Nantclwyd House Ruthin

Tree-ring dating and documentary research have revealed the long and fascinating history of this impressive timber-framed mansion, in Ruthin, begun in c.1435, the oldest timbered town house so far identified in Wales. Following Jacobean enlargement and the major late Stuart additions—including the distinctive pillared porch—which gave it its present form, ‘Nantclwyd y dre’ was again updated for the Georgian Wynne family. Next it became in turn a Victorian girls’ school and an Edwardian rectory, also serving as the lodging for visiting judges. Finally it gained 20th century Arts and Crafts embellishments from the Dyer Gough family, then suffering dereliction before extensive restoration by Denbighshire County council.Each of the ‘Seven Ages’ of Nantclwyd’s history is evoked by recreated and fully-furnished rooms within. Visitors can walk backwards in time from the 1942 hall, through the 1916 rector’s study and the 1891 schoolroom, to the splendid panelled and Chinese-wallpapered Georgian bedroom suite. Next comes Stuart owner Eubule Thelwall’s 1690 ‘cabinet’ with its ‘Kidderminster stuff’ hangings and handsome plaster ceiling, followed by the vividly decorated Jacobean bedchamber with its hung bed and painted cloths, and a ‘stool of ease’ in its closet. Finally the 15th century ‘business room’, its 1435 structure virtually unchanged, recalls a mediaeval resident whose pilgrimage to Rome was recorded in a document found concealed within the house itself.