House of Famous Memory

A house with a famous association that has been left to deteriorate for many years is Iscoed, Ferryside from whence General Sir Thomas Picton set forth for Waterloo in 1815 to fight his last battle.

This Georgian house was built late in the eighteenth century by Sir William Mansel (1738-1804), the seventh baronet and acquired from his son by Sir Thomas Picton, who had lived at Iscoed but a short time before leaving for his last campaign. After his death it remained the home of his brother, the Rev. Edward Picton, who presented to the County the portrait of the General that now hangs in the Shire Hall, Carmarthen.

A later occupier was J. W. Arengo-Cross, son of Sir John Cross, Chief Judge of the Court of Review, who acquired his hyphened name through his first marriage to Maria Teresa Arengo of Gibraltar.

The three storey building of brick possessed a stone portico of later date, with a modern door and glass panels. In the rear there is a yard, around which there is an extensive stable block and out-buildings. When the house was threatened with demolition in 1957 the Minister of Housing and Local Government, after an inquiry, did not feel justified in making a preservation order because of its already bad state, but a complete photographic record was made for deposit with the National Buildings Record, London.