4424

 

II  

Designated  

01/04/1974  

26/09/2005  

Cwrt yr Harbwr  

 

Gwynedd  

Porthmadog  

Porthmadog  

Porthmadog  

256933  

338459  

 

On Greaves Wharf, set well back from the quayside.  

Domestic  

 

Porthmadog Harbour was developed from the 3rd decade of the C19, at first by landowner and improver William Madocks (1773-1828). The Act of Parliament for Porthmadog Harbour was passed in 1821 and by 1824 the new port was already ready to receive vessels of up to 70 tons (1ton=1.016 tonnes) laden. To comply with the provisions of the Act of Parliament, Madocks had a short stone quay built at Cornhill, which henceforth became the commercial centre of the port. Slate companies who purchased wharves were responsible for building their own quays. Oakleys and Greaves Wharf was a single construction for John Greaves (who opened his own quarry in 1846) and the Rhiwbryfdir Slate Company (founded 1838) in the mid C19. The wharf is mentioned by Owen Morris in 1856. Cwrt yr Harbwr was built by JW Greaves & Son, originally as a warehouse and 2 dwellings, although built at different dates. The building is first shown on the 1885 harbour survey and 1888 Ordnance Survey. It was restored to 6 apartments in 1976 by Alan Jones, architect of Porthmadog.  

A 2-storey block of rubble stone, incorporating large slate-stone blocks and laid in rough courses, with hipped slate roof, a stone ridge stack R of centre and at the R end. The front faces NE, in which the 2 original dwellings occupy the R-hand side and retain original openings. The warehouse to the centre and L has mainly inserted openings. All inserted or replaced windows are small-pane horned sashes. The gabled centre has glazed doors in earlier openings in both storeys, flanked by windows (apartment Nos 3 and 4). At the L end is a balcony on steel posts and glazed door under a gable. To its R is a lean-to porch with glazed doors (to apartment Nos 5 and 6) and 2 windows further R, and 2 windows in the upper storey, of which the R-hand is a flat half-dormer. To the R of centre is a full-height vertical joint, demonstrating that the warehouse and dwellings are of different dates. A double-fronted (No 2) and then a single-fronted house (No 1) have replacement doors, the door to No 1 being in a slightly wider original opening. No 1 has no upper-storey window. The 2-window R (N) end wall (No 1) is built of slate-stone blocks laid in regular courses. It has a central blocked doorway (an unusual position placed directly beneath the stack). The 9-window rear elevation has replacement windows to the original dwellings at the L end, but otherwise has inserted windows. A full-height joint separates the warehouse from the domestic end. Four more full-height vertical joints suggest that there were originally open bays on this side of the warehouse.  

Not inspected.  

Listed, notwithstanding alteration, as a prominent harbour-side building notable for its distinctive use of local stone and retaining definite regional character, and for its contribution to the historical integrity of Porthmadog harbour.