History

Porth-y-nant was the name given to the new settlement planned and built for the exploitation of the granite deposits in Nant Gwrtheyrn, which was begun by Hugh Owen in 1851. The village was built by a new purchaser, Mr Dodd from c1863 and completed by a Mr Benthal. The present houses were built in c1875 by the then quarry operators Kneeshaw and Lupton. It housed workers in two main terraces of dwellings which were considered an advanced provision for quarry workers at the time. The terraces are set around an open communal square, together with company offices, a shop and bakehouse. Later, the manager's house and a chapel, erected in 1878, were added. The village, which continued to serve the three large quarries, Cae'r Nant, Porth-y-nant, and Carreg-y-llam, produced large quantities of granite setts and kerbs, particularly for Manchester, Liverpool and Birkenhead, and continued to operate until 1914. Significant quantities of aggregates and building stone were also produced. The last person left in 1959, and after years of neglect and vandalism, the buildings were revived at the expense of ARC Aggregates as a home for the National Language School sponsored by Dr Carl Iwan Clowes in 1978, its courses beginning in 1982. Trem-y-mor, originally called Bay View, forms the E side of the open square with the shop at the S end.

Exterior

The terrace of 12 houses is built of rubble stonework with slate roofs, stepping up following the rise of the ground, and with, at the S end, the former shop and bakery, now the shop, and offices of the Language Centre. Two storeys throughout, the houses are in bilaterally symmetrical pairs, each house is 1 bay, with front parlour, and a rear dining room and kitchen. Stairs rise from the front room to the two bedrooms. Doors and windows were renewed after 1978; framed and battened doors with overlights, and 12-pane sash windows with stone sills and lintels. Stone stacks on the party walls. Each house has a small front garden raised behind a stone retaining wall. The administrative building, formerly Bay View, is set higher, its end bay in the form of a cross wing to visually terminate the terrace, and has on the right a steep pitched roof, gabled to the front. Large windows at the front and 5 bays of similar 16-pane and 12-pane windows on both levels on the S side elevation. The houses are now named, some after sponsors, from the N: (admin), Arfon, (no name), Ty chwareon, Llandaf, Cwrlwys, Caerffili, Nant-y-ffynnon, Glyn Rhosyn, Ty Ynys Mon, Meirionydd, Maldwyn and (no name).

Interior

The interiors of the houses and administrative building have been totally modernised in 1987.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a critical component of the mid-later C19 complete new industrial settlement planned by the successful quarries of Nant Gwrtheyrn, considered at the time to be advanced in design due to a rising social awareness of the benefits of good quality provision for quarry workers.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29499027

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)