The Cors

Built on the site of a former grand house (see Dickey Lake) in 1838, the Cors was a fine restaurant until the owner, Nick Priestland, sadly drowned in the river one night.

Martin Rowson, the Guardian cartoonist, stayed there regularly during the Laugharne Weekends and painted a picture of his good friend Nick in the porch (below). Other Weekenders who have stayed there include Howard Marks and John Cooper-Clarke. It is now available to rent out.




The magnificent Cors garden, which was Nick's pride and joy, and below the wonderful staircase.


When Peter Stopp was helping with some research for this site, a Thomas David of Laugharne kept cropping up. 'He was born in about 1825 to James David, who became a chemist in King Street and Thomas is given as a stone cutter in the 1851 census. He worked on the restoration of St Martin's Church in the 1850s. By 1871 he was living in King Street with his wife, Caroline and 5 young children. In 1874 he was commissioned by Edward Faulkener to refurb of Glan y Mor house and whilst the house has gone, some of his carved stone features in the grounds remain, though in a sorry condition.

By the 1880s he was busy building a bungalow as a holiday home for the Broadwood piano family, now part of Broadway Mansion. He almost certainly both designed and built Gaisford House as a new chemist shop and home for his brother, Samuel, as well as The Cors, which became his own family home.

Besides constructing these significant and distinctive major local buildings he was a pillar of the local community, and also an undertaker. For 20 years he was a church warden, and he became Portreeve in 1874/5 and then senior alderman by the time of his death in 1902, aged 78'
.




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