Architecture of Wales is an overview of architecture in Wales, the United Kingdom, 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.
There is little evidence for domestic architecture predating the 14th century in Wales. Earliest architecture includes tower houses and first floor halls as well as early stone buildings. There are still some timber frame constructions that still exist that date back to the 12th century, the earliest being at Chepstow Castle in Monmouthshire.
Earliest architecture There is little evidence of domestic architecture in Wales that predates the 14th century.An exception to this is the domestic quarters in a number of Welsh castles, such as Chepstow, where there is a Norman great hall which dates to the 11th century. The earliest domestic buildings are the stone tower houses, which may date back to about 1400, and various partially fortified first-floor hall houses such as Candleston Castle and Eastington at Rhoscrowther in Pembrokeshire. Most of the Welsh examples are in the southern coastal border area of Wales and particularly in Pembrokeshire.Hilling (1976), pp. 96–97, fig. 61 and appendix K So far no Welsh timber-framed houses can be securely dated to before 1400, but the description by the poet Iolo Goch of Owain Glyndŵr's house at Sycharth shows that houses with timber cruck framing were being built well before this date. It has been suggested that the devastation caused following Owain Glyndŵr's revolt may have caused the destruction of many earlier timber-framed houses in the Welsh Marches.Suggett & Stevenson (2010), p. 34
Tower houses and first floor halls
The distribution of tower houses in Wales has been discussed by both Hilling and Smith. Welsh tower houses, most of them built during the 14th and 15th centuries, were rectangular structures, consisting of two or more storeys, and are closely related to those in Ireland and Scotland. In 1976 Hilling produced a map (with listing) showing 17 examples.Hilling J Historic Architecture of Wales: An Introduction. (1976), Univ. Wales Press, Cardiff, pp. 95–6 Further houses have been added by Suggett and it is possible that new examples will be recognised as being incorporated into existing buildings, as at Sandyhaven House in Pembrokeshire.Suggett (2010), p. 29
A further example is likely to be the prominent East Gate tower of Powis Castle. The East Gate appears to have been a tower house, which had an entrance made through the vaulted undercroft, probably in the 17th century. An extra storey was added to the tower in 1815–1818 when Sir Robert Smirke re-fenestrated the castle and added Gothic Revival battlements.Scourfield and Haslam (2013), p. 244 Also on the Welsh border, close to Welshpool is Wattlesburgh. Many of the English tower houses, such as Tattershall Castle or Buckden Palace are slightly later and larger than the Welsh examples, and built of brick.
Apart from tower houses, there are a number of stone-built first floor hall buildings, where the hall is mounted over an undercroft. These include Owain Glyndŵr's Parliament House in Machynlleth. Most examples are found in southern Wales with a cluster of buildings in Pembrokeshire. The distribution of tower and other houses in Wales with vaulted ceilings have been mapped and listed by Peter Smith.Smith, p. (1988), pp. 372–5, Map 7
They also occur as early merchant's houses in Haverfordwest, Pembroke and Tenby. In some cases the hall is accessed by an outer stair, as is the case at Pentre Ifan Barn at Nevern in Pembrokeshire.Lloyd et al. (2013), p. 311 Another example is Eastington at Rhoscrowther, Pembrokeshire, which has been called a tower house, but is more correctly a first floor hall house, with an outside stair and crenulations with a side tower.Lloyd et al. (2013), p. 374, fig. Eastington belonged to the Perrot family in the 15th century. There is a further complex of Medieval stone houses at East Orchard, St Athan, in Glamorgan which belonged to the de Berkerolles family in the 14th century. The group of buildings includes a first floor hall house with an outside chimney, which also had a separate kitchen block.Newman (1995), p. 548, with reconstruction drawing go the buildings
Early stone buildings and transition from castles
From the later part of the 15th century, some of the Welsh castles underwent a transformation into grand houses. Some of these such as Chirk Castle and Powis Castle have remained as houses, but others such as Raglan Castle in Monmouthshire and Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire are ruins which can provide some idea of their grandeur. At Carew Sir Rhys ap Thomas from about 1480 onwards undertook a grand re-modelling including an almost entire re-fenestration with straight headed windows. This was continued after 1558 by Sir John Perrot, who replaced the north range with a splendid frontage with a long gallery at the second floor level in the fashion of Robert Smythson.Lloyd et al. (2004), pp. 152–4.
An even more impressive residence on a palatial scale was Raglan Castle. The earliest building is the freestanding hexagonal great tower, which is surrounded by a moat. It was probably built by Sir William ap Thomas before 1445. It would have served the function of a strongly defended tower house. This was followed in 1461–1469 by the enlargement of the castle by Sir William Herbert with a gatehouse to the NE and to the SW a range of sumptuously decorated state apartments. Further apartment ranges were built around the SW court. The two sets of apartments were approached by an impressive main staircase. From about 1549 to 1559 these buildings were extended, by William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, particularly around the "Pitched Stone" Court and also with the long gallery with its elaborately decorated Renaissance fireplaces. The slighting of the castle in the English Civil War and its subsequent partial demolition make it hard to appreciate Raglan as one of the major domestic buildings of Wales.Newman (2000), pp. 489–509.
