by George Llewellyn of Foxhole Cottage, Ty Gwyn (on the shores of Whitesands Bay). He was helped by his two sons, John and Henry, who were both carpenters.

George Llewellyn was known to have been heavily involved in wrecking activities along the local coastline and it was said: ‘He got his money on the water and invested it in the wind.’
Going ‘wrecking’ (or ‘wreca’ in the local Welsh dialect) was the practice of collecting/gathering items washed overboard from sailing ships, or timbers, canvas or rope gathered from ships that had run aground and been wrecked during storms.

After the mill was severely damaged during an incredibly violent storm, John and Henry are said to have died from the disappointment. The mill was then bought by George Williams of ‘the Old Shop,’ a respected merchant. But the weather soon took its toll again when the ‘roof, wings and all’ were blown into a nearby field.

George Williams was discouraged by this fresh disaster, but public pressure persuaded him to undertake the necessary repairs and the mill was re-built. In 1857 the mill passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Mr Tommy Williams.

In 1866, David Evans of Triago Farm bought and renovated the structure using materials from a timely shipwreck. The mill continued to grind corn from 1862 right through to 1904, when the sails were dismantled. David Evans’s youngest son, Evan Evans raised the height of the tower in 1907 when he was 21 years old. He converted the tower and erected new buildings alongside to create a new hotel called Twr-y-Felin, the Welsh for ‘mill tower’.

Evan had been trained as a builder-architect in Cardiff and had been a staff sergeant with the Royal Engineers, surviving the trenches of the Great War. He went on to construct many significant buildings in the area including the Masonic Hall in Fishguard, the City Hall in St Davids and many houses.

Evan’s sister, Elizabeth, ran the hotel as a successful and well known temperance hotel until it was requisitioned by the Government for the war effort in 1939. Evacuees from the London Blitz stayed there in 1940 following which the Admiralty stationed the Women’s Royal Naval Service, “Wrens”, in the building until 1945. The following is an excerpt from a Wrens account of life there in 1943 (Daily Telegraph 8 Apr 2009)
“I was sent to St David’s Head in Pembrokeshire (HMS Skirmisher).

Our Wrennery was a converted sort of lighthouse with a circular room at the top, windows all around; this was our watchroom. Nobody outside the 12 of us plus our third Officer was allowed entry, nor did anyone know what we were doing there. Two girls kept constant naval watches there, a W/T (Morse) operator and an R/T (German speech) operator searching endlessly in the wavebands on two VH/F sets each for German live signals.

Once heard, these had to be rapidly logged (Callsigns, time of Origin, who called up whom, and any messages, etc), and if one, alone, considered the text important, one had to phone a telephone number on our set “I/C=Intelligence Centre” immediately.

We also had to take it in turns to sleep in a wired-off hut in a nearby field where if necessary, one had to take a D/F (bearing) on any signal that was sent through to you from the watchroom”.
Following extensive repairs by the Admiralty after the War the hotel was returned to Evan Evans who leased it to his nephew David Watts Evans and his wife Freda.

Once again the Twr Y Felin Hotel became a successful temperance hotel. It was so successful that David and Freda would outplace up to 80 guests throughout the private houses of St. Davids. Mealtimes would be run in relays to cope with the large number of guests. The hotel provided a valuable service during this period when accommodation in St Davids after the war was practically non-existent, and the tourist and holiday industry was rapidly expanding.

In 1970 the hotel was leased to Roy Lewis and his wife who continued to run it as a temperance hotel on a more modest scale. It was sold in 1986 by the then owners, Elizabeth Beer and David Nash, of the Evans family, to Andrew Middleton.

Andrew Middleton converted and ran the property for 23 years as an Eco-Lodge and an Outdoor Pursuits Centre. It became an important surfers’ centre at which international championships were based. It was at Twr y Felin, also, that the intensely exciting sport of “coasteering” was first introduced and enthusiastically embraced by the sporting enthusiasts who flocked to St Davids. During this period the hotel also won several national awards for healthy menus.

In 2009 Keith Griffiths identified the property as a worthy addition to the Roch-Griffiths Foundation and bought it from Andrew Middleton. The one acre field fronting the Hotel to the main road had remained the property of the Evans’ family so Keith negotiated the purchase of this from the owner, John Beer. The field provided an important frontage and gardens for the Hotel and a new access road has been built across the field.

The Roch-Griffiths Foundation is currently restoring and extending the building as a 20 room five star boutique hotel for completion in January 2013.

Twr y Felin Hotel

Twr y Felin Hotel

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