Wednesday 9 October 2024, at 7.00 p.m

Matt Osmont, Practice Director at Donald Insall Associates .Conservation and creativity: breathing new life into old buildings

A leading practitioner from a leading conservation practice, Matt will talk about the challenges of conservation—giving historic buildings a sustainable future—looking in detail at Plas Gwyn, a wonderful sixteenth-century gentry house on the Llŷn and Porth Mawr, one of the gatehouses in the town walls of Caernarfon.

Wednesday 13 November 2024 at 7.00 p.m

Mary-Ann Constantine, Professor at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, will discuss the tours and writings of Thomas Pennant as part of her work on the ‘curious  travellers’ who put North Wales on the map—at least for southerners, assuring them that it ‘might be safely visited’—and providing a rich source for building and family historians

Wednesday 11 December 2024 at 7.00 P.M by popular acclaim, a return visit from

Scott Lloyd, research manager for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales. He has  spoken to us before about early nineteenth-century ordnance survey mapping and this time will focus on the varied pre-Ordnance Survey mapping that survives for North East Wales which can be helpful in researching the history of houses.

The talk will also discuss some of the different issues surrounding their use and look at how they can be used in a digital age

2025 Season  Speakers List

Wednesday 15 January 2025 at 7.00 P.M a return visit from

Edward Parry and Martin Cherry ‘The building that moved: Cwrt Plas yn Dre, Dolgellau and the enduring myth of Owain Glyn Dŵr’s Parliament House’ Edward and Martin have both spoken to DOWH before but here they combine forces to present new research on the intriguing politics behind the removal of this important medieval house from Dolgellau to Newtown (Powys) in the late nineteenth century. They also examine the evidence to help ‘reconstruct’ what the original house really looked like—what is now at Newtown bears only a superficial resemblance of what existed at Dolgellau—and the identity of the builder (was it Baron Owen, murdered by the red bandits of Mawddwy in 1555?)  

Wednesday 12 February 2025 at 7.00 P.M  

Vic Tyler-Jones, Doctoral Researcher, University of Bangor (ISWE) A trajectory of marginality - the life of the squatter settlement on Ruabon Mountain’ Accounts of the lives of the poor in North East Wales in the nineteenth century have largely stopped short of those on the bottom rung of society. My thesis addresses a gap in the history of nineteenth century communities in the area. Its focus on the life of mountain dwellers analyses a colony of squatters that existed between c.1845 and c.1907 on Newtown Mountain near Ruabon.

Wednesday 12 March 2025 at 7.00 P.M  

Jessica John, Independent consultant on cultural heritage in Wales - ‘The lost Farmsteads of Ardudwy. Recording ruins and sharing the excitement’  Jess has led an archaeological and recording project on the lost farmsteads of Ardudwy for Eryri National Park. She will share with us a number of significant discoveries that have been made over recent months

Wednesday 9 April 2025 at 7.00 P.M  

 Duncan James, Architectural historian. - ‘The Early pioneers of the study of traditional buildings in Wales and England’ Duncan is a leading authority on traditional buildings in England and Wales. He is the author of many studies particularly on the houses and churches of Herefordshire and the Marcher counties. In this talk he will be looking at the some of the leading figures of the nineteenth century but will focus on research in Wales in the twentieth and suggest where future directions of study might lead.