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 small market town and community on the A470 road and the River Conwy, in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It developed around the wool trade and became known also for the making of harps and clocks. Today, less than a mile from the edge of Snowdonia, its main industry 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 the town a population of 3,323.
Conwy, traditionally known in English as Conway, is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. The community, which includes Deganwy and Llandudno Junction, had a population of 14,208 at the 2001 census, and is a popular tourist destination. The population rose to 14,753 at the 2011 census. In the 2015 census "The size of the resident population in Conwy County Borough on the 30th June 2015 was estimated to be 116,200 people." The town itself has a population of 4,065.
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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.
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