When we bought Porth y Dŵr, no one seemed to be able to tell us for sure what it was built for. We knew the available records - the listing description written by Cadw and a report produced by the RCAHMW - were incorrect because neither had really studied the building structure, so we began our own investigation. This was driven mainly by the need to determine how structurally sound it was, and what work was needed to ensure its long-term survival, but also just because it’s nice to know these things.

So what did we find out? The building was on the end of Porth y Dŵr, the town’s west gateway that stood beside the mill stream, but was otherwise detached. It was positioned a little to one side of the wider part of Clwyd Street (then called Mill Street), its main gable facing directly up the hill. This strategic position definitely suggested a building of some importance, as did the elaborate construction. Tree ring dating confirmed a felling date for the oak of 1455/6, and documentary evidence suggested a connection to the Lord’s Mill.

Our Porth y Dŵr is now only half of the original building. When constructed, it would have been four bays long, and two storey throughout; the roof timbers are decorative, so the first floor rooms would have been open to the rafters. At the east end was an arcaded area on the ground floor, the posts with arched braces standing on stone plinths. This took up the whole of the first bay, and was overlooked by a wide mullioned window from the room beyond. Above this was the two-bay main chamber, with a central projecting window looking up the street, and two more mullioned windows. These two bays are close-studded - more oak than wattle and daub infill, which is of hazel twigs woven around oak staves and covered in a mixture of clay, sand and straw.

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