Nantclwyd y Dre
| Nantclwyd Y Dre | |
|---|---|
 Nantclwyd Y Dre looking North on Castle Street, Ruthin | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Town or city | Ruthin |
| Country | Wales |
| Construction started | 1425 |
| Completed | 15th century |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Timber frame |
Nantclwyd y Dre (previously known as Tŷ Nantclwyd) is a Grade 1 listed house in Ruthin, Denbighshire it is Wales's oldest dated timbered town house.[1]
History
Originally called Tŷ Nantclwyd, carbon dating on its timbers have shown that the core structure was started in 1435/1436.[1] This date the property to the time after the destruction wrought by the army of Welsh rebel Owain Glyndwr, and the then English-sponsored rebuilding of the affected Welsh towns.[2]
In the 15th century Ruthin was a regional centre for weaving, and the land on which the house now stands then belonged to Welsh weaver Goronwy ap Madog and his English wife Suzanna.[2] Lying just 100 metres (330 ft) north of the entrance to Ruthin Castle and with a street frontage, the scale and location of the site shows both the importance and wealth of the owner. The earliest part of the structure shows it to be part of a 15th-century cruck framed hall house which occupied the southern part of the present street-frontage, built using timber felled in the winter of 1434-5.[3] The position of the structure as well as the width of the inner garden to the rear, suggest that the site was originally two burgage plots which dated from when the town was laid out in the 13th century, but were then combined to allow construction of the hall house.[3]
Following Jacobean era enlargement, the major late Stuart period addition includes the distinctive pillared porch.[4] The name Nantclwyd y Dre was probably bestowed on the property in the 1720s.[2] During the Georgian era, the local Wynne family restored the property to habitable status.[4] It was then converted into a girls school in the Victorian era,[4] and from 1834 it also became the local lodge for visiting judges.[2]
In 1925, existing tenant and retired civil engineer Clinton Holme bought the house, and in 1928 he removed the exterior render to expose the timber frames.[2] He sold the property to Samuel Dyer Gough who continued the restoration,[2] and made it into the local hub for the Arts and Crafts movement.[4]
Museum
In 1984 Dyer Gough's widow sold the house and its gardens to Clwyd County Council. From the mid-2000's, successor administration Denbighshire County Council started work on preserving the property. Converted into a living history museum, it displays demonstrate the changing fashions and the lives of the house's residents under the theme of the "Sevene ages of Nantclwyd y Dre":[1][4]
- 1942 hall
- 1916 rector’s study
- 1891 schoolroom
- Georgian panelled bedroom suite with Chinese-wallpaper
- 1690 "cabinet" of Stuart owner Eubule Thelwall, with its "Kidderminster stuff" hangings and plaster ceiling
- Jacobean bedchamber with hung bed, painted cloths, and "stool of ease" in its closet
- 15th century "business room", its 1435 structure virtually unchanged, showing the preserved documentation of a mediaeval resident' pilgrimage to Rome, founded during restoration within the buildings infrastructure
Opened to the public on 23 June 2007, visitors can also observe a colony of Lesser horseshoe bats in the attic rooms via a "bat cam".[1]
Lord's garden
Behind the house are two gardens, the inner garden and the outer Lord's Garden. The inner 13th century garden occupies the area to the rear of the house, and is bounded by a substantial masonry wall.[3]
The outer Lord's Garden was originally rented by house owner Eubule Thelwall, who bought it in 1691. A 1780 plan shows both outer and inner paths, creating four roughly equal areas in the northern section, and what may have been an ornamental feature in the centre. In the south-west corner is a surviving substantial mound. Larger than depicted in the 1780 plans, 1980s archeological excavations suggest that the eastern section comprises spoil excavated during the construction of a swimming pool in the courtyard area. The older western section of the mound dates pre-18th century, suggesting that it may have been either an artillery position associated with the Civil War siege of the town, or a later garden platform with views over the gardens, gazebo and onwards towards the castle.[3]
Restored in the 18th century, Lord's Garden is now itself Grade II listed. However, at present there is no public access, and the garden lays in a semi-neglected state. In December 2013, the council successfully applied for a grant of £177,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which will see Lord's Garden restored and opened to the public by 2015.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d "Nantclwyd y Dre". Denbighshire Council. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Nantclwyd y Dre". History Points. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d "The Lord's Garden, Nantclwyd y Dre, Ruthin". Clywd Powys Archeological Preservation Trust. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "Nantclwyd y Dre". Old Mill, Chester. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- ^ "'Secret' garden in Denbighshire to be opened to public". BBC Wales. 23 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
External links
