If you didn't spot the house as you drove up to start your walk you should now be able to see the Goeorgian House of Plas Nannau. There have been around 5 different houses on this site over the centiuries. The grand manor you can see from the bench was started in around 1788 by Sir Robert Howell Vaughan, and completed by his son in 1796. It's since been made smaller, and is now in a sad state of disrepair despite being Grade II* listed.
Major-General John Vaughan describes Nannau in his war memoirs, “Cavalry and Sporting Memories”, published in 1954: “Nannau is about the best built Georgian house I have ever seen. With huge blocks of stone and round, pointed and projecting mortar. Incidentally, I cannot find out the composition of the cement but I have been told that it was burnt lime, fine river sand and bullocks’ blood or white of eggs. It is previous to Portland cement. All the stone was, of course, hand dressed and the interior woodwork and ceilings are a monument to the old Welsh craftsmen, who have now entirely ceased to exist”.
He describes the estate as “one of the most beautiful in the United Kingdom”…
The Nanney & Vaughan families lived on this site for a thousand years, their residence coming to and end in the 1960's. One of the ealier houses on the site was destoyed by Owain Glyndwr in 1402 (the Machynlleth Adventure Lab share more information about the last Welsh born Prince of Wales).
During World War One the house was used an officer’s neurological hospital, and World War Two a girls boarding school from Kent was evacuated to the hall.
After the war, as with many grand estates, the operating costs of the estate were becomng unmanagable. The house and estate land were seperated, and sold. In the 1960s, the hall was bought by retired barrister Edward Alexander Morrison and his artist wife Barbara who carried out major renovations. Then in 1975, the surrounding estate was sold off, with the building converted into a hotel and sold in 1979. In 1991, Nannau Hall was bought by Dafydd Maslen Jones and his wife Julie, a direct descendant of Owain Glyndwr, with plans to turn it into a bed and breakfast.This however failed and in 1995 it was again put on the market, new owner Joseph Cawood gained listed building consent for major internal alterations in 2001. This work was started but not completed, and the hall has gradually fallen in to a state of disrepair.
Snowdonia National Park have finally stepped in when it became apparent in 2020 that the lead had been taken from the roof and the building was no longer water tight. Full article on BBC about this.
Please make sure you tuck this cache back in it's hiding spot carefully....