The Golden Fleece

Cadw's description

Location

A terraced house on the W side of Market Square.

History

Tremadog was a town created by William Madocks (1773-1828) in the first decade of the C19 on reclaimed land known as Traeth Mawr, the estuary of Afon Glaslyn. It was originally intended to be a post town on a direct road between London and Dublin, via Porthdinllaen on the Lleyn peninsula, a project that in due course lost out to the Holyhead Road. Tremadog was laid out around a market square, with market hall, coaching inn, houses and shops, with a church and chapel just outside the centre. Building of this small planned development, as well as a separate woollen manufactory, began c1805 and was largely completed by the time Richard Colt Hoare described it in 1810. No 8 Market Square, built as a public house, was part of this first phase of development and was built as a pair with No 6. It was known as the Golden Fleece from at least 1844.

Exterior

A 2-storey double-fronted public house of large roughly coursed and squared blocks of quarried stone with large slate-stone lintels, slate roof on projecting eaves, small skylights and stone end stacks. Openings have raised cement surrounds. The central entrance has a fielded-panel door. Windows are replaced in original openings. Behind is an added 2-storey rear wing.

Interior

The interior retains its original 2-unit plan, with chamfered joists. Fireplaces have been infilled. Behind the L-hand room is a vaulted beer cellar from where beer was served through a hatch.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding window alteration, for its special architectural interest as a public house, which retains significant elements of its original form (including use of local stone and interior layout), as part of the early development of the town. An integral component of the planned town.