Nantclwyd y Dre

Three cheers for whomsoever in the county council has restored Nantclwyd-y-Dre (Nantclwyd House), which yesterday opened to the public for the first time. The only downside? No guidebooks (yet).

It's been over 20 years of financial struggle that saw the building sold to Clwyd council in 1984. There was no funding to open the planned cultural & education centre so in the early 1990s Clwyd passed it to a trust. That organisation didn't really know what to do with Natclwyd and they faced financial uncertainty. As a result, in 2000, Clwyd's successor Denbighshire took the lease back. Slow progress ensued till both European and Cadw funding resulted in the "seven ages of Nantclwyd" and the restoration we see today.

Unlike when Yr Hen Garchar/Old Gaol first opened, Nantclwyd wasn’t free during its first weekend. Nevertheless, aside from the 70-strong invited guests for the ceremony, Nantclwyd saw considerable numbers of ‘ordinary’ paying people as visitors on Saturday. Many of them were families and, in spite of the obvious care taken with the period and reproduction trimmings and furnishings, children were not in any way discouraged from getting their hands dirty – including trying out the beds for size, marvelling at the small stature of those for whom they were designed.

Rhuthun is reputed to hold more listed buildings than any other town in Cymru/Wales. Nantclwyd is surely at the top of the list. At 572 years old, Nantclwyd is the oldest timber-framed house (mansion?) in Cymru. One of only two survivors of Owain Glyndwr’s rout; once the home of an Elizabethan nobleman; often visited by royalty; one-time Llanfwrog rectory; and the judge’s residence during the Denbighshire Assizes, it passed to Cyngor Sir Clwyd/Clwyd County Council in 1984.

Its distinctive pillared porch has always been imposing on the impeccable Stryd-y-Castell but it’s only when you delve inside to see the higgledy-piggledy rearward extensions that you appreciate its size. And there are more rooms to reconstruct. Let’s hope they restore the gardens, too.

Nantclwyd tells its own story in seven period rooms spanning c.1425 to 1942, all of which were significant in the house’s history. Marvel at the art deco lamps, the exposed wicker-work, the rush matting, authentic wall and ceiling wash, wall hanging, Chinese wallpaper, rare lesser horseshoe bats*, period wireless recalling all those stations now long-forgotten in a digital age, and wall hung winder telephone.

The colour-coded seven ages of Nantclwyd are:

1475 (medieval chamber). 1620 (Jacobean bedchamber). 1690 (Eubule Thelwall study). 1740 (Georgian bedroom). 1891 (school room). 1916 (rector’s study). 1942 (the hall).
Current opening times (June to September): Weds to Suns inclusive 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. (last entry 4.00 p.m.). Adult £3.60; Child £1.80; Family £9.00.

* People of a nervous disposition need not fear: the bats are visible only by CCTV