An impressive church, a fine castle and an amazing Elizabethan home.
The marble church of St Margaret's is east of Conwy on the north side of the A55. It has a beautiful tall spire but gets its name from the 13 different types of marble used inside.
There are graves here of First World War Canadian soldiers, many who died in the Spanish flu epidemic, but a few were killed during the Kinmel Park riot of 1919.1
The Armistice had been signed on 11th November 1918 and troops were anxious to get home. On top of this the Spanish Influenza epidemic was killing men, and the winter of 1918/1919 had been severe.
The camp at Kinmel Park was overcrowded and food was poor, men wanted to get home as quickly as possible, to their families and to get jobs. The unrest culminated in looting and vandalism in early March 1919 during which five men died.
Four of the five are buried here at St Margaret's, the fifth is buried in Canada.
Conwy has a really great castle. It's another built by Edward the First and his architect James of St George. It took just four years to build and was completed in 1287.
We walked around Conwy which is quite pleasant especially down at the estuary.
On Castle Street there is a beautiful medieval merchant's home, Aberconwy House. It belongs to the National Trust and is currently used as a second-hand bookshop but it was closed when we were there.
Close to the estuary shore is the "Smallest House in Great Britain" which we didn't go into.
We finished our visit at an Elizabethan merchant's house, Plas Mawr, which is really excellent.
The entrance is through the street door then into a courtyard from where a stone staircase leads to the first floor.
The merchant Robert Wynn had purchased the mansion here in 1570 and between 1576 and 1585 he and his wife had it rebuilt to create Plas Mawr as it is today.
There is beautiful original timber panelling, stone fireplaces, impressive plaster work, some of it restored to the original colours which were discovered during work on the building.
The Hall is the first room entered. In the Middle Ages this had been the main living room but by the late sixteenth century it had become a reception room for visitors, a servants' dining room, and a place for feasts for tenants or the household.
Next to the hall is a wonderful kitchen with a massive fireplace then a passage that traverses the house from a porch on one side to the upper courtyard on the other.
The upper courtyard was originally the main entrance to the house.
Robert Wyn created a garden for the house which is reached through a gate in the upper courtyard. It has been recreated and follows the original plan. It is quite formal and has been stocked with flowering plants and fruit trees which were popular at the time, including roses, apricot, peach and Morello cherries.
Across the passage from the kitchen is the pantry where dry goods and meat were stored. Its original earth floor, strewn with rushes or "thresh" and dried herbs, has been recreated. The wooden beam at the foot of the doorway is the "threshold".
On the north corner of the ground floor is a small parlour, the only family room on this floor, used as a private sitting room to entertain close friends or even as a guest bedroom. The room is unfurnished but has beautiful restored plasterwork.
Across a small passage from the parlour is the brewhouse/bakehouse. This room also had access to the upper courtyard and well.
Upstairs the chamber of over the brewhouse has been left empty to show off the very fine plasterwork. This was probably Robert Wyn's bedroom.
Above the small parlour a richly decorated room was probably his wife's bedroom. The furnishings are from the mid-seventeenth century and reflect what was here at the time based upon an inventory. It was used not only as a bedroom but also a sitting and dressing room and for informal eating.
Beautiful wool hangings, called Kidderminster stuff, are faithful recreations; these were both decorative and functional, serving to keep rooms warm.
Between these two chambers is a much smaller room, probably a servant's room, and furnished accordingly.
The Great Chamber occupies the central portion of the first floor and was used for entertainment. Long benches around three walls would have had tables before them where food and drink were served between musical entertainment.
At the very top of the house a large attic boasts a fabulous pegged timber ceiling. This was originally meant to be viewed from the Great Chamber below, but when the tower was built it didn't quite work so the beautiful plaster ceiling was installed to the Great Chamber below.
Next to this attic a room has been furnished to represent the home of Jane Roberts, a widowed washerwoman, and her two sons, who lived in the north attic in about 1870.
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