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view of Conway Castle from the tower of Plas Mawr.

Plas Mawr is a town house, built circa 1580 by Robert Wynn, a wealthy Elizabethan merchant. A gatehouse fronts onto the street, behind which a small courtyard gives access to the house proper. It was one of the grandest houses in town in its day, but declined in importance and was used for a while as appartments, before being restored to its original grandeur, with Elizabethan furniture and elaborate plasterwork.

street front of Plas Mawr gatehouse

The front door. Oak planking, with added grandeur from th massive strap hinges and studs

An entrance passage is separated from the hall by a massive oak screen

The screen from the hall side. Such a partition was common in houses from the Middle Ages.

A simple plank coffer stands between the two doors. On it sits a bowl and leather bottle

This hall is in the gatehouse but is designed to impress. Plas Mawr is well known for its plasterwork, which is shown here on the ceiling and the fireplace. As would have been common in Elizabethan times, the plasterwork on the fireplace has been brightly painted.

An elaborately carved canopied cupboard, stylistically halfway between a Medieval dressoir and an Elizabethan press cupboard. It combines useful storage space with a means to display plate.

Linenfold panelling

The courtyard between the house and the gatehouse is a sunny spot for potted herbs, essential to any Elizabethan kitchen

Cooking was done on an open hearth. A firebasket supports a griddle and roasting was done on spits over a long drip pan. The side oven was a later addition.
The kitchen floor has been spread with rushes, which could be swept up with all the refuse

A hanging cage allowed food to be stored safe from vermin but with a free flow of air.

A wall larder with fretwork doors and a side table with scales and other cooking implements. A typical Welsh spoon rack is on the wall. Wooden spoons don't burn the mouth

A kitchen cupboard contains an assortment of earthenware cooking pots.

In the cold larder, freah meat was stored and game was hung. The table has salt and spices used for preserving.

A solid log made an ideal chopping board for butchery. The barrel is for salting meat.

A grain hutch was used for storing flour, as such households would have made their own bread, the staple diet.

Unpainted plasterwork on a ceiling, wall and fireplace.

In the grand parlour, plasterwork is painted and the walls have textile hangings for extra warmth and colour. The floor is covered with woven rush matting.
Seating is provides by backstools and joint stools and by benches built agains the wall. A glass shelf hangs on the wall

The plasterwork on the chimney breast has been painted, aiming at brightness rather than elegant tastefulness. The stonework of the fireplace has also been painted to resemble marble.

A trestle table laid out for dining, with seating at a bench against the wall.

a low trestle bed, without ornament, against a plank partition wall.

Small chest, or coffor bach.

An elaborately carved and turned tester bed in the master bedroom, with a joint bench

The bedhead.

A clothes press is built into the wall. The partition wall is panelled.

dressoir or hutch cupboard, by the bed

Chest, with carved panels.

Frame chair. with simple incised carving. The cushion would have provided little comfort, but the footwarmer, containing hot coals, would have helped.

A garderobe: a side closet with a indoor privy: a hole in a plank, aided by gravity. The prevailing smell of ammonia helped to keep moths off clothes.

A close stool, emptied by servants, often out of the window. Town streets were not a pleasant place to walk.

Casement window. Glass, allowing light while keeping draughts out, made life vastly more comfortable. But large sheets were not possible, hence the tiny panes, in lead framing. The 'grain' of the old blown glass is visible in the distortions.

A small cricket table, with plank partition walls and oak floor boards. Early boards were very wide.

The introduction of fireplaces into domestic homes in Tudor times allowed upper floors to be inserted into once open halls, but people upstairs still had to negotiate the low beams.

beams supporting the tower roof.