The finest Elizabethan town house in Britain
Plas Mawr is an architectural icon of its age. A 16th-century town house built by Robert Wynn, the third son of a local landowner, it is perfectly suited to a wealthy young Elizabethan gentleman.
Taking up much of the street front next to the market square, the building is an imposing sight. Modern conservation work on the house has restored it to pristine condition. Beautifully painted plasterwork (decorated in places with the initials RW) complements the carved woodwork and bare stone walls. Look out for the rooms furnished in the style of the 1660s in this Cadw property.
Wynn had travelled throughout Europe working for the diplomats of England’s Tudor court, and his home reflects the splendour of the elite circles in which he moved. Locally there were also many prosperous Tudor gentlemen, familiar with the exotic delights of London and Europe – ‘the lawyers of Caernarfon, the merchants of Beaumaris and the gentlemen of Conway’, as Sir John Wynn of Gwydir called them. The splendour and luxury of Plas Mawr was no doubt intended to impress the neighbours.
In 1887 the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art rented the house. It was to become their base and gallery for nearly 100 years. The RCA had been born a few years earlier when local artists joined with artists from Liverpool and Manchester, united by their love of depicting the north Wales landscape. Why not visit one of the RCA’s latest exhibitions in their new gallery, just behind Plas Mawr?
31 March - 30 September 2014
Tuesday to Sunday 9.00 am - 5.00 pm
Closed on Mondays except Bank Holidays
Please check Cadw website for entry fees
A55 or B5106
Llandudno Junction - 1.5 miles or Conwy - ΒΌ mile
Frequent buses serving various destinations stop at bus stop 100 yards away
On Sustrans Route 5
High Street, Conwy
Assistance dogs only. Disabled admitted free
Full Figure Grid Reference: SH 780775 OS Landranger map sheet:115