The smallest house in Great Britain may be little in size, but it makes up for it with a long history. It’s hard to miss the bright red facade sitting amongst the quayside cottages in Conwy. The Smallest House squeezes in a bedroom, a living area, a simple kitchen and a water tap behind the stairs in a two-storey space measuring just 72 inches wide, 122in high and 120in deep.
It was inhabited until 1900 when fisherman Robert Jones, who had bought it in 1891 for £20, was told by the local authority that the property was too small to be a residential dwelling.
Current owner, and Jones’ great-great granddaughter, Jan Tyley, a solicitor in wills, trusts and estates with Oxford firm RWK Goodman, said: ‘One of his very good friends Roger Dawson was the editor of the local paper and he said the house might be the smallest in the country.’
That comment started what was to become a part of Tyley’s family history and her life. After advertising for owners of tiny houses, Jones and Dawson toured the country measuring every one and they found that the Conwy dwelling was indeed the smallest. The Guiness Book of Records officially confirmed the house’s status in the early 1920s.
Following his eviction, Jones opened the house as a tourist attraction. Tyley said: ‘He then left it to this second wife and she passed it to my grandmother’s older sister who passed it to her daughter and when Margaret died in 2015, she passed it to me. The house is special because it is what it is and I think its popularity is thanks to people being naturally nosy.’
Tyley first worked at the house when she was 18, greeting guests during the summer, and still does the ‘odd shift’ now. After she was left the house, she moved closer in order to better juggle her legal career and running the business.
She said: ‘It meant a big life change [when the house was passed to her] and it’s a piece of my family history too. I have two sons and hopefully they’ll look after it too.’
The house is ‘pretty much’ as it was since it was last lived in, with an iron cast bed and two little original tables from the 1900s. The house was flooded in October 2021 but apart from needing cleaning, sustained no substantial damage.
Obiter has been lucky enough to see the house and could not resist the obligatory photo outside with arms outstretched the width of the building. The house is open every day with a small ticket price, naturally, to go inside and guests can learn all about the history of the home from a suitably dressed guide.
For more information, visit thesmallesthouse.co.uk.
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