The Smallest House In Britain
The smallest house in Great Britain can be found on the quayside at Conwy and is known as Quay House. This tiny dwelling dates from the sixteenth century and was lived in continually until 1900 when it was deemed by the local authority to be unsuitable for human habitation.
The two room house measures 10 feet by 6 feet at its widest and does not include a bathroom (so no toilet) and no kitchen. The ground floor room has a coal fire and bench under which the coal was stored. Upstairs is reached by a ladder through a trap door in the ceiling and contains a small bed.
The last occupant of Quay House was Robert Jones, a fisherman who was said to be six foot three inches tall, so he could not stand up in the rooms. Robert Jones lived in the house for fifteen years and possibly still does.
In ‘The Ghosts of Conwy’ by Margaret Williams she describes how one of the guides opened the house on a summer morning and was greeted by an unusual and strong smell of fish and salt water. The first visitor that arrived shortly after opening claimed to be a medium. She immediately left the house claiming someone else was in there with her. Though the smell remained all that day it was noticed again that summer. Apparently the smell has returned and lingered for a short time before quickly vanishing, over the last few years.
Re: The Smallest House In Britain
Sounds remarkably like a set-up job. My wife and I have both experienced the paranormal smell phenomenon. For instance, a smell of gas in the house so strong that I was about to phone an emergency line; but the smell promptly vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared. Burning smells, but nothing burning…mysterious radiant heat patches that come and go. Can you take these smells at face value? Does the smell of fish indisputably prove the presence of a fisherman’s spirit? I don’t think so.
Was this deceased inhabitant merely used as a reference? There’s an uncanny similarity to my wife’s holiday experience in an ex-baker’s shop close to the river Dart. Previous holidaymakers had reported similar peculiarities in that building, and I am aware that there were prior paranormal accounts from other ex-bakery buildings. Robert means ‘bright, shining fame’, whilst ‘Jones’=son of John, roughly meaning ‘god’s gracious gift’. I note that this dwelling is located on lower gate street, symbolically implying some form of gateway.