Visitors to UK's smallest house moan it is too 'small'

Tourists who paid £1.50 to visit UK’s smallest house – just 72 inches wide and 122 inches tall – complain on TripAdvisor that it is too ‘small’

• Over the years, reviewers have been disappointed with the house in Conwy
• The quaint North Welsh property can only accommodate a few visitors at a time
•  Read: Two mystery ‘large black cat’ sightings reported in Denbigh, North Wales 

People visiting The Smallest House in Great Britain have been less than impressed by its size.

Having paid a fee of £1.50 to visit The Smallest House, one tourist was astonished to find it in fact is ‘a very small house’. 

Over the years, reviewers have been disappointed and have complained about a lack of facilities and expansive tours at the attraction in Conwy, North Wales.

Others have an issue with the limited numbers of people the house, which is 72 inches wide by 122 inches high, can accommodate at any one time.

‘Couldn’t spend more than half an hour there,’ sniped one disappointed visitor after popping into the property. 

Awarding it just a single star, another person expressed disappointment at the absence of a ‘kitchen or bathroom’.

Over the years, reviewers have been disappointed and have complained about how small The Smallest House in Great Britain actually is

Conwy is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales 

Some visitors were surprised at how small the property is 

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 even turn around.

Another visitor was amused by such brutal comments. 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.

Conwy is a walled market town on the fringes of Snowdonia in North Wales.

Conwy Castle was the architectural brainchild of Edward I, whose plan was to establish a chain of fortified towns around Wales to protect the country he had just invaded. 

The house, which is 72 inches wide by 122 inches high, can only accommodate a few visitors at any one time

Conwy Castle was the architectural brainchild of Edward I and is a popular tourist attraction (pictured)

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.

Its existence owed much to an enterprising builder. 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. A master mariner shared the house with his wife.

Last 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.

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

Conwy is a walled market town on the fringes of Snowdonia in North Wales

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.’

Each year 55,000 visitors pop in for a look. Even knowing what to expect, the tiddly space still has the capacity to surprise, with the vast majority leaving glowing reviews.

One fan wrote: ‘Worth sticking your head in… to make you appreciate what you have at home. Great piece of history that needs to be kept.’

Some visitors were rather disappointed at the small size of the Smallest House in Great Britain, while others felt it was a quaint and charming property

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