Taken by John Dillwyn Llewelyn (Swansea: 1810 – 1882)
Sketty Hall, Swansea 1852 / built in the early 1700’s, extended by Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1831-1865), the house on Sketty Lane had a hothouse (to cultivate tropical plants & fruits) & an ice-house in the grounds.
Lewis Weston’s diary reveals, ” ..all the family were so crazily in love with Sketty Hall that I wrote this evening & offered £3800 for it & the fixtures” [18th June 1831].
JDL’s sister, Fanny, in a letter (1831) to his future wife, Emma, asks “..Have you heard of Papa’s new purchase of Sketty Hall? We were all greatly delighted when we had prevailed on him to buy it, as a residence, instead of the Willows [later Fanny’s home when she married Matthew Moggridge] which is completely a town house.. Sketty Hall is very quiet & retired, and there are nice walks & Trees & fields about it…” (Mr Dillwyn’s Diary)
