page_title: Architecture of Wales
section_title: Major houses in north Wales
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Wales / Major houses in north Wales
caption_attribution_description: English: Plas Mawr, Conwy
context_page_description: Architecture of Wales is an overview of architecture in Wales from the Medieval period to the present day, excluding castles and fortifications, ecclesiastical architecture and industrial architecture. It covers the history of domestic, commercial, and administrative architecture.
context_section_description: The major houses built in the 16th and earlier 17th centuries are often difficult to classify on stylistic grounds. The Welsh families who built them often were less interested in the outside display of architectural features and more interested in the interior decoration, particularly elaborate plasterwork, painted walls and elaborately carved woodwork with armorials commemorating their family descent. Many of these houses such as Bodysgallen, which was started in 1620 and Mostyn Hall are an amalgamation of different styles of architecture over many years.  The front is of 1631–1632. In the case of Nercwys Hall near Mold it is known that the contractor who built the Hall was Raffe Booth of Chester and the plans for the house were drawn up by his carpenter Evan Jones. The contract for the building is 1637 and the datestone on the building is 1637.
  The influence of English architectural fashion can also be seen in Hen Blas, at Llanasa in Flintshire. Built in 1645 at the start of the Civil War it is built of the local stone with ashlar facing.  As Edward Hubbard remarks Hen Blas is reminiscent of houses in the limestone belt of England.
  Another notable house is Gloddaeth near Llandudno, which retains its hall still up the original hammer-beam roof and also a painted dais above the high table at the end of the hall.
  
    
  The Old Hall at Y Faenol (Y Vaynol), Port Dinorwic is an E shaped building consisting of low 16th-century blocks with a more ornate right wing, which was probably added in the 1660s by Sir Griffith Williams. This has a crow stepped gable.
  A feature of many of the larger houses of the 16th century is that they are set round walled courtyards that were entered through an arched gatehouse. The most notable examples of these which are set in the countryside are Corsygedol in Merionethshire, Cefnamwlch near Tudweiliog and Rhiwaedog near Bala.  The impressive example at Llwydiarth in Montgomeryshire is now only known from earlier drawings and the gatehouse at Madryn on the Llyn survives, but not the house.
  Plas Mawr in Conway is one of the most impressive surviving courtyard houses of this period, which has recently been restored by CADW. An Elizabethan townhouse, dating from the 16th century. The property was built by Robert Wynn, a member of the local gentry, following his marriage to his first wife, Dorothy Griffith. Plas Mawr occupied a plot of land off Conwy's High Street and was constructed in three phases between 1576 and 1585 at a total cost of around £800.
  There three phases of house construction – 1576–77, 1580 and 1585 – were probably overseen by several different senior craftsmen, possibly working to an original plan determined by a surveyor or mason working at the English royal court. Judging by the details of the roof design, a single master carpenter may have been used for all three parts of the build.
  Other buildings, such as stables formed part of the courtyard.  The courtyard layout of these houses in north Wales may be compared with similar houses of the Elizabethan Period in England, particularly brick built houses in East Anglia, such as Erwarton Hall in Suffolk. It should noted that there many examples of houses with gatehouses and courtyards in south Wales, such as Great Porthamel near Talgarth in Breconshire
caption: Plas Mawr, Conway
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