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Home » Articles » Downing Hall, WhitfordDowning Hall, Whitford
Photographic survey of Downing Hall, Whitford, undertaken by George Bernard Mason, National Buildings Record, in 1953.
Photographic survey of Downing Hall, Whitford, undertaken by George Bernard Mason, National Buildings Record, in 1953.
Downing Hall was the seat of the Pennant family, the most famous member of which was the antiquarian and naturalist Thomas Pennant (1726-1798). The house, built in 1627, was altered by Thomas Pennant c.1766 and by his successors, especially by his son David, who added the library wing, and c.1858 by T. H. Wyatt, architect, for Lord and Lady Fielding (later Earl and Countess of Denbigh). Lady Fielding was Thomas Pennant's great-grand-daughter. Downing Hall was demolished in 1953 following a major fire thirty years earlier. These photographs were taken just prior to demolition.
Thomas Pennant's best known works include his 'Tours in Wales', published in 1778 and 1781, twenty two volumes of 'Outlines of the Globe' and, of particular local interest, the 'History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell', published in 1796. Pennant was an internationally-acclaimed writer who was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Fellow of the Royal Society as well as receiving honours from Scandinavia and America.
