Penarth-fawr

Internal roof timbers

Cadw records Penarth-fawr as being built for Madog ap Howel ap Madog. Tree-ring dating of timbers used in the house gives a build date of around 1476. [1] At the beginning of the 17th century, the house was extended and modernised. The former east wing, now a separate dwelling,[2] was probably added at this time. In the 1930s the house was again remodelled to restore its medieval appearance, before passing into the care of the state in 1949.[1] It is now administered by Cadw.[3] A study of the house, Penarth Fawr: a history of a medieval hall-house, was published in 2002.[4]

Penarth-fawr stands on a minor road off the A497 which runs from Pwllheli to Llanarmon. Cadw locates the house in the village of Llanystumdwy.[lower-alpha 1][1] The house is constructed of rubble stone under a modern slate roof.[lower-alpha 2] It was originally built to a hall house plan, with secondary rooms leading off the main hall, and separated by a cross-passage.[7] The hall contains the house's most unique feature, a 'spere-truss' supporting the roof. No other example exists in Carnarvonshire, and few outside of North Wales.[5] The house was enlarged with two wings in the Elizabethan era, but that to the south east was demolished around 1843.[5]

Pevsner describes Penarth-fawr as "an important medieval hall house".[5] It is both a Grade I listed building, and a Scheduled monument,[8] its listing record noting that it is "one of the most important medieval gentry houses to survive in Wales".[1] The stables,[9] and the former wing to Penarth have their own Grade II listings.[2]

• Haslam, Richard; Orbach, Julian; Voelcker, Adam (2009). Gwynedd. The Buildings of Wales. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14169-6.

• Media related to Penarth Fawr at Wikimedia Commons

• Castles of Wales entry for Penarth-fawr