Spar Shop and house

Cadw's description

Location

On the S side of Market Square, adjoining No 1 Church Street.

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 13-15 Market Square was part of this first phase of development.

Exterior

A 2-storey shop of roughly coursed and squared quarried stone, under a slate roof hipped to the R, on boarded projecting eaves to Market Square and slated eaves to Church Street where there are 2 skylights, and a stone stack to the Market Square elevation. Facing Market Square is a recessed replacement door at the L end under an overlight. Next R is a large modern shop window, to the R of which is the vertical joint associated with an earlier doorway. Further R is a glazed door flanked by shop windows. Both shop windows have modern rubble below the sills, indicating earlier large openings, probably earlier shop fronts. A modern painted fascia is above the entire shop front. In the upper storey are two 4-pane horned sash windows on the L side, and a single 6-pane hornless sash window to the R.

The Church Street elevation has a large shop window on the L side with replacement glazing in an earlier opening, a blocked doorway and another blocked doorway to the R converted to a window, although it was probably originally a window and part of the adjoining No 1 Church Street. The upper storey has two 6-pane hornless sash windows.

Interior

Not inspected.

Reason for designation

Listed for its special architectural interest as early C19 shops and houses, which form part of the early development of Tremadog, make use of local stone and retain C19 character. An integral component of the planned town.