Lotus Hall / Cuckoo Hall, Wales

Lotus Hall (also known as Cuckoo Hall) is a large chateau-style house in Wales. The Victorian Mansion was built in the 1870’s, and includes a Neo-palladian style stable block. The buildings sit within walled gardens covering an area of nearly 20 acres.

The manor is an example of a “calendar house”; with 365 windows representing days of the year, and 12 entrances symbolising the calendar months. There are over 120 rooms, around 50 of these are classed as the main bedrooms. The rest would be for live-in servants. It is said there was even a room specifically for ironing newspapers, so that the ink would not tarnish the readers hands.

The Neo-palladian style stable block features large stone lions, guarding the stairs to the main pedestrian entrance. There is also a clocktower. The horse riders entranceway is overgrown and impassable. The old stone entrance way can be seen at the perimeter wall of the grounds, and features a heraldic shield and stone statues.

The house was last used as a private residence in the 1920’s. In the 1930’s and up until the outbreak of World War Two, the hall served as a spa for those suffering with rheumatism. During the Second World War, the house was taken over as a hospital. Post-war the manor became a girl’s school, which closed after an extensive and structurally damaging fire in the 1970’s.

The house has changed hands several times over the last few decades, with various re-development plans materialising and vanishing. Recent work on site suggest that new plans are currently afoot, and we wait to see what becomes of this noble house.

Lotus Hall / Cuckoo Hall was one of the first locations I explored, many years ago. I re-edited these old photographs, which were taken on a Sony A65 with a stock lens.