Tan-yr-allt, Tremadoc, Caernarvonshire

Rowntree employs delicate watercolor washes that blend the structural elements of the house with the surrounding hill, creating a seamless transition between built and natural forms. Soft, layered strokes render the foliage and sky, while sharper lines define the veranda’s trellising and the house’s windows, balancing detail with atmospheric softness.

The painting was produced under the Recording Britain project, a wartime effort launched in 1940 and concluded in 1943. Funded by the Pilgrim Trust and overseen by Sir Kenneth Clark, the scheme commissioned artists to document vulnerable British sites. Rowntree’s contribution records Tan‑yr‑Allt as part of this national visual archive.

Recording Britain aimed to preserve visual records of the country’s architectural and landscape heritage at a time when aerial bombardment and development threatened many sites. By depicting estates like Tan‑yr‑Allt, the project sought to reinforce a shared cultural identity and provide a historical snapshot of Britain’s countryside during the Second World War.