24835

 

II  

Designated  

21/02/2001  

21/02/2001  

Gwredog  

 

Isle of Anglesey  

Rhosybol  

 

Gwredog  

241769  

390117  

 

Set back, down a private driveway, from the NW side of the country road leading NE from the small hamlet of Rhosgoch.  

Domestic  

 

Early C19 gentry house, built c1830. Gwredog is listed as a township in the Extent of Anglesey, 1352; settled by descendants of Goronwy ap Ednyfed, who formed the 'Tudor' branch of Ednyfed's descendants in the C14. By the late C16 Gwredog was noted as being the largest farm on Anglesey, valued at over £1000 per year and home to the Lloyd family. By the late C18 the farm had passed to John Owen, who benefitted from the prosperity at Mynydd Parys and the present house at Gwredog was probably built for his heir, Owen Jones. The tiled frieze in the dairy includes a depiction of what may be his daughter, Mary, who married Elias Jones, farmer, Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant and Provisional Chairman of the first meeting of the Anglesey County Council and elected as 1st county councillor for the parishes of Rhosybol and Llandyfrydog (also one of the foremost laymen in the Methodist denomination). After his death in 1892 the farm was managed by his daughter, Mary Jane Jones and there are numerous accounts books and diaries dealing with the administration of the largest farm on the island; the rent to Lord Stanley of Alderley being £217 per annum at the end of the C19.  

Early C19 gentry house, 2 storey with attics and basement; a 3 window range with rebuilt service wing set at right angles to rear. Rendered elevations, probably over rubble masonry. Slate roof with rendered gable stacks with capping. The principal elevation faces the enclosed garden to NE, a 3 window range with central entrance in a glazed timber porch. Windows are large 16-pane hornless sashes with moulded architraves and slate sills. The left gable return has a single, central, 1st floor window and has a smaller window above with narrower flanking windows; all are 12-pane hornless sashes with slate sills. The right gable return has more modern windows, a mix of horned sashes and modern lights. The basement floor has 3 windows and a doorway offset to the R and the ground floor has 2 windows offset to R. There is a central stair window of coloured glass flanked by 1st floor windows and a single attic window set in the gable apex. The rear elevation of the house is mostly obscured by the modern flat roofed extension, built to replace the former service wing; the first floor however retains 2 large 16-pane hornless sash windows, the ground floor has a modern replacement casement.  

The principal doorway leads into a central hallway with the principal rooms to left and right. To the rear of the hall is a dog leg staircase with clasping rail on stick balusters and shaped brackets to an open string. To the rear right of the hallway stone steps lead down to the basement, formerly the dairy, which retains slate tables on brick piers and highly ornate tilework on the walls above. The tiling has central panels of hand-painted, naturalistic designs depicting birds and flowers which flank a blue and white tiled frieze of the daughter of the house when it was built. All the central panels are surrounded by patterned ochre and cream tiles and there is a band of moulded painted tiles, of fruit and flowers, along the heads of all 3 tiled walls. The house retains shallow panelled doors, and panelled window shutters and soffits. Most of the rooms also retain original fireplaces and surrounds, the ground floor dining room with ornate floriate tiling, cast iron hob and surround in a plain surround with mantel supported on acanthus leaf brackets (similarly detailed brackets support a shallow arch in the hallway); the fireplace is flanked by arched glazed cupboards with interlocking glazing bars.  

Listed as a good early C19 gentry house retaining much original character and detailing, including an exceptionally well-preserved interior and an unusual basement dairy, richly decorated with hand-painted tiles, and slate cooling benches.