Plas Mawr
Plas Mawr ( Welsh for Grand Palace ) is a town house of the Elizabethan age in place Conwy in Wales. Plas Mawr was built in 1576-1585 by Robert Wynn and one in the United Kingdom in accordance with the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest Grade I according to the structures of extraordinary, sometimes international importance.
History
Robert Wynn came from a wealthy family and first entered the service of Sir Walter Stonor and Sir Philip Hoby , managers and senior officials of King Henry VIII in 1577 Wynn fought at the siege of Boulogne- sur -Mer. Later, Wynn took part in campaigns in Scotland and traveled throughout Europe. He invested in lands in North Wales and married in 1570 his first wife, Dorothy Griffith, a member of the local nobility. In the same year he earned £ 200 for an existing townhouse in Conwy. In 1576 he bought a north adjacent property for £ 40. Then he began the construction of the north wing of Plas Mawr, which was completed the following year. After that, the remaining manor house was demolished in order to fix the existing foundation and to dig trenches for drains. During this time, Wynn lived in the north wing. 1580 the central building and the south wing were completed.
Wynn then rented to other areas in the north of Plas Mawr. The house at the southern end of Plas Mawr High Street bought Wynn 1585th After the demolition, he built there a gatehouse, which was the new entrance to Plas Mawr. More land was purchased on the north- west side of the house and turned into an ornamental garden, bringing the total cost of land purchases around 300 pounds, respectively.
These three phases of house building 1576/77, 1580 and 1585 were probably executed by different craftsmen. The roof structure, however, made to all appearances the same carpenters for all three parts of the building. The plaster work in the middle house and in the wings probably also carried out the same group, with a total of 100 tons of lime were used. Timber and slate approach was brought from the Conwy Valley. The quarried stone came from the hills near the town of sandstone from near Deganwy. The construction totaled approximately £ 500
The household in the entertainment and hospitality to the social rank of Robert Wynn played according to a major role, was supplied by fruit and vegetable gardens, a fish trap and a cheese factory, which belonged to the estate. The house had its own facilities for brewing and baking. Other foods were bought in by regional distributors.
After Dorothy Wynn had died in 1586, married Robert Wynn Dorothy Dymock, with whom he had seven children. When Robert Wynn died in 1598, he left behind a confusing Testament that triggered litigation between the family and the executor of Sir Roger Mostyn. The dispute halted any further development of the house until his solution in 1630. The townhouse finally went in 1637 to Robert Wynn, a grandson of the builder. During this time the property belonged in terms of quality and style of the leading hotels in the area.
1683 inherited Elin, daughter of Robert Wynn, the house and married into the Wynne family. Later, the estate passed by marriage to the family Mostyn, the Plas Mawr rented in the following centuries. In the 18th century the gatehouse was used as a courthouse and the main building divided into simple rental housing. In the 19th century a school and small shops were in the house. 1881, the house had 25 residents. Even if small changes such as the installation of partition walls made in this time, the building remained largely intact. 1870 offered the Mostyn's house for sale, but received no offers.
In the 1880s made the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art worry about the state of Plas Mawr. 1887, agreement was reached with the family Mostyn, left to the building of the Academy as the main branch. The architect Arthur and Herbert Baker were commissioned to examine the buildings, make repairs and changes to demolish 17th century. JR Furness led by conservations of plastering work. On the north - west side of the house, the Victoria Gallery was built to show art exhibitions. To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 added to a weather vane at the top of the building.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the historical significance had been increasingly understood by Plas Mawr, at the same time, the cost of the maintenance of the house but clear. Mid-century sandstone was corroded. Since the supporting wooden beams in poor condition, it took off as a precaution, the stucco ceiling. The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art was looking for government and private support, although not sufficient to keep the building. In 1993, the house of control of the state was passed and came under the supervision of the Welsh Authority on Monuments and Cadw.
