• Grade II*
• In need of renovation with full planning and listed building consent to create a 3-bed house with family bathroom, 2 reception rooms, kitchen, utility room, south facing sunroom, downstairs shower and toilet, storeroom and walk in larder
• Sale by modern auction
• Located in quiet cul-de-sac at edge of village
• Far reaching views towards Liverpool and the Dee Estuary
• Close to train stations, local schools and Chester
• Self-contained cabin / garden room in grounds connected to mains water and electricity
• Approximately ¾ of an acre of land
• Plenty of off-street parking
• Sale includes all new sash and casement windows ready to be fitted and approved flagstones for entire ground floor
• Mains gas supply can be connected

Set in the stunning countryside of Flintshire at the gateway to Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), the world heritage site of Conwy and the magnificent castles of North Wales; Plas yn Bwl House sits above the historic village of Caergwrle in the Marches of North Wales, close to the Cheshire border. Across the small valley is the medieval castle and it commands stunning and far-reaching views over the medieval village of Hope towards the Dee estuary and Liverpool.

From the front the house looks humble – perhaps an early Victorian Welsh gentleman’s house built of local sandstone with sash windows and a steep Welsh slate roof. From the rear it is better understood – nestling deep into an ancient landscape of meadows, drystone walls, footpaths, ponds and streams at the foot of Hope Mountain. It is only when you go into the house that its past is revealed: a stunning medieval stone spiral staircase in the remains of a square tower, metre thick walls, remnants of medieval and Tudor windows and arches.

Plas yn Bwl is actually an important relic of early medieval history and the wars between the Welsh and the English Marcher Lords. It was not a Welsh gentleman’s house but almost certainly a rare, fortified manor or tower house built by the de Bolde family of knights from Lancashire. They were allied to the powerful Stanley family, later the Earls of Derby who became Marcher Lords of the village. The de Bolde knights fought against Owain Glyn Dŵr in his uprising and sacking of the village in 1403 and were subsequently made constables of Chester and Conwy Castles. The earliest reference to Plas yn Bwl is in 1350 when it is listed by P.C. Batrum in his Welsh genealogies. If you would like to read more about its history, you can find a blog here.

https://angelasuttonvane.com/2024/07/11/saving-the-past-for-the-future-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-welsh-marches-house/

We have been the proud custodians of Plas yn Bwl House for 6 years. With our backgrounds as historian, conservator, cabinet maker and conservation builder we’ve worked tirelessly not only to stabilise a house which was in urgent need of repair but to rediscover and reinterpret its complex history and place in the landscape. We’ve reversed much bad work carried out in the 1980s and using archaeologists have uncovered the impressive metre high and metre thick base of the walls of the original medieval hall which have remained buried for centuries. Plas yn Bwl’s roof is now sound and restored; it has been returned to one house; French and Acco drains have been installed to keep its footings dry, all the cement render has been removed from the internal walls to allow it to breath as well as the unsympathetic 1980s partitions, plasterboard and boxing in of beams. There is a new multifuel burner in the uncovered inglenook fireplace in the main living room. You can find listed building and planning consents here:

https://planning.agileapplications.co.uk/flintshire/search-applications/results?criteria=%7B%22query%22:%22Plas%20yn%20Bwl%20House%22%7D&page=1

We have detailed architect’s drawings, schedules, electrical specs, method statements, heritage impact assessments, environmental and bat survey reports as well as hundreds of photographs.

Plas yn Bwl is waiting to begin its next chapter.