Tremadog War Memorial Institute, Porthmadog, Gwynedd

Entry Name: Tremadog War Memorial Institute

Listing Date: 30 March 1951

Last Amended: 26 September 2005

Grade: II

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 4459

Building Class: Domestic

ID on this website: 300004459

Location: A terraced house on the E side of Market Square, on the corner with High Street.

County: Gwynedd

Community: Porthmadog

Locality: Tremadog

Traditional County: Caernarfonshire

Tagged with: War memorial

History

Tremadog was a town created by William Madocks (1773-1828) in the first decade of the C19 on reclaimed land known as Traeth Mawr, the estuary of Afon Glaslyn. It was originally intended to be a post town on a direct road between London and Dublin, via Porthdinllaen on the Lleyn peninsula, a project that in due course lost out to the Holyhead Road. Tremadog was laid out around a market square, with market hall, coaching inn, houses and shops, with a church and chapel just outside the centre. Building of this small planned development, as well as a separate woollen manufactory, began c1805 and was largely completed by the time Richard Colt Hoare described it in 1810. No 1 Market Square was part of this first phase of development.

In 1839 it became the Cambrian Pill Depot, a dispensary established by Robert Isaac Jones (1815-1905), which sold 'Tremadoc Pills', claimed to cure numerous ailments. In 1923 it became the Tremadog War Memorial Institute, and was provided with billiards room and reading room on the ground floor, and a rear entrance with stairs replacing the original stairs. At about this time shallow small-pane bay windows to the shop in both Market Square and High Street elevations were replaced.

Exterior

A late Georgian former shop of two and a half storeys; roughly coursed and squared blocks of quarried stone, pyramidal slate roof on projecting bracketed eaves, and stone stack to the rear. It has a 1-window elevation to Market Square and a 2-window elevation to High Street. The original entrance is in the splayed corner, a blocked doorway later converted to a window, itself now blocked. Above it is a slate plaque commemorating the foundation of the Cambrian Pill dispensary here in 1839. To Market Square is an added bay window with paired 25-pane horned sashes. A 16-pane window in the middle storey and 9-pane window in the upper storey beneath a gable both replace original sashes. In the High Street elevation is an inserted bay window similar to the Market Square elevation, but the lintel of an original window can be seen behind it. A 12-pane window is to the L in the lower and middle storeys, and in the upper storey is a gabled 9-pane window on the L side, all replacing original sashes. Windows on the R side are blocked in middle and upper storeys.

In the 2-storey outshut behind the lower storey is integral with the main range but the upper storey was added later and is separated from the main range by a vertical joint. Facing High Street it has a 20-pane hornless sash window in the lower storey and small-pane pivoting window above. Its rear, facing a small back yard open to High Street, has 2 replacement upper-storey windows, and a flat-roof porch with glazed door.

Interior

The interior retains no obvious C19 detail, and a C20 stair. The upper storey comprises a single large double-height room, and leads into a single room forming the upper storey of No 3.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its social-historical interest and its special architectural interest as a late Georgian shop which was part of the original development of the town and has played a series of important roles in its history, Good architectural character, including use of local stone. A prominent building in the Market square, and an integral component of the planned town.

External Links

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