Trustees & Officers
Our Patrons:
Sir Simon Jenkins FSA, FRSL
Sir Simon is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the Evening Standard from 1976 to 1978 and of The Times from 1990 to 1992. He chaired the National Trust from 2008 to 2014 and currently writes columns for The Guardian.
Dr Eurwyn Wiliam MA, PhD, FSA
Dr Wiliam is a Welsh curator and author who was Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (2009–19) and Assistant Keeper of the National Museum Wales.
Our Trustees:
The Trustees are elected from the members at the AGM. Trustees may be co-opted throughout the year. All Trustees stand down at the end of every year but may stand for re-election.
Janice Dale - Chair
Appointed 24th March 2013
Janice moved to Wales with her husband and children to escape the rat race in 1990. She was previously a research assistant at the Open University, working on student demographics and with secondments to short course development. Janice has had a varied background - laboratory work, Bucks County Council Social Services, training and research assistant, though originally trained as a farm secretary. Since moving to Wales, she initially worked in business administration, but is now working part time as Estate Administrator for Lord Newborough at Rhug Estate at Corwen. She is a trustee of the Edeyrnion Heritage & Cultural Society and Rhug Charitable Trust. In any spare time she is researching local history of Llandrillo and her own family history.
Rosemary Brotherton - Treasurer
Appointed 09 February 2021
Rosemary worked for Liverpool Special Needs Service for 15 years prior to her retirement in 2006. From 1993 onwards, her role had been in two parts, one part involved individual teaching of children of all ages, and the second part involved assessing children of all ages for IT equipment. The latter involved controlling a budget for purchasing equipment to loan to these children. During her teaching career, Rosemary spent 5 years as an Advisory Teacher for Primary Mathematics. She moved permanently to North Wales in 2012 and has been a member of DOWH for about 7 years. She was a member of Llandudno Area U3A and led 3 walking groups for 7 years, giving information about the locality during the walks. Rosemary is a member of Aberconwy Historical Society, Friends of GAT and a Crown Green Bowling Club. For many years she was a member of National Association for Remedial Education (NARE) and was Treasurer for the National Conference in August 1975 and a special conference in January 1978. In 1992 NARE amalgamated with other similar organisations to become National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN). In the middle 1990s Rosemary was Assistant Treasurer for NASEN and a member of NASEN’s Finance & General Purposes Committee.
Michael Sharratt - Secretary
Appointed 13th January 2025
Michael was raised in a Lancashire Cotton Town, left school at 16 and started an apprenticeship in Electrical Engineering. He spent his professional life working in the chemical sector in many different roles, including: Electrical, Instrumentation, Utilities, Quality Control, Calibration and Plant Maintenance Systems. Michael spent his holidays and weekends improving his family’s holiday cottage in Penrhyndeudreath and upon retirement moved full time to Penrhyndeudraeth, where he found much of interest, including volunteer roles in Capel y Traeth, the National Trust, and the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways. Michael is a Member of Local History Societies, Trustee of the Prisoners of War online Museum, and Past President of the Porthmadog and District Probus Club. He currently lives in an 1850s cottage on the edge of the Eryri National Park and National Trust Woodland, where he enjoys walking. He also is happy to give talks to local history groups.
Dr Martin Cherry - Research lead
Appointed 20 June 2014
Martin is a history graduate of the University of Wales (Swansea) and after several years teaching at the Universities of Exeter, St Andrews and Leicester moved into the field of historic buildings research and conservation, first as a listed buildings investigator in Devon, then as a conservation officer in Leicestershire, a researcher with the English Royal Commission, and later English Heritage (as Head of Listing and Research Director). He has long been interested in researching and analysing historic houses - and has published several articles on the subject - and is joint editor of the journal Vernacular Architecture. He is a former President of the Vernacular Architecture Group and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Eleanor Carpenter - Engagement lead
Appointed 23 June 2017
Eleanor has an MA in Historic Environment Conservation and studied apotropaic markings for her dissertation. She continues to collate information on these as she becomes aware of them. Eleanor is a member (supporter category) of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC), as well as being a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). She has spent more than twenty years in local government in planning policy and is currently conservation officer for Ceredigion. Eleanor has experience of working on complex listed building projects and a wealth of experience in planning policy. She has a long-standing interest in history and historic buildings and studied archaeology for a year as part of a Geography degree. In her spare time, Eleanor is renovating a 19th century cottage, enjoys running, photography, motorcycling and researching family history. She recently found out that members of one arm of her family were involved in smuggling and transported to Australia for sheep stealing in the early 19th Century!
