4652

 

II*  

Designated  

06/12/1951  

31/01/2005  

Plas Rhiwaedog  

 

Gwynedd  

Llangywer  

 

Rhos-y-gwaliau  

294711  

334806  

 

Located at the end of a private driveway that leads NE from the country road at Pont Rhiwaedog; c. 400m ENE of the village of Rhos-y-gwaliau.  

Domestic  

 

A large and irregular gentry house of Jacobean character. The storeyed porch bears a date inscription of 1644, but it butts rather awkwardly against the main range of the house, which is probably of earlier date. The ovolo-moulded stone mullioned windows suggest that the house may date to early C17, though the cusped windbraces and cusping in the roof trusses in the roof of the main range (recorded by P Smith in Houses of the Welsh Countryside) may push the date back earlier still. Smith records the house as being a regional house type with lateral chimney and inside cross passage, he also records that the house retains post and panel partitions with double ogee doorheads and that one fireplace bears the date 1699. The 'History of Merioneth' records that the house has 'considerable Victorian additions', and the change of use to a Youth Hostel in C20 has led to other modernisations. The building ceased to be used as a Youth Hostel c.1997 and has been standing empty since this time. Although the present house dates mainly to the late C16 or C17, the history of Rhiwaedog can be traced back to the time of Llywarch Hen in the C6. It is known that Rhirid Glaidd lived at Rhiwaedog in C12, (at this time called 'Nevaddan Gleision' (Blue courts), from the colour of its buildings). The Lloyd family became possessed of Rhiwaedog by the marriage of their ancestor Meredyddab Ieuan ap Meredydd with Margaret, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Enion ab Ithel of Rhiwaedog, Esquire of the Body of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in 1395 and High Sheriff of Meirionydd for life. He was son of of Ithel ab Gwrgeneu Fychan ab Gwrgeneu ap Madog ap Rhiryd Flaidd. The ancestry of the Lloyd family can be traced through Owain Gwynedd and Llywarch hen to Coel Godebog and the main branch of the family, closely linked with Rhiwaedog, ended in the first half of C19 with the death, without issue, of William Lloyd Dolben. The house passed to a cousin and was then bequeathed to the wife of Richard Watkins Price Esq. Recorded in the tithe apportionment of the parish as a substantial holding of over 410 acres (165.9 hectares), owned by Richard Watkins Price Esq and occupied by Owen Roberts.  

Gentry house of 2 and 3 storeys with attics, irregularly planned. Roughly T-shaped with an advanced wing to L (E) and storeyed porch offset to L end of the main range. To the front of the house there is a walled garden with entrance through a gatehouse offset to NNW of the storeyed porch, and there is an agricultural range at an angle to the NW corner of the house. The house is now attached to the adjacent farmhouse by a C20 single storey brick built block. Built of roughly coursed masonry, slate roof with advanced eaves and verges; shaped kneelers to the porch roof. Tall stacks with dripstones and capping, some advanced. Entrance is through a storeyed porch with large segmental stone doorway, datestone above (said, in Williams leaflet on the 'History of Rhiwaedog' to bear the date and initials: L LI S / 1664 - Ll refers to Llwydiaid (Lloyds)). Windows are predominantly casements, some with ovolo moulded mullions, some with hoodmoulds and some with leaded lights. There is a rooflight in the front (N) roof pitch and the windows at the N gable of the advanced E wing are irregularly placed; the eastern elevation has gabled dormers. The agricultural range at the SW corner of the main house is a lofted cartshed, probably C19, of rubble masonry with a slate roof with rough stone kneelers and brick stack at southern gable.  

The interior could not be inspected at the time of the survey (June 2004), but the plan of the ground floor of the house is illustrated in the RCAHM Inventory of Merioneth, 1921 and shows the porch entrance leading into a large hall with staircase to rear (SE). A drawing room occupies the rear (S) wing and the kitchen is housed in the advanced wing to L (E). The Inventory also describes a 'good C17 oak staircase with turned balusters'. P Smith records several interior features of particular note in Houses of the Welsh Countryside, namely: windbraces and cusped trusses in the main range of the house, post and panel partitioning with double ogee doorheads and a fireplace that bears the date 1699. William's leaflet - 'The History of Rhiwaedog' records that 'the internal partitions are adorned with various carvings and comprise the Coats of Arms of Owain Gwynedd and Rhirid Flaid'. Also that 'the underground cells have walls fifteen feet thick. There was a subterrranean passage from the mansion under the neighbouring hill which served as a place of refuge during attacks upon the homestead. There was also until quite recently a well of water in the cellar within the house'.  

Listed as a substantial sub-medieval gentry house perhaps with hall-house origins, assuming its present form in the C17 and retaining good traditional character and detail from that period.