The Grade II listed Lime Grove House has planning permission for conversion into flats with new detached properties and bungalows built on the grounds
A rare opportunity has emerged to acquire a 1.15-acre development site with full planning permission for 14 units, comprising nine flats and five detached properties.
The plot is nestled within a residential district approximately 0.5 miles North-west of the vibrant market town centre of Carmarthen. The land, covering roughly 1.15 acres, boasts the impressive Lime Grove House, a sizeable Victorian suburban house crafted in the Italianate style.
Cadw – the Welsh Government’s historic environment service – listed the house as Grade II in 2003, recognising it as “a substantial later Victorian suburban house in Italianate style”.
The listing also provides a brief backstory of the house on the site, which seems to have originated as a smaller villa depicted on the 1837 Tithe map, and was advertised for rent in 1840, boasting “three parlours and five bedrooms”, reports Wales Online.
Cadw reports that the property underwent a transformation around 1855 under the guidance of Carmarthen architect William Wesley Jenkins, resulting in a double-depth-plan residence, likely crowned with a hipped or near-pyramidal roof, in the Italianate style Jenkins preferred for other country estates during that era. A courtyard at the rear accommodated purpose-built stables and a coach house.
William Morgan Griffiths, a local solicitor, bought the property in 1884 and enlarged it with a rear extension, whilst simultaneously redesigning the front and altering the 1850s interiors, including replacing the original staircase. The house was subsequently owned by Henry Brunel White, who resided there until 1941.
The Church of Wales purchased the house in 1937, converting it into the Diocesan High School for Girls, a private boarding school, with extra classrooms built at the rear.
A separate chapel was constructed, though it no longer belongs to the estate. The school closed in 1964 and was subsequently transformed into flats in the 1970s and then office accommodation, but has remained vacant since 2014, according to the estate agent.
The principal building features a net internal area of 668 square metres (7,190 square feet), with solid masonry walls beneath slate roofs. The property’s most striking characteristics – two buff brick chimney stacks – are crowned by square crested pots, 10 per stack.
According to the agent, planning consent was approved on October 28, 2024, under application reference PL/05392 for the transformation of former offices into nine flats, including the demolition of the detached lab offices and side lean-to toilets and boiler room additions. The plans also include the construction of three detached houses and two detached bungalows on the premises.
Listed Building Consent for the project was granted on March 11, 2024, under application reference PL/05410.
The agent further notes that the approved works must begin before a five-year period from the date of consent expires, there are no section 106 or community infrastructure levy (CIL) obligations, and the property isn’t situated within a conservation area.
Prospective buyers also have the chance to repurpose the site for different uses (such as a boutique hotel or a GP surgery), subject to securing the necessary permissions.
A comprehensive planning pack and legal pack can be provided upon request, and interested parties should make their own enquiries with the Carmarthenshire County Council Planning Department. The site is on the market with a guide price of £795,000; contact John Francis, Carmarthen on 01267 340069 for more information.
