Mews Cottage

Cadw's description

Location

Immediately to the N and E of Bryn Eisteddfod, and closing the service court to the SE.

History

An early site on elevated ground at the mouth of the Conwy estuary; the name derives from a putative druidic stone, said traditionally to have served as seat for the elders during meetings. The original house on the site, called Pen-y-bryn until the mid C18, survives in fragment as the subsidiary house Bwthyn-y-Bryn. This is of mid-late C17 date and had primary associations with the Roberts family. Mews cottage is contemporary with this, the earlier house, and served as the primary barn before the erection of the present house and its offices in the 1760s. The walled pleasure gardens are perhaps also of this date, the construction of the former barn range and the NE garden wall being apparently of the same period (there are no masonry breaks visible and the two structures seem coursed into one another).

Exterior

The cottage (former barn) is of rubble with slate-coped gable parapets and medium-pitched slate roof. Modern entrance to the SW side with early C20 part-glazed door and a small square modern window to R; blocked entrance beyond with cambered head (rubble voussoirs), apparently primary. 2 further blocked entrances to the L of the door, that to the R with modern glazing to upper section. Two C20 gabled dormers to roof with 12-pane casements and plain bargeboards. Gabled first-floor oriel to NW gable end; plain bargeboards and boarded gable with small-pane wraparound glazing; 2-light sliding sash beneath with cambered head. Single-storey C19 extension to NE at rear, with balancing projection SE, forming a `U' around a cobbled yard. A plain cast iron column carries an outshot rear roof forming a long open porch which links the 2 flanking ranges. Within, the rear wall of the main block is splayed back at L and R where there are entrances with boarded doors. Further cambered-headed windows. A walled muck yard adjoins beyond.

Reason for designation

Listed for the special interest of its origins as an early walled garden with adjoining C17 former barn (now Mews Cottage).
Group value with other listed items at Bryn Eisteddfod