Tudor Rose

Cadw's description

Location

Fronting the street in a block of buildings between Church Street and Rating Row.

History

A late medieval hall house with S cross wing facing the street. This wing has a projecting gabled bay, probably added in the C17 when a first floor was inserted in the hall. Originally timber-framed, the hall was later rebuilt in stone. The building is shown on the 1829 town plan as 2 houses. By 1899 it was a bakery. After 1945 it was an antique shop restored by the artist Hendrik Lek (d 1985) and later a bookshop.

Exterior

A 2-storey storey former hall house of rubble stone, with S wing facing Castle Street, which has a timber-framed front. The roof is slate, with roughcast stack to the rear of the hall range, which extends behind No 30 Castle Street. There are 2 front entrances, created when the building was divided into 2 houses. The L-hand entrance has a panel door in a rendered lean-to, to the L of which is a 15-pane shop window. Above it the front is close-studded and has a replacement 3-light small-pane window. The R-hand entrance is within the projecting gabled bay, in imitation of a cross wing. It has rubble-stone side walls replacing original framing, is rendered in the lower storey, above which it is close-studded with herringbone struts. It has a fielded-panel door with small-pane shop window to its R, all spanned by a moulded lintel. The upper storey has a 3-light oriel on brackets, above which the gable projects on consoles and has a moulded bressumer.

Interior

Because the hall is obscured by buildings on all sides, the plan of the building is now only apparent from inside. The hall has a 4-bay arched-brace roof with Tudor-rose bosses, and windbraces. In its N gable end is a section of timber-framing, suggesting that the building was originally entirely timber-framed. In the W wall, adjoining No 2 Church Street, is an original opening with moulded timber lintel, into which a small-pane sash window was inserted. When the hall was converted to a storeyed house the gable end was rebuilt and the fireplaces inserted. The upper storey has a fireplace with timber lintel. The lower-storey fireplace has an elliptical hood, probably dating from its use as a bakery. Spine beams support the upper floor. Beneath one of the trusses is the framing of an inserted first-floor partition, which incorporates 2 triangular-headed doorways. Later insertions include a blocked doorway and 3 windows, including a blocked sash window, in the E wall adjoining No 30 Church Street, and a corner fireplace with timber lintel. A door was inserted on the R side of the gable-end fireplace in the lower storey.

The S wing has a 2-bay roof, with collar-beam truss with raking struts, and one surviving wall bracket. The eaves has been raised slightly and added purlins now rest on top of the truss.

Reason for designation

Listed grade II* for its exceptional interest as one of the few surviving pre-Georgian houses in Beaumaris, with especially notable interior detail and distinctive front, and for its contribution to the historical integrity of Castle Street.