History

Plas Newydd gained its character and very extensive renown from the 'Ladies of Llangollen', namely Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby. They eloped from southern Ireland in 1778 to create a rare and much talked about way of life that they called their 'retirement'. Despite almost continual financial difficulties they managed not only to furnish, decorate and enlarge the house including buying up surrounding land and laying out gardens but also to continue to socialise with their own class. Having settled on Llangollen for their home they rented Pen y Maes cottage in May 1780 and renamed it Plas Newydd. It was then a simple 2-storey, 3-window cottage with a recent small extension to SE. Not long after they set about building a library to SE; then further alterations in 1792 adding an extra room and some service rooms and a cellar. The front was later remodelled and in 1798 they had bought up sufficient land to create a small form. In 1819 the Ladies bought Plas Newydd by which time they had become absorbed in the collection of oak carving which was brought to them by many of their famous guests eg Charles Darwin. Lady Eleanor Butler died in 1829 and Sarah Ponsonby in 1831. The following year the house was auctioned. It then passed through various hands until it was bought in 1876 by General John Yorke of the Erddig family. He added a large wing which was demolished in 1963.

Exterior

The whole house is festooned with applied timberwork and decorative detail; the character is essentially Gothick. 2-storey, 4-window front; cement render with panelled timberwork including a band of urns at 3/4 height. Slate roof with freestone gable parapets and kneelers; stone chimney stacks, paired to left end. The 3 main bays to left have deep splayed bays to 1st floor flanking a smaller bay over the entrance; diamond leaded glazing and some stained glass. Pitched roof Gothick three arched canopies below and band of carved panels at lintel level. Two light windows with heavily embellished surrounds. Canopy to centre forms a splayed porch with seats. The right hand bay has 2-light pointed window linked by carving to the small pane Library window below and doorway besides - both have bracket pediments. Timberwork to gable ends as well; left end has a tabernacle over various carvings of religious figures; pediments to ground floor over window and dummy doorway. 2 tiny dormers to rear, central staircase window with openings to each level to left and pointed cellar doorway to right. At left end there ia a n advanced and splayed bay with Gothic windows with intersecting tracery.

Interior

Narrow entrance work with openwork carved balustrade and animal carvings to handrail. The woodwork detail is too profuse to describe here, suffice to say that it is principally to doors, doorcases, chimneypieces and cornice and much of it is Jacobean (reused). Many of the ceilings are also of ribbed plaster. The Oak Room was originally the kitchen (later drawing room) and an inscription on the fireplace records the vist of the Duke of Wellington. Gothic canopied twin seat for the Ladies. This room and the Ante Room to right have Spanish leather hanging introduced here by General Yorke. The Ante Room has a fragment of medieval glass to front window. Pointed arched doorway with coloured prismatic lantern. The library at the right end is taller; ribbed ceiling with bosses and further fragments of medieval glass (these are from Valle Crucis). The State Bedchamber (simply their guest room) has an early egg and dart cornice and stout barley twist columns to chimney piece.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Plas Newydd at Wikipedia
• Plas Newydd official website
• Wikidata Q7201722

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990