34 Castle Street, Beaumaris
From the outside, the Red Boat Ice Cream Parlour building looks like an ordinary shop from the 19th or early 20th century. But don’t be fooled! It’s a medieval hall house, about as old as the George & Dragon pub next door (in Church Street). A Tudor Rose adorns one of the trusses.
The house belonged to the Bulkeley family, of the nearby Baron Hill estate, until a big sale of the family’s assets in 1920. The family had probably owned it since the 15th century. The roof was built in 1483 or soon afterwards – around the time of the death, in 1484, of William Bulkeley. He was constable of Beaumaris Castle in 1440, and was probably the first of the Bulkeleys to have moved to Anglesey from England.
Sir Richard Bulkeley, the 4th Knight, died in 1645. His widow, Ann, married Sir Thomas Cheadle. Evidence was produced that the pair had an affair while Sir Richard was alive, and they were tried – and acquitted – of murdering Sir Richard. Richard Bulkeley, Sir Richard’s grandson, was killed on Lafan Sands in 1649 or 1650 in a duel with Richard Cheadle, who was hanged.
The earliest recorded tenant of 34 Castle Street (1739 to 1784) was William Humphreys, one of the bailiffs of Beaumaris. In 1841 a surgeon called Griffith Roberts lived here. From 1843 to 1863, the property was home to corn trader Robert Parry, who was ordered to pay a fine or be imprisoned for allowing “the soot in the chimney of his dwellinghouse to catch fire”.
The building later housed a draper’s shop, and in 1911 the tenant was William Robert Hughes, a railway company agent. The London & North Western Railway had a parcels and enquiry office on the premises. Mr Hughes bought the building in 1920 for £800.
In 2008 the Green family bought the building for their ice-cream business, which makes gelato and sorbet on the premises.
With thanks to the Discovering Old Welsh Houses Group
Postcode: LL58 8BB View Location Map
Website of Red Boat Ice Cream Parlour