A much altered late medieval townhouse. There are two ranges. The southern, No. 6a, is thought to occupy the site of the original hall. The northern, No. 6, was originally a two storey, four bay, timber framed cross wing, jettied to the street. This is variously dated to the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The basement may be an original feature.
This house occupied a double burgage plot and would have been a prestigious residence.
The house was subsequently rebuilt in stone and the present street fronts are eighteenth century, with some later features. Both sections now had attics. Later in the century the house was acquired by the Vaynol estate and by 1844 it was the Vaynol Arms. It is shown as such on the OS 1:500 Town Plan of 1888/9. By 1957 it was a shop. It fell into dereliction and was restored in the dyingyears of the twentieth century.
At the rear are or were, a range of service buildings associated with the inn. These include a single storey kitchen attached to the end of the cross wing, and a possible stable.

Sources: NMR Site File
CADW Listed Buildings Database (3909)

John Wiles 28.06.07

[Additional description:] This is one of the very few timber-framed structures surviving within the walled borough of Caernarvon. The plan with cellar suggests a dwelling-and-shop range. The late-medieval timber-framed building survives behind a
Georgian front. The range has four storeyed bays, with a cellar (with broach-stopped beam) under the front two
bays. The building is box-framed with evidence for a jettied gable facing the street; a section of wall-framing
survives, with large two tiered panels above and below the mid-rail . The three closed trusses all have jowled posts
with up-braces to the tiebeams; central posts link tiebeams and collars. It is unclear if the range was part of a
larger structure. The original room functions are unknown, but the bay with cellar fronting the street may have
been a shop, as it is today. No published account; detailed survey (2010) and other surveys in NMRW (NPRN
16637). A similar range at 16A/18 Palace Street was sampled but did not date. R.F. Suggett/RCAHMW/2010


[Additional:] Tree-ring dating commissioned by North-West Wales tree-ring dating project in partnership with RCAHMW in 2010.
Four timbers were felled in winter 1506/7, with a further two having likely felling date ranges incorporating this date. The dated timbers come from both the front and rear of the three extant trusses, showing that the whole present building was most likely constructed in 1506/7 or within a year or two after this date. Summary: a timber-framed town-house built from timber felled in 1506/7.

Summary result published in Vernacular Architecture, vol. 41 (2010), p. 113. Full report available in NMRW. (NJR, 07/04/2011)