Pen y Bryn
| Pen y Bryn | |
|---|---|
 |
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| General information | |
| Type | Manor House |
| Location | Abergwyngregyn, Aber, in Gwynedd, north Wales |
| Coordinates | 53°14′05″N 4°00′42″W / 53.234676°N 4.011712°WCoordinates: 53°14′05″N 4°00′42″W / 53.234676°N 4.011712°W |
| Construction started | before the early 1600s |
Pen y Bryn is a two-storey manor house, in Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd, in north-west Wales, adjacent to the A55, five miles east of Bangor, eight miles west of Conwy. It is constructed mainly of broken stone, with roughly dressed quoins and a slate roof. The house is situated within Garth Celyn, a double bank and ditch, overlooking the Menai Strait to Anglesey. A smaller house was immediately adjacent in 1811 when Sir Richard Colt-Hoare recorded it; this was demolished by 1815. The present structure incorporates a four-storey stone tower. The present roof timbers were dated by dendrochronology to 1624, when the house was refurbished. There is evidence of long use with multiple rebuildings before 1624, but there is disagreement on the duration and nature of its mediaeval use.
In 1303–06 building works at "Aber" were carried out on a large scale, including the importation of broken stone and of lime for mortar. The remains of the other candidate for such work, the high-status early mediaeval site, on and near the mound known as the Mŵd, do not now have masonry of broken stone and may not have been large enough to justify the quantities of material recorded. In 1553 Rhys Thomas and his wife Jane acquired the house from the Crown. The present roof timbers were felled between 1619 and 1624. Six phases of the building have been identified, suggesting a long history before the present roof timbers were put on. The tower may be a slightly later addition, and there were further additions in the early eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The modern Garth Celyn is defined by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) as a series of features, including the house Pen y Bryn itself, a large 'barn', and earthen terraces and scarps, collectively interpreted as an enclosure 90–100 metres across. The name "Garth Celyn" may be translated as "Holly Enclosure" or "Holly Hill" in Welsh. "Celyn" is also an element of local field names and of Hafod Celyn up the valley. The use of the term "Aber Garthcelyn" has changed through time; as late as 1725, it could refer to the entire parish.
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