Kinmel Hall, in north Wales, with a facade almost 150 metres (500ft) long, has been judged among the most important Victorian structures in England and Wales in danger of being lost for good.

The property, owned by a company registered in the Virgin Islands, is now empty and vandalised.

It joins a seafront terrace, a pier, swimming baths, another derelict stately home, a flax mill, a church and a brewery on the Victorian Society’s dismal roll call of the top 10 endangered buildings. All the buildings and structures, nominated by members of the public, are in poor condition.

But Christopher Costelloe, the director of the Victorian Society which revealed its top 10 on Wednesday, pointed out that the buildings were officially judged valuable and important enough to achieve listed status. Grade I, II* or II status is awarded by the government, on the advice of experts from Historic England, to buildings and structures officially considered among the country’ s most architecturally or historically interesting. The Victorian Society’s expertise on buildings of the period is also officially recognised by the government.

The Grade I listed Kinmel Hall, near Abergele, Conwy, is alternatively nicknamed the “Welsh Versailles” or “discount Downton”. The house was paid for by Hugh Robert Hughes, heir of a huge copper mining fortune. Country Life magazine noted in 1969 that “Kinmel is an amazingly palatial house for a commoner to build himself, even a Victorian commoner and a very rich one.” Queen Victoria is believed to have stayed at Kinmel in 1870. There are plans to turn it into a hotel but these have stalled.

 

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