19694

 

II  

Designated  

22/04/1998  

22/04/1998  

Cottage at Valle Crucis Abbey  

 

Denbighshire  

Llantysilio  

Llangollen  

Valle Crucis  

320492  

344149  

E  

The building is set between the abbey ruins and the river, south of the abbey fishponds.  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

 

The building was probably originally erected as a 'banqueting house' probably of late C17 origin, altered in the C18, probably by the Wynnstay Estate as a lodge for visitors to the ruins, part of the romantic experience fashionable in society from c1760 to c1850. A date of 1773 appears over the lower door. It was later used as the custodian's accommodation, Miss Jane Lloyd being a well remembered figure, with an inventory of 1881 surviving. It is now a store. It appears, with 2 stacks, in a line engraving by Thomas Nicholson in 1824, and, poorly observed, in later prints.  

Built of stone, and now rendered and whitewashed, with a slate roof, hipped at the N end and with a raised coping at the S. Upper floor and basement. A flight of 4 steps leads to the C18 6-panelled door with a flat canopy over. Later timber 2-light casement windows with top lights, leaded glazing, and stone sills, but a large canted bay window with 12-paned sashes at the N end overlooks the fishponds, formerly with views up the valley past Eliseg's Pillar. One off-centre brick stack and a larger external stack at the S end. A small iron window ventilates the storage area at the rear.  

The main floor consists of 2 heated rooms, the smaller N room providing the painterly views. A recess in the back wall and a fireplace on the S gable wall with windows either side. The undercroft consists of a larger kitchen where food preparation took place in advance of the visiting party, and a smaller cobbled store room and niche in the wall.  

Included as a rare building type, of particular importance for its association with the romantic tourist movement which flourished from the later C17 and continuing into the early-mid C19. Of special importance as of group value with the Grade I Valle Crucis Abbey.