| Webblog | Links | Contact us |
The market town for the Conwy valley, Llanrwst has two of the best bookshops in north Wales, a delicatessen selling local produce and a good baker’s where you can buy your lunch for the day’s walk. Across the river is Gwydir Castle, built by the Wynn family when they eventually left Dolwyddelan. (More about the castle on the Gwydir Castle web site.)
Sir Richard Wynn of Gwydir built the Gwydir Uchaf chapel in 1673. It has a remarkable painted ceiling depicting the Creation, the Trinity and the Last Judgement - a Sistine Chapel in miniature?
The church in Llanrwst is well worth a visit. The magnificent rood screen has tiny, meticulous carvings of the Instruments of the Crucifixion (ladder, nails, spear, crown of thorns) and the Lamb and Flag in its tracery. Adjoining the church is the Gwydir Chapel, built in 1633 by an earlier Sir Richard Wynn. This Sir Richard was treasurer to Charles I’s queen Henrietta Maria, and the court architect Inigo Jones is said to have designed the chapel. It has elaborate wood panelling, several family tombs and a stone coffin said to be that of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, moved from Maenan Abbey at the Dissolution.
The stone carving of the Lamb and Flag in the churchyard wall near the gate is said to have come from the establishment of the Knioghts of St John at Yspytty Ifan. Along the path to the church are the Jesus Hospital Almshouses, founded in 1610 by Sir Richard’s father Sir John Wynn ‘for 11 old men and an old woman for their bedmaker’. The almshouses are now a museum with a working herb garden.
Inigo Jones is also credited with designing the stone bridge over the Conwy into Llanrwst. His reputation for designing stage sets for elaborate court masques should not hide the fact that he was a competent practical architect as well. The 15th century cottage west of the bridge, Tu Hwnt i’r Bont (this simply means ‘The House over the Bridge)’ was used as the local court house. It now belongs to the National Trust and is used as a tea room and shop.