Another early house connected with the Herbert family was Tretower Court in Breconshire. It was here that William Herbert settled his stepbrother Roger Vaughan who built a house, which was to develop around a courtyard and continued being added to until the 17th century. Recently the arched braced truss roof of the great hall has been dated by Dendrochronology to c. 1455.Scourfield and Haslam (2013), pp. 582–589
Timber-framed construction Timber-framed houses in Wales are concentrated particularly in the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire and mainly in areas which lack good building stone but have an abundance of ancient woodland that provided the timber for construction. The Welsh Poets often provide good descriptions of these early houses from the 14th century onwards, when praising their patrons. This is the case of Iolo Goch's description of Owain Glyndŵr's house at Sycharth in the late 14th century when the poet mentioned that the house was constructed with crucks and had a slate roof.Johnston, Dafydd (1993), Iolo Goch: The Poems, Gomer Welsh Classics Series, Llandysul,
Dendrochronology and the dating of Welsh houses Since the 1990s the availability of dates provided by tree-ring dating or dendrochronology has revolutionised the study of early buildings in Wales and is particularly relevant for timber-framed buildings. The earliest tree ring date associated with a building in Wales is a date commissioned by Cadw for a door at Chepstow Castle which was made from wood felled between 1159 and 1189. A complete listing of tree ring dates for Wales is maintained by the Vernacular Architecture Group at the Archaeological Dataservice and slightly over 200 samples have been taken, though not all have provided positive results. The scheme has largely been sponsored by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in conjunction with the Dating Welsh Houses Group (DOWG). The greatest number of dates are available from Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire, areas which have some of the greatest concentrations of timber-framed houses. Other early dates are c. 1250 for timbers from the Chapter House at Brecon Cathedral and 1386 for the bell frame in Tower of St David's Cathedral. The earliest domestic building to be dated by dendrochronology is Hafodygarreg at Erwood, in Breconshire of 1402. Many dates have been obtained for buildings after this, possibly suggesting that there was a great re-building in Wales after the devastation caused by Owain Glyndŵr's uprising. The evidence of dendrochronology clearly shows that in the 15th and the first half of the 16th centuries, hall houses were the standard plan for domestic buildings. The great majority of timber-framed houses were built with cruck trusses, while a few higher-status houses were constructed with aisled trusses. Change came in the mid-16th century when houses became two or more storeyed. Regional forms of houses evolved and some are now stone-built. The earliest stone-built "Snowdonia House", with an upper storey, is Tyn Llan at Gwyddelwern, which has been shown by dendrochronology to date from 1519 to 1537.Suggett, R. & Dunn M. (2015), p. 22
Aisled hall houses
Aisled-framed hall houses have one or more rows of interior posts. These interior posts typically carry more structural load than the posts in the exterior walls. Aisled Hall houses are early in the sequence of timber-framed houses and were high status dwellings. In his study of these houses Peter Smith recorded 20 examples of this construction, mainly in NE Wales and particularly in Denbighshire.Smith, P. (2001) "Ty Mawr and the Aisle-Truss Houses of Wales" in Britnell, W. (ed.), pp. 201–18 In some cases such as Plas Uchaf at Llangar near Corwen, which has now been restored by the Landmark Trust, the roof was supported by both aisle and cruck trusses. Plas Cadogan at Esclusham near Wrexham survived as the finest example of a Welsh aisled house with an open hall up to roof. Despite being a Grade I listed building it was demolished in 1967.Hubbard (1985), p. 165
Aisled hall houses in Wales have been dated by dendrochronology to the 15th century, though examples in England are often earlier. Some of the aisled houses such as the Upper House at Painscastle in Radnorshire or Althrey Hall in Maelor Saesneg had box-framed wings added to provide far greater accommodation and formed an H-shaped plan for the building. Althrey Hall was built in the early C16 and was described by John Leland as "a fair house" in the 1530s. It is thought that it was built for Richard ap Howel. The double portrait wallpainting surviving in the first floor of mid-16th-century date is likely to represent Richard's son, Elis ap Richard (died 1558), with his bride Jane Hanmer.Hubbard (1986), p. 321 An example of an aisled hall house that has been studied in great detail and fully restored is Ty Mawr, Castle Caereinion in Montgomeryshire. This house has been dated to 1460 by dendrochronology and was owned by the Alo ap Rhiwallon family (who had settled there in the 13th century), and the builder of Tŷ Mawr was probably Dafydd ap Gwilym, the great-great-grandson of Alo ap Rhiwallon.Chapman, M. Ll. Ty Mawr, Castle Caereinion: a history of ownership and tenancy, in Britnell (2001), pp. 179–98
Cruck construction