Penmaenuchaf Hall Hotel near Dolgellau

Image: © Guthrie Whitby Taken: 12 Aug 2006

Penmaenuchaf Hall, now a country house hotel http://www.penhall.co.uk , is situated on the south side of the Mawddach estuary above Penmaenpool, three miles west of Dolgellau in the county of Gwynedd. It is a large, grey stone, gabled, Victorian country house of two storeys with attic dormers. According to Cadw, Charles Reynolds Williams, bought Penmaenuchaf estate from Revd. John Harvey Ashworth of Kensington in 1865. Other records show that by 1873 Penmaenuchaf was occupied by Thomas Taylor (1799-1876), who was a wealthy cotton mill owner from Bolton. When Thomas Taylor died, Penmaenuchaf passed to his son and heir John Leigh Taylor who was also involved in the family cotton spinning business. For a period of time Penmaenuchaf was anglicised as "The Cliffe" and there evidence to suggest that this was the case until the 1890s. However, by the turn of the century, the property is referred to as "Penmaenucha" in various conveyances, deeds and the 1901 census. The 1901 census return for Penmaenuchaf also records that the hall was well staffed with fourteen members of staff listed including a butler, housekeeper, gamekeeper, coachman, servants and gardeners. Penmaenuchaf remained in the ownership of the same family until 1978 when it was sold to Rite and Gavin Miller from Cardiff http://homepage.ntlworld.com/judy.whitby/penmaenucha/pen%20toc.htm. They lovingly restored Penmaenuchaf which was in need of repair having gradually fallen into disuse and decline. When they retired in 1989, Penmaenuchaf was acquired by hoteliers Mark Watson and Lorraine Fielding who completed a sympathetic conversion of the building into a luxurious country house hotel and to this day that remains the building's use.

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