3809

 

II  

Designated  

29/05/1968  

29/07/1997  

Plas Dinas  

 

Gwynedd  

Bontnewydd  

Caernarfon  

Bontnewydd  

247771  

359245  

 

Situated at the end of a 700m minor road running W off the A487 some 600m S of the bridge over the Afon Gwyrfai in Bontnewydd.  

Domestic  

 

Large country house incorporating an early C17 house, later C17 addition and significant C19 additions. It is said that there is a reset gritstone tablet dated 1653, with coat of arms and inscribed 'T . W I . W' for Thomas and Jane Williams. He was a son of Sir Thomas Williams of Vaynol, and Sheriff of Caernarvonshire 1647-8. The Llanwnda Tithe Map records a holding of some 103 acres (41.7ha), occupied by Owen Roberts and owned by Thomas Asheton-Smith who owned a total of 1,119 acres (453.2ha) in the parish. Plas Dinas is now a home for the elderly but was previously owned by the Armstrong-Jones family, latterly by R. Armstrong-Jones, Q.C., father of Lord Snowdon.  

House is roughly 'H' shaped, the long sides lying almost E to W, with addition of N wing. S block is C19, cross-wing and main part of N block is original C17 house with later C17 addition to W. N wing is C19. S entrance block has painted rendered front with slate roof and rendered end stacks. Three small-paned mullion-and-transom windows on first floor, the centre one in projecting gable with plaque above. W addition with lower roof line has end stack and similar window on first floor. Ground floor has full-length slate verandah, partly enclosed. Entrance door under gable, conservatory to right and two C20 bay windows to left. Each gable end of S wing is painted rubble stone with various sized C20 windows. The centre and main part of the N block is formed of the roughly 'L' shaped original early C17 house. Walls are painted rubble stone with slate roof, ridge stack and end stack. Mainly C20 openings but the E side retains its mid-C17 doorway; gritstone jambs and shaped head with roll moulding and plinth panels with quarter-round moulding on each side. The rear W wing is the later C17 addition and is two-storey of painted coursed rubble stone with heavy plinth. Slate roof with brick end stack. Gabled dormers are probably insertions of C18. Other openings have been heavily altered. C19 N wing is rendered and painted, slate roof with ridge and end stacks.  

Only partially inspected but all sections have been heavily modernised. The early C17 part retains some original beams and is said to have cellars and attics. The 1653 date plaque came from this area but it is said that the remaining woodwork is consistent with a date some thirty years earlier. One cellar is said to have a wooden ceiling on chamfered beams. The 'Gun Room' has a large C17 fireplace on the whole W wall with a segmental arch of cut-stone voussoirs, an oven in the left side and a seat in the right. This room has a single stop-chamfered ceiling beam. The attics are said to have old floor boards and show the original roof trusses with morticed collars.  

Included as a large country house retaining significant features of the early C17 house at its core.