History
The house in its present form is late C16 in origin, and exhibits a clear sequence of development. The early house comprised the north range, to which a gabled wing was added to the SW in the early C17. In many respects it was typical of the gentry houses of Ardudwy of the period, in being storeyed with gable end chimneys, and a cross-passage plan. Originally, the main range would have comprised hall, with cross-passage, and two small rooms (service room and parlour). In the early C17, when the rear wing was added, the cross-passage was removed (the partition re-sited on the first floor), and a larger parlour with new fireplace took the place of the two small rooms. The rear wing may have been a kitchen, but evidence for a high quality ceiling may suggest a room of higher status. Later again, the SE angle between the rear wing and the main range was filled in with an extension running parallel to the main range, perhaps in the late C17 (a date of 1680 recorded in 1974, on panels then found in the house may perhaps refer to this addition). The house was at some time re-roofed (and attic dormers added), though retaining the original timbers. It was also at some time re-fenestrated (probably in the early C19, though one early window (remarkably) survives internally. Single storey mid-late C20 extensions to the west effectively re-orientated the house, with a new entrance on the south side.
The house has strong links with John Jones the regicide, as the home of his mother, Ellen Wynne. Jones is also said to have provided a mortgage of £280 on the house to its then owner, Lowrey Griffiths. When Griffiths defaulted, the house was repossessed, to be taken from Jones' estate following his execution in 1660. In 1664, the Griffiths family were able to re-acquire the house from the Crown, and successive generations of the family lived there until 1920.
The house was once a farm house (there is a group of farm buildings to its rear), and may have had a secondary dwelling associated with it. An altered cottage in the grounds has some features suggesting early origins, and it was not unusual in Ardudwy for high-status farm houses to have an associated dwelling of lesser status, usually assumed to have been a widow's house.