Forgotten faces

The small town of Cardigan (Aberteifi) possesses an imposing Guildhall built in 1860 as a multipurpose institution housing a market, a grammar school, a library,  a council chamber and other public offices. However, within a few years it began to show signs of strain: walls bulged, a chimney threatened to collapse and the whole structure became unstable.  In 1875 four iron tie-rods  were inserted from front to back to hold the building together.  On the front elevation the ends of the  4 rods were adorned with female faces. They have always intrigued me, although when I first noticed them they were rusty and the paint was peeling - you could barely make them out. I put a photograph of one of them on a website I contributed to at the time. A couple of months later I was surprised to see that the four faces had been colourfully repainted with the anchor plates in purple and the ladies' hair re-tinted red, brown, black and blonde. Whether this was consequent upon my having drawn a modicum of attention to them, or entirely serendipitous,  I do not know.

Nine years later they are beginning to look the worse for wear again (and not improved by the bright blue electricity cable draped around them.) I'm still very fond of them and after photographing them again today I tried to find out what I could about them. First of all, I couldn't see any other examples in online images of similar tie-rod faces - usually the ends  are simple round or star shapes. However I found a local reference which suggested they may have been designed by a member of the Miles family (that then  owned the Priory mansion in town), and that they may have represented members of that family.  That allowed me to discover that the landowner in 1875 had been Colonel Charles William Miles, a distinguished military man and a millionaire. His wife was Maria Susannah and together they had 6 children, 3 sons and 3 daughters named Clarissa, Mary and Marguerite Agaranthe*.  I'm now wondering if the 4 female faces represent them along with their mother Maria - although the girls would have been only 15, 13 and 6 in 1875.

If my hunch is correct, you can look at Cardigan Guildhall and see 4 Miles....

Extra shows the Guildhall with the four faces in situ.

* It would appear that Miss Marguerite Miles is the only person ever to have borne the name Agaranthe.