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[94830] Conwy : Plas Mawr - Great Chamber
Plas Mawr, High Street, Conwy.
Grade l listed.
The most complete large Elizabethan town house in Wales, exceptional for its state of preservation and with interior plasterwork of national importance.
The Great Chamber Ceiling.
In the great chamber is a fireplace with marble chimney piece incorporating a corbelled lintel, and plaster overmantel with the garter arms and monogram of Elizabeth I. Around the room is a frieze of cartoon-like caryatids below the cornice. The ribbed ceiling incorporates geometrical patterns, including ribs radiating from roundels that incorporate heraldic devices.
Plas Mawr was built in stages between 1576 and c1585. Robert Wynn had acquired a 'mansion house' from Hugh Merche in 1570, and in the 1st phase, dated 1576-77, added a wing to the existing house which is now the north wing of the main house. The old 'mansion house' was subsequently demolished and in 1580 an entrance range and south wing were added in its place that, with the north wing of 1576-77, formed a U-shaped house facing Crown Lane and enclosing a rear courtyard. Finally, in 1585 Wynn obtained the plot on the corner of High Street and Crown Lane. This allowed him to build a separate gatehouse facing High Street, which now became the main entrance to Plas Mawr, superseding the original entrance in the relatively narrow Crown Lane. A lower courtyard is between gatehouse and main house. The house and gatehouse are among the earliest examples of the fashion for crow-stepped gables. The main house was lavishly decorated with plasterwork, a relatively recent innovation in Wales.
The house remained in the family until after 1683 when Elin Wynn married Robert Wynne of Bodysgallen, and thereafter Plas Mawr was only a minor family house. Ownership later passed by marriage to the Mostyn family. Subsequent use of the building made surprisingly little impact on its original interiors. In the C18 part of the gatehouse was used as a courthouse, and the main house was subdivided into tenements. Between 1839 and 1886 part of the south wing was occupied by a school. The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art took the building as their headquarters in 1887, and used it as a gallery. In 1993 Plas Mawr was placed in the guardianship of the state,and has since undergone substantial restoration.
[94830] Conwy : Plas Mawr - Great Chamber
Plas Mawr, High Street, Conwy.
Grade l listed.
The most complete large Elizabethan town house in Wales, exceptional for its state of preservation and with interior plasterwork of national importance.
The Great Chamber Ceiling.
In the great chamber is a fireplace with marble chimney piece incorporating a corbelled lintel, and plaster overmantel with the garter arms and monogram of Elizabeth I. Around the room is a frieze of cartoon-like caryatids below the cornice. The ribbed ceiling incorporates geometrical patterns, including ribs radiating from roundels that incorporate heraldic devices.
Plas Mawr was built in stages between 1576 and c1585. Robert Wynn had acquired a 'mansion house' from Hugh Merche in 1570, and in the 1st phase, dated 1576-77, added a wing to the existing house which is now the north wing of the main house. The old 'mansion house' was subsequently demolished and in 1580 an entrance range and south wing were added in its place that, with the north wing of 1576-77, formed a U-shaped house facing Crown Lane and enclosing a rear courtyard. Finally, in 1585 Wynn obtained the plot on the corner of High Street and Crown Lane. This allowed him to build a separate gatehouse facing High Street, which now became the main entrance to Plas Mawr, superseding the original entrance in the relatively narrow Crown Lane. A lower courtyard is between gatehouse and main house. The house and gatehouse are among the earliest examples of the fashion for crow-stepped gables. The main house was lavishly decorated with plasterwork, a relatively recent innovation in Wales.
The house remained in the family until after 1683 when Elin Wynn married Robert Wynne of Bodysgallen, and thereafter Plas Mawr was only a minor family house. Ownership later passed by marriage to the Mostyn family. Subsequent use of the building made surprisingly little impact on its original interiors. In the C18 part of the gatehouse was used as a courthouse, and the main house was subdivided into tenements. Between 1839 and 1886 part of the south wing was occupied by a school. The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art took the building as their headquarters in 1887, and used it as a gallery. In 1993 Plas Mawr was placed in the guardianship of the state,and has since undergone substantial restoration.