refers to both an ancient estate and its current Georgian mansion near the village of Llanfachreth, Gwynedd, North Wales. The mansion was initially inhabited by the Welsh Nanney (Nannau) family, and was in the possession of this one family for over 900 years. At its largest Nannau was 12,000 acres.
Nannau is a Grade II* listed building and its parkland is listed, also at Grade II*, on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The family dynasty was founded by Cadwgan of Nannau, identified with Cadwgan ap Bleddyn of the Lleision, a family associated with the Kingdom of Powys. The title continued for four centuries, until the division of the cadet branches. The estate was then passed on to an heiress, Janet, who married into the Vaughan family of Hengwrt in 1719. In 1795, their descendants, the Vaughan baronets, replaced the then 17th-century mansion with a new house co-designed by Joseph Bromfield, which still stands today.
The head of the family represented the local county as Sheriff of Merionethshire and held the position nine times in 400 years between the 16th and 20th centuries. In 1911, as recorded by Encyclopædia Britannica, the families of county rank in the neighbourhood of Dolgellau included those of Nannau, Hengwrt (the famous Hengwrt Welsh MSS), Caerynwch, Fronwnion, Bron-y-gadair, Brynygwin, Brynadda, Abergwynnant, Garthangharad.
By the mid-20th century, the estate was "wrecked", and a succession of short-term owners saw much of the land sold off, the demolition of some of the 18th-century mansion, and failed attempts to establish a hotel at the hall. By 2020, the lead from the roof had been stolen, and the house was "deteriorating rapidly". Nannau is considered in the top at risk buildings by multiple organizations, including SAVE Britains Heritage and The Georgian Group. Despite acknowledgement years ago by Snowdonia Park Authority and Cadw of the critical need for intervention no action has yet been taken and the roof continues to be uncovered.
Nannau family history
11 – 15th centuries The Nanney family of Dolgellau claimed descent from the Lleision through Cadwgan of Nannau, identified with Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, the second son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. Cadwgan's elder brother Maredudd ap Bleddyn had reestablished the Kingdom of Powys by his death in 1132. Cadwgan's son Madog ap Cadwgan became the 1st Lord of Nannau. The 2nd Lord was Cadwgan ap Madog, his uncle Owain was knighted by King Henry I of England in the Duchy of Normandy about 1112, but died in 1116. The title of Lord was passed on from father to son until the early 16th century. Following the creation of the title Lord of Nannau, a prominent member of the family who became the 5th Lord was known as Ynyr Hen ("old Ynyr"). His son Ynyr Fychan ("Little Ynyr") sided with the English crown during the Conquest of Wales by Edward I and was rewarded for the capture of Madog ap Llywelyn (1295) during the revolt against the new administration. King Edward I also rewarded those who pledged allegiance by allowing them to keep their land. This marked the beginning of the Nannau estate dynasty. The effigy of the 7th Lord, Meurig ap Ynyr Fychan (c. 14th century) is on display at St. Mary's Church, Dolgellau. Another son of Ynyr Fychan, Einion, later became the Bishop of St. Asaph.
The Lordship of Nannau was passed on to Hywel Sele (9th Lord of Nannau, d. 1402), probably the most famous Nannau owner, who was noted for his attempted assassination of Owain Glyndŵr on the Nannau estate, before Owain set the Nannau house ablaze. Following this incident, the house was rebuilt. This would be one of at least five reconstructions during the Nannau family's tenure of the estate.
15 – 20th centuries The Nannau family established a new dynasty through marriage which connected it to Tal-y-bont, Dyffryn Ardudwy, and enabled it to extend its reach throughout Wales and beyond. Lands were bought in the areas of Brithdir, Dyffryndan, and Cefnyrywen, and Dolgleder, Garthgynfor and Garthmaelan in the surrounding areas. The family established many cadet branches, beginning with Sele's brother. At the end of the 16th century, the families of Caerynwch and Cefndeuddwr emerged, and later on the family of Maes-y-Pandy. There was also an alliance with the Dolau-gwyn family.
Between 1400 and 1600, the Nannau farmlands were vastly expanded, and successive Nannau lords held government posts in and around Dolgellau. A cousin of the 10th Lord sided with the House of Tudor during the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) and was the commander of Harlech Castle during its siege. He also fought in the Hundred Years' War in the Kingdom of France. The family helped establish Cymer Abbey, Llanelltyd, Dolgellau, and other churches in North Wales that still stand today. An heiress of the Nannau Estate was Alice, who married a descendant of Hywel Coetmor in the 15th century. She was the sole heiress of Hywel ap Meurig of Nannau. The Lord of Nannau title endured until the 13th Lord, who was the last to hold the royal title after 400 years of father/son inheritance. This period marked the beginning of surnames in Wales, and the family name emerged in the early 16th century. This coincided with a new era of Welsh Hall Houses: the Snowdonia type, in particular.
For centuries, the Nanney family controlled the estate and the surrounding region. Together with the Vaughan family who claimed descent from Rhodri Fawr (c. 9th century), King of Wales, these two families established a dynasty around the town of Dolgellau, as well as Merionethshire and other parts of Caernarfonshire. The 17th century brought a new era for the . Huw Nanney Hen's (1542–1623) mother was a descendant of Henry IV of England and the House of Lancaster, he was a Sheriff of Merionethshire in 1587. Nanney Hen built a new residence at Nannau , but it lasted only a generation before being burnt to the ground around 1645 during the English Civil War. The family had to move to their more traditional second home, Dolrhyd, near the town of Dolgellau, an adjacent estate since the 16th century (now a residential care home).
