Plas Mawr, Conwy, North Wales

WildChild68 · Joined: 10 Mar 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Yorkshire, UK

Plas Mawr was built between 1577-1580 for an influential Welsh squire, Sir Robert Gwynne.

There are 365 windows and 52 steps which lead you to the watchtower, with rooms including the Lantern Room and Queen Elizabeth's Parlour, which has the Queens initials.

It was towards the end of the 18th century that Plas Mawr was the scene of a series of tragedies which centred on the Watch Tower and the Lantern Room.

The master of the house had been away at the wars for six months but he was expected to return in the near future. His pregnant wife was on the top floor of the house with her three year-old daughter, whiling away the last few hours before his return, each looking out in turn from the window in the Watch Tower to catch the first glimpse of him coming down the High Street. As the evening wore on and there was no sign of him, mother and child began to walk down the spiral staircase. The mother, who was holding her daughter in her arms, slipped and fell down the stairs. The noise of their fall brought the housekeeper rushing to their aid. Both were badly injured and were taken to the nearest room, which was the Lantern Room. A servant was despatched to bring the doctor as quickly as possible.

The family doctor was not at home when the call came but his assistant, a Doctor Richard, came back to the house with the servant and tended the patients as best he could. Realising that the condition of both mother and child was getting worse, and there was a great danger that the mother was likely to give premature birth to her expected baby, he decided that he should call in his senior doctor but the housekeeper would not allow him to leave the two injured patients unattended and locked him in with them in the Lantern Room. A servant was then sent to fetch the old doctor as quickly as possible.

However, on his way to the doctor’s house. the servant encountered a press-gang and was “pressed into service”, and very quickly found himself on board ship. After a lengthy delay the housekeeper became very worried and decided to check that her mistress, daughter and doctor were well, but just as she was about to unlock the door she heard the tread of feet behind her. The master had finally come home.

She very quickly told him what had happened. As soon as he had heard this the man burst into the Lantern Room to find his wife, daughter and new-born child, all dead, but there was no sign of the doctor. Overcome with grief he pushed the housekeeper out of the room saying that he would not leave the room until Doctor had been found to explain the whole affair. For hour after hour he was heard to pace the room, occasionally being heard to cry. He worked himself up to such a state that when he was finally found the following morning he was dead by his wife’s side, having killed himself with his own sword.

Doctor Richard was never seen again and it can only be assumed that he had tried to make his escape to summon assistance, or for fear of being blamed for the deaths of the three. His only possible means of escape would have been up the chimney, where he almost certainly lost his way and was finally overcome by smoke and fumes from the connecting chimneys.

It is from this maze of chimney passages that muffled cries have been heard, noises thought to be the echoes of the ghost of Doctor , and it is said that they will not cease until such time as his remains have been found and given a proper burial.

Many years later an aged seafarer arrived at Conway. He was the servant who had been sent out on the night of the accident to fetch the old doctor. He had hardly set foot outside the house before he had been seized by the press-gang and taken to a vessel that had almost immediately put to sea. He had not returned to Conway since that time and did not know of the terrible fate that had befallen the family at Plas Mawr.

The Lantern Room is haunted by the ghost of the master, who has been heard many times pacing up and down, seeking revenge on the unfortunate Doctor who had not been willing or able to carry out his work in the first place, much preferring the more experienced senior doctor to tend his
patients.

russ1973 · Joined: 23 Jan 2012 Posts: 1

Does anyone have any info on the master of the house and his family?