Beaumaris & Court's History
Beaumaris and Newborough, the last of
the Edwardian planted settlements in North Wales were founded after
the sacking of Caernarfon Castle by Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294. Work
began on the construction of Beaumaris Castle, protected by a large
moat, in an area of low-lying marshy ground (Beau Mareys or
Beautiful Marsh) in 1295. The town lay close by and was granted its
borough charter in 1296. The town replaced an earlier prosperous
Welsh town situated nearby at Llanfaes. The population of Llanfaes
was removed by Edward to a new town at Newborough on the west coast
of Anglesey and Beaumaris prospered. The political situation soon
stabilised resulting in a lack of need for defences & the castle was
never completed.
Beaumaris was attacked by Owain
Glyndwr in 1403 and partially burnt down. The castle was taken in
1404, but then re-taken in 1405. In 1407 the burgesses received a
royal donation of £10 to make a ditch around the town. Work
continued in 1414, when Gilbert, Lord Talbot, the reorganiser of the
decayed post-Glyndwr boroughs of Anglesey appropriated thirty
burgages in order to build a new stone wall around the town.
The history of Beaumaris is largely
bound up with the fortunes of the Bulkeley family of Baron Hill who
prospered and gradually acquired a large proportion of the
properties in the town, as well as extensive estates on Anglesey and
on the mainland. Regent House was one of these properties, until
sold off in 1920. It was then described as 'stone-built, rough cast
and slated containing shop, office, lobby, drawing room, dining
room, kitchen, pantry, scullery, four bedrooms and box room. The
outbuildings comprise coach house, stable for 2, smithy etc. It was
originally a long two-storey house, gable-end on to Church Street
and coach-house and stables attached on the west end. The house did
however have a narrower southern wing parallel to Church Street
because the arched passage there appears to predate Regent House.
It seems likely that the function and
fortunes of this building were tied up with those of the adjoining
Hen Blas, the former residence of the Bulkeley family in Beaumaris
since it was sandwiched between Hen Blas and the wall of the church.
Hen Blas, as it remained in the early 19th century was a large and
extensive building that dominated the centre of the town It had
started as a simple medieval hall with end wings, built in the late
15th century and had gradually been added to over the years, with a
complete new house being added in the late 16th century.
A much grander house was built at
Baron Hill, which became the main residence from about 1618. Hen
Blas continued to be occupied by elderly dependants, the last dying
in 1774. There were also extensive stables, said to be on the south
side where the present Market Place stands. On the west side were
the gardens. On the north side was a courtyard and beyond that the
area now occupied by Regent House. If, as seems likely, the house
predating Regent House was built after the move to Baron Hill, then
it was probably built as an extension to stables or store sheds that
were already there, of which the surviving stable may be part.
The small garden at the west end of
the plot, where the Court's Restaurant is now, was likely to have
been a subordinate part of the main Old Plas garden, perhaps a
kitchen garden, as it lay at the side of the main (16th century
house) whereas the larger garden to the west was probably just
ornamental, providing the main view from the front of the house.
Hen Blas was occupied in its later
years by a mixture of families and paupers and became run-down and
eventually ruinous, leading to its eventual demolition. The building
where Regent House now stands was listed as 'Black Anchor' and so
had presumably been a public house.
|
