Robert Wynn (died 1598), known in his early life as Robert Gwyn, was a member of the Welsh gentry, known for constructing Plas Mawr in Conwy. [1]
Robert Wynn (died 1598), known in his early life as Robert Gwyn, was a member of the Welsh gentry, known for constructing Plas Mawr in Conwy. [1]
Robert came from a prosperous local family, being the 3rd son of John "Wynn" ap Maredudd, and entered the service of first Sir Walter Stonor and then Sir Philip Hoby, both administrators and senior officials to King Henry VIII. [2] Robert fought and was injured at the Siege of Boulogne in 1544, took part in the King's Scottish campaigns and traveled extensively across Europe. [3] He invested in land across North Wales and married his first wife, Dorothy Griffith, a member of the local gentry, in 1570. [4] Robert now needed a suitable family house and chose Conwy, a prosperous town that was known in the 16th century for its gentile society. [5] He built the house of Plas Mawr there between 1576 and 1585. [6]
By the 1570s Robert began to rise in local society, becoming a justice of the peace, the MP for Caernarvonshire in 1589 and the county sheriff in 1590–91. [1] Dorothy died childless in 1586, and in 1588 he remarried to Dorothy Dymock, with whom he had seven children - Katherine, John, Margaret, Elen, Sydney, Thomas and Mary - in only six years. [7] His income rose considerably, from around £110 a year during the 1570s, to around £220 in the 1590s. [8] According to the antiquarian John Wynn, Robert Wynn kept a "worthy plentiful house". [9]
Robert died in 1598 and was buried by the altar of the Church of St Mary & All Saints, Conwy, of which he was a benefactor. [10] He left a complex will intended to provide support for his wife and enable his daughters and youngest son to be successfully married; his instruction envisaged this being achieved by saving up money from his estates over the coming years, under the direction of the executor, Sir Roger Mostyn. [11] Arguments followed, resulting in a protracted law case that was not resolved until 1630. [11]
Llanrwst is a market town and community on the A470 road and the River Conwy, in Conwy County Borough, Wales, and the historic county of Denbighshire. It developed round the wool trade and became known also for the making of harps and clocks. Today, less than one mile from the edge of Snowdonia, its main pursuit is tourism. Notable buildings include almshouses, two 17th-century chapels, and the Parish Church of St Grwst, which holds a stone coffin of Llywelyn the Great. The 2011 census gave it a population of 3,323.
Conwy, previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on the east bank. The town formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. The community, which also includes Deganwy and Llandudno Junction, had a population of 14,753 at the 2011 census.
Ruabon is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from Rhiw Fabon, rhiw being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and Fabon being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church name, of earlier, Celtic origin. An older English spelling, Rhuabon, can sometimes be seen.
Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet, was a Welsh baronet, Member of Parliament and antiquary.
Sir Richard Wynn, 2nd Baronet was a Welsh courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1649.
Sir John Wynn, 5th Baronet was a Welsh landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1679 and 1713. He was among the largest landowners in Wales.
Sir Richard Clough, known by his Welsh contemporaries as Rhisiart Clwch, was a merchant from Denbigh, north-east Wales, and an agent of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Bodysgallen Hall is a manor house in Conwy county borough, north Wales, near the village of Llanrhos. Since 2008 the house has been owned by The National Trust. It is a Grade I listed building, currently used as a hotel. This listed historical building derives primarily from the 17th century, and has several later additions. Bodysgallen was constructed as a tower house in the Middle Ages to serve as defensive support for nearby Conwy Castle. According to tradition, the site of Bodysgallen was the 5th century AD stronghold of Cadwallon Lawhir, King of Gwynedd, who had wide-ranging exploits as far as Northumberland.
Eglwysbach is a village and community in Conwy county borough, Wales. The village plays host to an annual Agricultural show and horticultural show in August, which includes displays of local cattle, sheep, heavy and light horses, showjumping a horticulture marquee, fairground rides and trades stands. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 928, increasing slightly to 935 at the 2011 census.
This is a list of Sheriffs of Caernarvonshire.
This is a list of Sheriffs of Merionethshire. The historic county of Merioneth was originally created in 1284. The administrative county of Merioneth was created from the historic county under the Local Government Act 1888.
The Grey Mare's Tail is a waterfall on the very edge of the Snowdonia National Park near Gwydir Castle in Conwy County Borough, north Wales. It lies just off the B5106 road between the town of Llanrwst and the large village of Trefriw. The Welsh name, Rhaeadr y Parc Mawr, derives from the fact that the falls are fed by a large stream that has its source in the Gwydir Forest, and flows through the old Parc Mine, about a mile to the southeast. The name 'Grey Mare's Tail' was given to it by Lady Willoughby of Gwydir Castle, possibly "in compliment to Lord Byron and the Staubbach"
Plas Mawr is an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy, North Wales, dating from the 16th century. The property was built by Robert Wynn, a member of the local gentry, following his marriage to his first wife, Dorothy Griffith. Plas Mawr occupied a plot of land off Conwy's High Street and was constructed in three phases between 1576 and 1585 at a total cost of around £800. Wynn was known for his hospitality, and the household was supported by Wynn's local dairy herds, orchards and gardens. On his death he laid out complex instructions for dividing his estate; the resulting law-case took years to resolve, effectively preventing the redevelopment of the house and preserving it in its original condition.
The Royal House of Mathrafal began as a cadet branch of the Welsh Royal House of Dinefwr, taking their name from Mathrafal Castle. They effectively replaced the House of Gwertherion, who had been ruling the Kingdom of Powys since late Roman Britain, through the politically advantageous marriage of an ancestor, Merfyn the Oppressor. King Bleddyn ap Cynfyn would join the resistance of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, against the invasion of William the Conqueror, following the Norman conquest of England. Thereafter, they would struggle with the Plantagenets and the remaining Welsh Royal houses for the control of Wales. Although their fortunes rose and fell over the generations, they are primarily remembered as Kings of Powys and last native Prince of Wales.
Welsh art is the traditions in the visual arts associated with Wales and its people. Most art found in, or connected with, Wales is essentially a regional variant of the forms and styles of the rest of the British Isles, a very different situation from that of Welsh literature. The term Art in Wales is often used in the absence of a clear sense of what "Welsh art" is, and to include the very large body of work, especially in landscape art, produced by non-Welsh artists in Wales since the later 18th century.
Lewys Daron was a Welsh-language professional poet from the Llŷn area of Gwynedd, Wales. Although not considered to be one of the foremost of the Poets of the Nobility, his work provides a portrait of the gentry society of north-west Wales at the start of the Tudor period.
The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art (RCA) is a centre of excellence for art in Wales. Its main gallery is located in Conwy and it has over a hundred members.
Maenan Abbey was a monastic religious house located in Maenan, Conwy, Wales. It is situated near Llanrwst.
Architecture of Wales is an overview of architecture in Wales from the medieval period to the present day, excluding castles and fortifications, ecclesiastical architecture and industrial architecture. It covers the history of domestic, commercial, and administrative architecture.
Ellis ap Griffith or Elissau ap Gruffudd, was the Baron of Gwyddelwern in Denbighshire, Wales, and the grandnephew of Owen Glendower, Prince of Wales. Following his family defeat during the Glyndwr Rising, his branch inherited the co-representation of the Royal House of Mathrafal, and were immortalized by William Shakespeare in the history play Henry IV. Through his mother Lowrie, he inherited the lordship of his grandfather, Tudor Glendower, and by marriage, the estate of Plas-yn-Yale. By this union, he became the founder of the House of Yale, represented by the Yale family, later known in America as the benefactors of Yale University.