People visiting smallest house in Britain complain it’s ‘too small’

Around 55,000 people flock to the attraction called The Smallest House in Conwy, north Wales every year.

Stunned tourists have complained about the size of the smallest house in Britain.

The clue might be in the name, but some visitors have said it was ‘too small’ for them, and said they were shocked to find a ‘very small house’.

Around 55,000 people flock to the attraction called The Smallest House in Conwy, north Wales every year.

But doesn’t mean every visitor has come away satisfied, with others also whinging about a lack of facilities and expansive tours at the tourist hotspot.

Others have griped at the limited numbers of people that can fit in the house which is just 72 inches wide by 122 inches high.

One person said ‘Couldn’t spend more than half an hour there’ while another sniped at the disappointment at the absence of a ‘kitchen or bathroom’.

Having visited the smallest house, one tourist was astonished to find ‘a very small house.’

Another labelled it a ‘small extension’ and was sure that no one had actually ever lived there. One person complained there wasn’t enough space to turn around.

The comments made another visitor chuckle. They wrote: ‘Makes me laugh that other reviews say it small! It’s the smallest house in the UK – how big are your houses?’

Given the attraction’s name, no spoiler alert is needed for the tiny abode. Even so, its scale – or lack of it – leaves some holidaymakers suspicious it was ever inhabited.

With just 1.5m squared of usable floor space, The Smallest House can come as a shock to people accustomed to modern properties.

But it was occupied for more than 300 years and at one point even housed a family of six.

In the 16th century, a row of cottages was constructed alongside Conwy’s walls. As the walls’ central tower abutted onto the quay, the row didn’t quite meet, leaving a gap.

Later, as housing became scarcer, the gap was filled in to create another cottage. In time, the property would come to be affectionately known by everyone in Conwy as ‘Smalls’.

The first modern UK census in 1841 listed the then occupant as a painter. From then on, the property was occupied by a widow, coachman and fisherman.

The last person to live there, just over a century ago, was Robert Jones, a gardener, labourer and fisherman. Famously, he was 6ft 3in tall.

Unable to stand up fully in the cottage’s two rooms, he was forced to move out when the council declared the house, and several others, unfit for human habitation.

It was only the intervention of Roger Dawson, owner and editor of the North Wales Weekly News, who saved it from destruction.

Spurred on by another Robert Jones, the property’s owner, he toured Great Britain to confirm that the Lower Gate Street house was in fact the island’s smallest and thus worth saving.

Robert Jones’ family still own the property, the latest custodian being Jan Tyley, his great-great-granddaughter. Now painted red, the ground floor living area has an open coal fire and a water tap tucked behind the stairs. On the first floor is a tiny bedroom, accessed by a ladder, with a small storage niche.

Writing online, Jan said: ‘Just because it lacks the mod cons by current standards does not mean that it was not lived in.

‘In the 18th and 19th centuries it was not at all uncommon for poorer accommodation not to have either a bathroom or kitchen, with residents using communal toilet facilities and cooking over an open fire.

‘The Smallest House is simply preserved as a testament to how simply some people had to live in years gone by.’

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