Glandyfi Castle

The Jeffreys were originally from Shrewsbury and had moved to Ceredigion (then Cardiganshire) in the mid-18th century to develop lead smelting mills. Edward Jeffreys bought the Ynyshir estate, which included the site of the present castle, in 1792. He died in 1801, his son Robert died in 1802, and his other son, another Edward, was killed in the Peninsular War in 1812. The estate therefore passed to his brother, George, a lawyer, who began to build the castle immediately on his inheritance.

In 1819, Jeffreys was made High Sheriff of Cardiganshire and the following year his close friend, Thomas Love Peacock, married Jane Griffith, an event celebrated by their reception at the castle. Jeffreys died in 1868 and the death of his second son, Charles, in 1906 saw the sale of Glandyfi.

In 1906, the castle and its 370-acre (150 ha) estate were sold to Lewis Pugh Pugh of Abermad, who subsequently sold on the castle, with a reduced acreage, to Major Robert John Spurrell, of Bessingham, Norfolk. In the 1950s, the property was purchased by the Birmingham Small Arms Company, for the use of its chairman, Sir Bernard Docker. Docker and his second wife, Norah Collins, were known for their extravagant lifestyles, generally funded from the assets of Docker's companies rather than their own.