Inside the abandoned, crumbling Tudor building in Laugharne that has just been saved

Situated in the heart of the Carmarthenshire coastal town of Laugharne, the Island House a Grade II* listed building that dates back to Tudor times, should be the community's crowning jewel.

Instead after standing idle and abandoned for over 15 years, nature has begun swallowing the building, ceilings have crumbled down and scaffolding surrounds the historic home.

But despite its creepy exterior, the local community have been trying to save it from quite literally crumbling down in front of their eyes after it was put on the 'at-risk' register in 2011.

The outside of the building has been boarded up for the past decade (Denize McIntyre)

The original fireplace in the house (Denize McIntyre)

Last year, some of the ceilings and floors in the building collapsed after the house was battered by severe weather conditions and high winds.

The building has remained empty since the owner died 16 years ago and has had very little restoration work done on it since.

The community remained hopeful that it could be restored to its former glory. Denize McIntyre from Save Island House Campaign said: "Laugharne being on the coast and with the links to Dylan Thomas - we get a lot of tourists here. The building is of national importance and I believe is only one of four of its kind in Wales but still nothing has been done in 16 years - it's crazy."

There is extensive work to be done on the house but plans are in place to turn it into a boutique hotel (Denize McIntyre)

Nature started taking over and swallowing the historic house (Denize McIntyre)

Locals say that the building had a death sentence and was unlikely to last another year before collapsing.

Denize and six others working for the local 'Laugharne News' publication started a campaign in August 2019  and were given the good news that a buyer was interested.

"It's an important building that has a lot of history and means a lot to the community so people really got behind us," added Ms McIntyre.

"When we heard there was a potential buyer - we were cautiously optimistic but thought it would be the answer to everything."

The community say the house had a death sentence and would have collapsed within the next couple of years (Denize McIntyre)

Despite its state, the house still has many of its historic features (Denize McIntyre)

The building's new owner, property developer Stephen Kirkwood hopes to turn it into a boutique hotel, cafe and restaurant.

Mr Kirkwood estimates it could cost between £3 million and £4 million and take around two years to complete.

But for the community who have watched the once beloved building rot away and taken over by nature, its restoration would mean a building in the centre of the town of which the community could be proud of.