Jane Parry-Evans
Appointed 29th June 2019
Inspired by summer holidays on the Lleyn and stories of former family homes, Jane has had a love of old Welsh houses from a very young age. A natural talent for Mathematics and problem-solving meant she followed a career in Technology rather than the Arts. After gaining a First-class Honours degree in Mathematics from Bangor University, she supported projects introducing IT systems across a number of university departments before taking up the post of IT Manager for North Wales Housing Association. In 2008, Jane was made head of ICT for a council housing stock transfer, responsible for setting up its ICT infrastructure and building her own team. During this time, she was chair of the national user group for Capita’s housing management systems. In 2018, Jane gave up full time work to spend more time at home with family and running a holiday let business. For four years, she was a Trustee and Chair of the Finance sub-Committee for the Snowdonia Society. As CEO for Attractions of Snowdonia, Jane helped launch the Snowdonia 360 travel route in March 2020 which was unfortunately then disrupted by the Covid pandemic. She is currently Secretary for Historic Houses Wales, Council Representative for Wales for Historic Houses, a member of CLA Cymru North Wales Committee and a Trustee of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust. Jane lives in a grade II* Snowdonia House which has been tree-ring dated by DOWH. With fellow Trustee Gill Jones, she has traced her family history at the Rhos Fynach Estate and fishing weirs back to 1574.
Margaret Dunn
Although not fluent in Welsh, Margaret is from a Llŷn family and now lives in Gwynedd. Margaret had various careers in education, including as a LEA Inspector for Physical & Outdoor Education. She worked in Religious and Multi-Cultural Education for nearly 20 years and has had 50 years’ experience in Christian youth work. Margaret also has 40 years’ experience of excavating, researching and lecturing on the archaeology and history of North Wales including researching several large estates and she holds a M.Phil research degree on early modern Llŷn. Margaret was Director of Plas Tan y Bwlch, the Snowdonia National Park Residential Centre, for 5 years. She has published booklets and a book on historical aspects of North Wales and been involved, as a trustee or committee member, with many regional & local archaeology and history organisations. In 2005 Margaret established the forerunner of “Discovering Old Welsh Houses” which now operates across North Wales. Margaret was made an Honorary Member of DOWH at the 2023 AGM in recognition for her work.
Jenny Lees - Denbighshire Branch Coordinator
Co-opted 22nd September 2025
Jenny was born in the countryside of the Surrey-Sussex border and studied Psychology at Bristol University before gaining an M.Sc. in Clinical Psychology at Leeds. In 1977 she and her husband moved to begin renovating a largely derelict former farmhouse near to Cynwyd, where they raised their three children and Jenny worked for the NHS in Chester. Following retirement in 2009, Jenny began to research and write articles and house histories for Discovering Old Welsh Houses and became Secretary for Edeirnion Historical Society. She represents Edeirnion on the Council of the Merioneth Historical and Record Society and since 2016 has produced our DOWH series of ‘Cynwyd Scrapbooks’. From childhood days, as well as always wanting to be a writer, Jenny has been passionate about both natural history and ancient houses - and enjoys exploring the endless lanes of North Wales to discover both!
Lynda Mercer
Co-opted on 27th April 2026
Lynda was born and bred in North East Wales, into a family of farmers of many generations. Some owned farms and others rented from the Gladstone estate in Hawarden. Qualified as an Accountant in 2002, she has worked predominantly in the not-for-profit sector and small businesses and was Treasurer of her local church for a number of years. Lynda has a life long interest in history and is a devotee of the Hay Literary festival.
Carly Murdoch-Dyson - Flintshire Branch Coordinator
Co-opted on 27th April 2026
Carly is a Trustee of Discovering Old Welsh Houses and co‑organiser of the Flintshire branch. She works in IT and has hands‑on experience owning and renovating a historic Welsh home. Carly is particularly interested in practical, sustainable approaches to preserving older houses while keeping them fully livable, ensuring their history is maintained without allowing buildings to fall into disrepair or become closed off from everyday use.
Richard Hollis - Flintshire Branch Coordinator
Co-opted on 27th April 2026
Richard is a Trustee of Discovering Old Welsh Houses and co‑organiser of the Flintshire branch. He works in IT and, alongside Carly, owns and is renovating a historic Welsh home. His interests focus on the practical preservation of older houses, maintaining their historic character while ensuring they remain functional, comfortable places to live.
Our non-Trustee Officers:
Fiona Gale - Membership Secretary
Clare Latham & Brenda SImpson - Anglesey Branch Coordinators
Volunteering
We are always seeking new Trustees and volunteers to take on Officer roles, or just part of a role. We’d particularly like to hear from you if you’ve never volunteered in the heritage sector before and you are a fluent Welsh speaker. You do not have to have been a Trustee before, as we can provide you with the training you will need, but you would first need to Become a Member.