Cadw led in the next 42 months by a large restoration project, combined with detailed measurements and archaeological analyzes. Large parts of the property were restored as they had looked in 1665. For this purpose, inter alia, moved to the descriptions of the will of the younger Robert Wynn zoom. The restoration included the installation of originals and replicas of the interior and the wall hangings. The plaster work was complemented by methods that resembled those of the 17th century. The attic is presented, however, after his appearance in the 19th century restores. In other parts of the house you created facilities for visitors. The Victoria Gallery was demolished in 1995. Overall, the cost of the project amounted to £ 3.3 million gardens are also restored in 2006 in the style of the year 1665th Today Plas Mawr is one of the main attractions of North Wales.
Architecture
Plas Mawr comes architecturally virtually unchanged from the 16th century, making it a rare relic from the Elizabethan era. The architectural style is a product of Renaissance influences that were common at that time in Europe. Robert Wynn spent some time in Germany and used in Plas Mawr North German Gothic style elements, especially in the facade at the gable and window design. Plas Mawr is very similar to Eastbury Manor House, based presumably on the same architectural plan. The architecture also includes influences of buildings from this time in North Wales, in particular Gwydir Castle, which was built by Robert Wynn's father John. Robert Wynn was an emerging member of the nobility, and his house was not as big or as sophisticated as contemporary buildings of the nobility.
Plas Mawr is missing a fashionable long gallery, which in England was very popular at the time and already in some Welsh homes was used. Instead, it has a rear tower or Belvedere, which clearly extends beyond the house and offers a view over the town of Conwy. Such a tower was a bit antiquated, but was also used in many other buildings in the Wynn family including Bodysgallen Hall. Design and Sil at Plas Mawr influenced other contemporary construction projects in North Wales, such as the renovation of Gwydir Castle, Maenan Hall, Plas Mawr in Caernarfon and Hen Blas in Beaumaris. Plas Mawr also has later influenced the architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries in Conwy, as seen at the police station and the Castle Bank Hotel.
Modern visitors enter the house usually from the High Street to the south and pass through the gatehouse on the lower court in the hall of the main building. The gatehouse was an important part of Elizabethan architecture, as it is to the visitor a worthy accordingly and provide the representative entry. In the narrow cities a few houses had the place for such a gatehouse. Originally a series of rooms for the caretaker of the house, Richard Wynn, were housed in the gatehouse.
The middle house and the two wings of the main building form an H-shape with the upper ends toward a side street. The lower ends include the upper courtyard that links almost all the rooms on the ground floor and provides access to the cellars. In the south wing of the hall were the main room of the house and the pantry with chambers above. Probably the hall from the beginning was, at the latest from 1665 used to receive regular visits and to have servants take their meals. Traditionally, the kitchen facilities were at the other end of the hall, but Plas Mawr deviated from this design. Kitchen and pantry were placed in the center of the building between the living room and hallway.
Above this room there was the hall, which formed the ceremonial center of the house. The northern wing of the brewhouse and the saloon with two chambers above them were. The private bedroom for the family and the guests were each equipped with a fireplace, an important status symbol in time. In the attics of the house, the servants were housed. It seems that for the hall was originally provided an open roof, but an error in the construction of the walls made a stucco ceiling required.
The gardens behind the house had originally been created in the style of the Renaissance. The slope of the land of Plas Mawr required the installation of an upper and lower terrace of the 2006 designed and planted, as they might have looked in 1665. The Summer House is a contemporary painting reproduced.
Stucco
Seven rooms wall paneling and the original plaster could be restored, showing coat of arms and symbols. Plaster work includes a number of classic themes, but these are not as good as the other badges and emblems executed. The gatehouse showing royal coat of arms, as well as the hall and the living room, probably because higher ranking guests were staying here. The coats of arms of many kings are found throughout the house, including Richard II, Richard III. , Henry IV and Henry VII The coat of arms of other prominent nobles, such as Robert Dudley are also mounted in the house. 22 different heraldic emblems are found on the ceilings and walls of the north wing. In the hall you can see the combined arms of the families Wynn and Griffith that occur individually throughout the house. So shows the plaster in the salon, in the brewhouse and the bedchambers the arms of Robert Wynn. In the 16th century, the heraldry of Robert Wynn reflected probably also reflected in the decor of the house, including the materials, cups and cutlery.