Pen-y-Gribin & Bwth-yn--Bryn) with rear attached outbuildg & Stone Steps adjoining to SW

Cadw's description

Location

Located towards the top of the old town on a raised terrace and behind small dwarf-walls; partly built against the rock of the hill.

History

The terrace forms two of the formerly 13 St. George's GuildCottages which formerly served a community founded by John Ruskin.From 1871 Ruskin published his socialist theories in a series of letters- the Fors Clavigera- which were addressed to `the working men of England.' In that year he founded the Guild of St. George, `a society established to carry out certain charitable acts,' and the community at Barmouth was his first social experiment. It was made possible by the donation in 1874 of the land and cottages by MrsTalbot of Tyn-y-Fynnon, a friend of Ruskin's and a sympathiser with his beliefs. No 2, the right-hand unit was inhabited, during the period of the guild by M Auguste Guyard (d. 1882). A reformer and philanthropist, Guyard numbered Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo and the Emperor Napoleon III amongst his friends. He came over to England as an exile following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1 and befriended Ruskin whose views he shared. Known locally as `the Frenchman,' Guyard was a much respected and beloved inhabitant of Barmouth; he is buried upon the top of the hill.

Exterior

An early C19 terrace of two 3-window houses, now much altered. 2 storey plus attic; of rubble with modern slate roof. 3 squat chimneys with weather coursing and 4 modern wooden gabled dormers. The houses are expressed symmetrically as reflected units. Central part-glazed modern doors; modern 2-part windows, horizontally divided. To the rear, a shared outbuilding, attached in the form of a small wing; construction as before with recessed boarded doors to both sides and single, boarded-up windows. Stone steps climb hillside immediately to SW.

Interior

Modernised interiors, though No.2 has a plain, full-height early C19 well stair with swept mahogany rail.

Reason for designation

Included despite modernisation as having belonged to Ruskin's guildand as the residence of Auguste Guyard.