Boughrood Motte

Boughrood Motte stands in Glasbury, Powys, on the edge of the River Wye. It is the remains of a 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle, now topped by a 19th-century country house. The house was built in 1817 by Francis Fowke Snr., who made a fortune in India before returning to Wales. The estate passed through several owners, including the Wilkins family of nearby Maesllwch Castle. Later it became home to the Morgan family, who hosted flower shows and ran a small hospital during the First World War. In 1921 the house and grounds were sold to Sir Laurence Phillips, who reduced the land from 79 to 60 acres. The house shows layers of its past. Some stone from the original castle was reused in its walls and garden. Francis Fowke’s design included battlements, removed in 1820 when his son enlarged the building. The south porch and east doorway were altered in 1929, stripping off the stucco to reveal the present façade. Richard Haslam, in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, suggests Fowke designed it himself. The house was listed Grade II in 1960 as a fine late-Georgian country home. Visitors find a quiet country house with a long history. The battlement-free roofline and two-storey bays face west and east. Stone pediments mark the south front and gable ends. The stripped stucco walls show the building’s bones. The River Wye lies close by, where the Morgan family once fished for salmon. The grounds still carry traces of earlier use, linking the modern house to its medieval beginnings.