It was only in 1697 that a permanent residence was established at Nannau. Nannau remained a family home until the eventual sale of the mansion in 1965. The need to move around due to civil strife was evident when Vaughan, 2nd Baronet, inherited the title in 1792. He also acquired six estates: Nannau, Dolrhyd (Doluwcheogrhyd), Rhug, Hengwrt, Meillionydd, and Ystum Colwyn. It was Vaughan who personally designed Nannau's Georgian mansion and the cottages and lodges which are still in use today.
Family poets The Nannau family had been patrons of several famous Welsh poets of the period, and the mansion is mentioned in several poems from the 14th century onwards. Examples were, Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen (), he was a famous poet and cousin to an owner of Nannau. He wrote the famous poem Lament for Lleucu Llwyd. Another Nannau family bard, Sion Dafydd Lâs (d. 1694), was considered to be one of the last of the traditional live-in family poets in Wales.
Cadet branches The Lord of Nannau title was passed on directly through the male line of families for centuries until the direct line ceased in the 16th century with the 12th Lord, Howel Nanney (1470–1580) who was esquire to Henry VIII. From Howel, the first cadet branch was established by the Nanneys of Cefndeuddwr who later became the Ellis-Nanney baronets of Gwynfryn and Cefndeuddwr (). The other cadet branches descended from Huw Nanney Hen who would have become the 14th Lord if the title had continued, followed by his fifth son, Edward Nanney (b. 1578), from whom four more houses were descended as estates in Gwynedd: the Nanneys of Maes-Y-Pandy, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant; the Nanneys of Llanfendigaid, Tywyn; the Nanney-Wynns of Maes-y-neuadd, Llandecwyn, Talsarnau, and the Nanneys of Llwyn, Dolgellau.
The establishment of the family's cadet branches marked the end of the Nannau family's direct male heir ownership. After almost 600 years, the male line ended with the tenure of Colonel Huw Nanney IV when he married Catherine Vaughan from Corsygedol & Talhenbont Hall. They had four daughters. He died in 1701. Then began the transition of Nannau to the Vaughan family and eventually the Vaughan baronets. Huw Nanney IV built a new mansion between 1693 and 1697. The home was sketched by artist Moses Griffith around 1797. Vaughan oversaw the design of another reconstruction of the Nannau mansion which still stands today.
Royal visits The son of John Vaughan (1830–1900) welcomed dignitaries on the occasion of Queen Victoria's fourth tour of Wales. He also welcomed royal couple Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Henry of Battenberg when Princess Beatrice laid the foundation stone of St John's Church, Barmouth on 27 August 1889. In April 1949 John's son Major-General John Vaughan who inherited Nannau, received another royal couple to the area of the new Nannau estate: Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, with their newborn son Charles, now King of England. The royal couple stayed at 'Glyn' with Baron Harlech and visited for lunch on 29 April 1949.
Nannau estate The Nannau bucket hoard
It is believed that Vaughan, 2nd Baronet, had shown great interest in antiquities and had brought a bucket covered in inches of peat bog from nearby Arthog, near the Mawddach estuary, in 1826. The bucket turned out to be an urn from the Bronze Age, possibly from East-Central Europe. An identical urn was found in Hungary. The bucket was left unattended for 60 years near the Hywel Sele lodge before it was discovered by John Vaughan's girls in 1881. It was used as a cigar ashtray and a waste paper bin until 1951 when Major-General Vaughan revealed the urn to guests. The urn was later dated by Professor Christopher Hawkes as about 2,700 years old and sent to the British Museum the following year. Another similar discovery named the Dowris Hoard was found in the 1820s in Dowris, County Offaly, Ireland. A late Bronze Age cauldron was discovered with a hoard of weapons; the discovery was from the same period as the Nannau bucket at Arthog. Some of the items buried in the Snowdonia bog were later found to be from 1,100 BC.
Nannau Deer Park Nannau's medieval deer park is surrounded by fencing and is near the site of one of Nannau's much older houses. The deer park was heavily landscaped in the late 18th and early 18th centuries. The forest in the deer park used to be much larger. The deer park is also home the site of the mythological haunted oak, ruins of lookout towers, ancient oak trees, late-medieval rabbit pillow mounds, two gatehouses (Hywel Sele and Lower Lodges), and a Tudor stone arch. The deer escaped during a snow storm in 1963, but can still be seen in the area. There are the remains of two fish ponds in the deer park.
Stone Towers There are two ruinous folly towers near Hywel Sele Lodge, thought to have been used as lookout towers to alert the estate when the guests were returning. It is possible another folly nearby, the Nannau 'Summer House', located just outside the deer park, was also used as a lookout point in conjunction with the towers.
Rabbit Mounds There are the remains of four medieval pillow mounds for rabbit breeding on the hill directly past Hywel Sele Lodge, on the left. The rabbits were originally cared for by monks of the nearby Cymer Abbey.
Iron age hillforts Nannau is home to at least three Iron Age Celtic hillforts. There are two hillforts on Moel Offrwm, a smaller hillfort on the side and a larger one at the summit. Another is the hillfort on Foel Faner, overlooking Llyn Cynwch.
Nannau Park walks
Precipice Walk Summit Walk of Foel Offrwm Foel Offrwm Walk Nannau Deer Park Walk Pandy Bach Walk
Gatehouse and stone arches Nannau has at least three gatehouses and four stone arches, with overlap.
Hywel Sele Lodge