Plas Newydd rear
Following
last week's town Open Doors event comes another weekend, this time featuring rural properties in the area. The weather was particularly unkind on Saturday morning, tipping down as it was. There was still evidence of some explorers, especially at the properties as yet unseen.
Plas Newydd (or Plas Newydd Hall as it incongruously seemed to be called) was one such home available to view. It dates from between 1668 and 1678 with some 19th century alterations.
Recently two separate dwellings, it has the air of a rambling place. More than several of the rooms are well proportioned and bright. With three storeys, there was room for servants and a rear staircase. The grand main stairs were part of the extensive internal 19th century reworking.
The place is currently undergoing some much needed improvements but the owners will need to tackle the leaking roof which has manifested itself in damp in a number of areas of the house. The problem seems to come from the number of M-roofed valleys.
It was said that Margaret Thatcher, a former English prime minister, slept in the room, above. Perhaps that's why it's theme is blue. Note the staining on the wall owing to water damage. Throughout the house, we're told the windows all retain their Georgian glass. They certainly show many imperfections to prove the point.
Tŷ Brith near Pwllglas, above, will be familiar to many who travel the Rhuthun/Ruthin - Corwen Road. Obvious from the main road, the black & white timber framed house flashes by. It's really an enigma. It dates to about 1520 but why would such a small dwelling be so ostentatiously decorated? The answer is probably that it once formed part of a larger U- or L-shaped property and as such would have been quite important in the area.
Evidence of alterations and surprises abound. Visible are the rubble foundations. There's a bakehouse and and old outside privy. It is within the ownership of the then acquisitive Nantclwyd Estate (from 1720).
Even when The Old Rectory, Efenechtyd, above, changed hands in 2003, even then, it was worth £370,000. It is now believed to be worth £565,000. It really does surprise. You can see how its grown from a two-bay gabled house to a rectory that befits the hamlet. The rector really did have an incredibly good living (i.e. tithe) and, as the property has grown, so there are intriguing, different levels between the various extensions.
Evidence within of the original two-day house
It was enlarged in c.1811. Its stables, coach house and granary are now incorporated as living areas. That this hamlet could support a rector with such a large house indicates the importance of the village. The Church in Wales sold the house in 1927 when the parish was linked presumably to that of Llanfair DC (as it is now).
Steps to the dank cellar reuse this slab from the adjacent churchyard
The next door church building was also open. This is an intimate internal space with between two and 12 worshippers during its two services a month. About 10 years ago, it was lime-washed at the suggestion of Efenechtyd architect Robin Wooley and this helps insure the building against damp while protecting the stonework. There was some opposition to this application but we mustn't forget it was usual to see churches thus treated.
The churchyard is rare in that, apart from the encroaching rectory, it is circular and this indicates an old foundation indeed. It may therefore sit on an earlier, pre-Christian site. The quiet hamlet itself once supported a pub, now known as Blackmoor, and was at a drovers' crossroads.
The circular churchyard, above, and "More tea, vicar?", below
Also open was
St Mary's, Derwen and
Nantclwyd Hall grounds.
