The Oakeley Arms Hotel is a Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

hotel near

Maentwrog Maentwrog () is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd), lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the villag ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

. The original building dates back to the 17th century, and was once part of the nearby Tan-y-Bwlch Estate. Although its principal use has been as an inn, historically it has also been used as a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, makeshift court house,

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

and

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

History

The Oakeley Arms Hotel was originally known as the Tan y Bwlch Inn, because it belonged to the nearby Tan y Bwlch Estate. Some local records claim that the hotel was built on the original site of the estate’s manor house (now located ¼ mile west and called

Plas Tan-y-Bwlch Plas Tan y Bwlch in Gwynedd, Wales, is the Snowdonia National Park environmental studies centre, administered by the National Park Authority. It is located approximately east of the coastal town of Porthmadog, overlooking the valley of the Rive ...

). The inn was first built in the 1600s but was extended during the 1700s when it was owned by a local drover. In his 1778 book ''A Tour in Wales'', it was described by writer and traveller

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

as “a very neat small inn, for the reception of travellers who ought to think themselves much indebted to a nobleman, for the great improvement it received from his munificence ”. Sometime during the early 1840s the inn was renamed as the Oakeley Arms, in honour of the family who owned the Tan-y-Bwlch estate. The Oakeley family were one of the richest families in the area, their wealth having come from the slate mines of nearby

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

. In 1910 the Oakeley Arms Hotel was auctioned off from the estate and was bought privately. It was given a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listing in 1954 because of its historical importance “as a fine example of an estate-built inn (one of several associated with the major estates of north Wales) and strong architectural character consistent with this patronage, not least in the quality of the masonry”. In the nineteenth century, the Oakeley Arms was given its own crest. It means “I am cautious but I do not fear”.
In 1940 the hotel was host to the

Cottesmore School Cottesmore is a Preparatory school (UK), preparatory school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1894. It is full boarding school, boarding. History Cottesmore was founded by Geoffrey Davison Brown in 1894 in Hove, East Sussex. He named the school ...

from Hove Sussex, evacuated from the south coast of England. The school later moved to a former workhouse in Cors-y-Gedol Hall, near Barmouth, until the end of the war.
Today, the hotel is privately owned and has recently undergone a programme of renovation.

References

{{coord, 52.9491, -3.9953, format=dms, type:landmark, display=title Pubs in Wales Grade II listed pubs in Wales Grade II listed buildings in Gwynedd Hotels in Gwynedd