Plas Mawr

Plas Mawr stands in the heart of Conwy, a walled town on the north coast of Wales. Built between 1576 and 1585 by Robert Wynn, a local gentleman, it is one of the finest surviving Elizabethan town houses in Britain. The house occupies a burgage plot off High Street, once part of a larger mansion before Wynn demolished it to create his grand home. Three phases of building added a north wing, central and south ranges, and a gatehouse facing the street. Craftsmen brought timber down the Conwy valley and used local stone to complete the work. The result was a house that combined Renaissance style with Welsh tradition. Robert Wynn filled the house with hospitality, keeping dairy herds, orchards and gardens to supply his table. His nephew, the antiquarian John Wynn, later wrote of a “worthy plentiful house.” After Wynn’s death in 1598 a legal dispute among his heirs halted further changes for decades. The house passed through marriage to the Mostyn family, who rented it out during the 18th and 19th centuries. Parts became a school, lodgings and even the headquarters of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. By the early 20th century its Elizabethan fabric was recognised, though maintenance costs grew and the building deteriorated. Today the house shows its original 16th-century plan and much of its plasterwork. Historians Rick Turner and Peter Smith praise its architectural importance, with Smith calling it “the most perfect and complete memorial to Elizabethan Wales.” Cadw restored the property between 1993 and 1997, replanting Renaissance gardens and recreating rooms as they were in 1665. Visitors walk through panelled chambers, view heraldic plasterwork and stroll the restored grounds. The gatehouse opens onto Crown Lane, while the main ranges face a quiet courtyard. The house remains almost unchanged since the 16th century, a rare glimpse of Elizabethan life in a Welsh town.