The Cilwendeg Shell House Hermitage is an ornamental grotto, and a rare survival in West Wales. It was built in the late 1820s for Morgan Jones the Younger (1787-1840), who inherited the Cilwendeg estate upon the death of his uncle - along with the huge income produced by the privately owned Skerries Lighthouse (located off the coast of Angelsey) - an income reckoned in 1820 to amount to £20,000 per annum. The elder Morgan Jones (1740-1826) was enormously wealthy, but was somewhat lacking in urbane manners, and some thought him a very strange man, yet the same commentators also took note of his stealthy benevolence in all local affairs. In 1764 he completely rebuilt the long neglected medieval chapel called Capel Iman at the western perimeter of Cilwendeg Park- a church so remote and forgotten that in 1721 it was singled out as being fit only for the solitary habitations of Owles and Jackdaws. Seeking to reverse the trend, this man's quiet generosity gave rise to the later legend that he had "tamed a wilderness" at Cilwendeg. In the old Bardic tradition, he was one of the few Teifiside squires to merit an elegy many years after his death: Hen Gymro trwyd oedd efe (he was a thorough Welshman) of ancient lineage and charitable works'. He was known locally for his 'distinctly rustic disposition, reclusive habits, and exemplary piety' and so his nephew Morgan Jones 'the Younger' subsequently created the Shell House in his uncle's honour. This extraordinary woodland retreat was conceived in the picturesque taste of the era, and in addition to serving as a grateful tribute to the elder Jones, it was used by his family as a cool amusement in the summer months and a contemplative reading room in the depths of the winter.