Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/405



Upper Powys, over which he had ruled, became known as Powys Gwenwynwyn.

[Brut y Tywysogion (Rolls Ser.); Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum et Patentium, Record Comm.; Fœdera, vol. i., Record ed.; Eyton's Shropshire; Bridgeman's Princes of Upper Powys, in the Montgomeryshire Collections of the Powysland Club, i. 11-19, 104-11.]  GWILT, GEORGE, the elder (1746–1807), architect, was made surveyor to the county of Surrey about 1770. In 1774, on the passing of the Metropolitan Building Act, he became district surveyor for St. George's, Southwark, and about 1777 surveyor to the commissioners of sewers for Surrey, his district extending from East Moulsey to the river Ravensbourne in Kent. In this latter post, which he held for thirty years, he was succeeded by his eldest son; [q. v.] As a young man Gwilt benefited by the patronage of Henry Thrale the brewer, and probably directed some of the improvements made by him at his brewery in Southwark (now Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, & Co.) At his house Gwilt became acquainted with Dr. Johnson, but there was no great cordiality between them. In 1782, when the private bridges at Cobham, Godalming, and Leatherhead were, by act of parliament, handed over to the county and made public, he, as county surveyor, directed the necessary alterations. Cobham bridge (formerly of wood) was entirely rebuilt of brick, with nine semicircular arches, the foundation-stone being laid on 15 July 1782. Godalming bridge (five arches) was also rebuilt, the foundation-stone laid on 22 July 1782, and the bridge opened to the public on 31 Jan. 1783. Leatherhead bridge, being already of stone and flint, was widened. Gwilt superintended the construction of the County Bridewell in St. George's Fields, at the back of the New King's Bench (afterwards Great Suffolk Street), in 1772; of Horsemonger Lane Gaol between 1791 and 1798 (pulled down in September 1878), and of the Sessions House in Newington Causeway, completed in 1799 (pulled down in 1862). In 1800, as architect to the West India Dock Company, he designed six of the large warehouses in the Isle of Dogs. In this work he was assisted by his son George. His two sons, George and Joseph, both separately noticed, were his pupils. He died in Southwark, 9 Dec. 1807, aged 61.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Dict. of Architecture; Manning and Bray's Surrey, iii. 589, Appendix, pp. xii, xiv, xxxvi; Brayley's Surrey, ii. 403, iii. 405, 406, v. 202; Memoir of Joseph Gwilt by Sebastian Gwilt, read at the Institute of British Architects, 15 Feb. 1864; Neild's State of the Prisons, pp. 547, 548, 551; Gent. Mag. 1807, p. 1181.]  GWILT, GEORGE, the younger (1775–1856), architect, born in Southwark 8 May 1775, was elder son of [q. v.] He was articled to his father, and succeeded him in business as an architect. He was from the first very fully employed, one of his earliest important commissions being the large warehouses erected about 1801 for the West India Dock Company, but he is not known as the author of any original works of artistic character. His tastes led him rather towards the study than the active practice of architecture, and he early devoted himself to archæological pursuits. He wrote many papers for the 'Archæologia' and the 'Vetusta Monumenta' of the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was elected a fellow on 14 Dec. 1815. In 1820 he superintended the rebuilding of the tower and spire of Wren's church of St. Mary-le-Bow,Cheapside, the upperportion of which had to be taken down in consequence of the decay of the iron cramps employed to hold the stones together. The foundations of the building were at the same time repaired, and Norman and even supposed Roman remains discovered. These are noticed in the description of the church in Britton and Pugin's 'Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London,' to which work Gwilt also contributed. He was particularly interested in the antiquities of Southwark, and contributed to the 'Gentleman's Magazine' of 1815 an article on the remains of Winchester Palace there. His most important archæological work was the restoration of the church of St. Mary Overy, Southwark, which was with him a labour of love. The tower and choir were restored 1822-1825 at a cost of 35,000l., and when, through the exertions of Thomas Saunders, F.S.A., the restoration of the lady chapel was proceeded with at a cost of 3,000l., raised by public subscription, Gwilt gave his services gratuitously. He died 26 June 1856 at the age of eighty-one, and was buried, by authority of the secretary of state, in a vault of the choir of St. Saviour's, Southwark.

Gwilt had three sons. The two eldest, George and Charles Edwin, were promising architects, but both died young. The latter contributed a paper on some antiquities of Southwark to the 'Archæologia' (xxv. 604).

[Builder, vol. xiv. (1856); Gent. Mag. 1833, pt. i. p. 254, 1856, ii. 250.]  GWILT, JOSEPH (1784–1863), architect and archæologist, son of [q. v.], and younger brother of [q. v.], was born at 