Nannau (Welsh for 'the place of many streams'') is a Georgian mansion and estate near the village of Llanfachreth, Gwynedd, North Wales, UK.

[3][4] The mansion was initially inhabited by the Welsh Nanney (Nannau) family, who were direct descendants of the Kings of Powys.

The dynasty was founded by Madog ap Cadwgan, 1st Lord of Nannau as a cadet branch of the House of Mathrafal.

The founder was a son of Prince Cadwgan ap Bleddyn (1051–1111) from the Kingdom of Powys, within what is now the Snowdonia (Eryri) national park in North West Wales.

[2] The head of the family represented the local county as Sheriff of Merionethshire and held the position 9 times in 400 years between the 16th and 20th centuries.

[7] By the mid-20th century the estate was "wrecked", and a succession of short-term owners saw much of the land sold off, the demolition of some of the 18th-century mansion, and failed attempts to establish a hotel at the hall.

The effigy of the 7th Lord, Meurig ap Ynyr Fychan (c. 14th century) is on display at St. Mary's Church, Dolgellau.

[22] The Nannau family established a new dynasty through marriage which connected it to Tal-y-bont, Dyffryn Ardudwy, and enabled it to extend its reach throughout Wales and beyond.

The family helped establish Cymer Abbey, Llanelltyd, Dolgellau, and other churches in North Wales that still stand today.

This period marked the beginning of surnames in Wales, and the Nanney family name emerged in the early 16th century.

Huw Nanney Hen's (1542–1623) mother was a descendant of Henry IV of England and the House of Lancaster, he was a Sheriff of Merionethshire in 1587.

Nanney Hen built a new residence at Nannau c. 1615, but it lasted only a generation before being burnt to the ground around 1645 during the English Civil War.

[4] The Nannau family had been patrons of several famous Welsh poets of the period, and the mansion is mentioned in several poems from the 14th century onwards.

Examples were, Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen (c. 1350–1390), he was a famous poet and cousin to an owner of Nannau.

After almost 600 years, the male line ended with the tenure of Colonel Huw Nanney IV when he married Catherine Vaughan from Corsygedol & Talhenbont hall.

[41][42][43] The famous Nannau oak trees have grown in the estate's gardens since time immemorial, and have a lifespan of some 300–400 years.

Or may not the visionary eye have seen the Hamadryad burst from the bark of its coeval tree?For some coming-of-age festivities in 1824, some of the oak was used to make a commemorative set, including a now-famous stirrup cup.

[51] This oak set, named "The Ceubren Cups", was auctioned in 2008 after being listed as contents of Nannau since 1958, as well as a silver mounted oak cup with the Vaughan Welsh language motto inscribed, ASGRE LÂN, DIOGEL EI PHERCHEN (English: A pure breast [is] a safeguard to its possessor).

[52] It is believed that Vaughan, 2nd Baronet, had shown great interest in antiquities and had brought a bucket covered in inches of peat bog from nearby Arthog, near the Mawddach estuary, in 1826.

A late Bronze Age cauldron was discovered with a hoard of weapons; the discovery was from the same period as the Nannau bucket at Arthog.

The Nannau property once again changed hands in 1874 to a distant relation, John Vaughan (d. 1900), of Chilton Grove, Shropshire.

Nannau Hall was the venue for another lavish wedding when Vaughan Pritchard's daughter Susan married David Muirhead on 14 December 1957.

[72] Following centuries of the Vaughan family ownership of the Nannau Hall, it was put up for sale with 10 acres (4 hectares) of land and sold for just £8,000 in 1965 to Mr Edward Morrison who was in the Royal Air Force.

[72] From 1965, an American, Edward Alexander Morrison III attempted to operate the house as a hotel with his wife, but were unsuccessful, they lived there until 1979.

[73][74] In 1991 the mansion was bought by a former policeman from Dolgellau, Dafydd Maslen Jones, he attempted to open a bed and breakfast but did not have enough funding to meet the planning authority.

[75][79] A Grade II* listed structure, the authors of the Gwynedd Pevsner, call the site "extraordinary" at 700 ft above sea level.

[2] The following quotation is from Nannau – A Rich Tapestry of Welsh History by Philip Nanney Williams on the construction of the mansion: "it was left to the 2nd Baronet to complete the design process, which he accomplished in 1795 ...