History in Structure

Berse Vicarage with Flanking Walls to Garden

A Grade II* Listed Building in Broughton (Brychdyn), Wrexham

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Coordinates

Latitude: 53.0506 / 53°3'2"N

Longitude: -3.0217 / 3°1'18"W

OS Eastings: 331607

OS Northings: 350856

OS Grid: SJ316508

Mapcode National: GBR 74.CY83

Mapcode Global: WH88Y.KL96

Plus Code: 9C5R3X2H+68

Entry Name: Berse Vicarage with Flanking Walls to Garden

Listing Date: 7 June 1963

Last Amended: 1 December 1995

Grade: II*

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 1567

Building Class: Domestic

ID on this website: 300001567

Location: Set back from Berse Road down a drive opposite Berse Drelincourt Church.

County: Wrexham

Community: Broughton (Brychdyn)

Community: Broughton

Locality: Berse Drelincourt

Built-Up Area: Wrexham

Traditional County: Denbighshire

Tagged with: Building

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History

The vicarage formed the centre-piece of a charitable foundation comprising school and orphanage at Berse, originally endowed by Dean Drelincourt of Armagh in 1716, and subsequently by his widow, Mary Drelincourt, and their daughter, Lady Primerose, in 1747. It seems likely that the house was built by the Drelincourts, originally for their own use, so preceding the endowment by a few years. Following the establishment of the orphanage, the house was flanked by single storeyed ranges which were the school house and the orphanage, the vicarage itself housing the curate of Berse church. It served as a vicarage until 1965, and is now a private house.

Exterior

Brick with stone dressings; lined-out render to rear (W) elevation. Slate roofs forming 2 parallel gables, each with panelled brick stack. 2 storeys with basement and attic. Entrance front (E) is a 3-window range, with slightly advanced central bay housing entrance; quoins stress central bay and outer angles. Parapet above moulded string course with raised panels articulating the bays of the facade. Doorway up curved flight of steps with panelled stone pier and moulded copings to parapet. Pedimented doorcase of moulded and tooled stonework, and partly glazed 4-panelled door. Windows of principal storeys are 12-pane sashes (probably of C19 date: wood mullioned and transomed windows survived in the rear elevation until the later C19). Ground floor windows in stone Gibbs surrounds, with continuous sill band and panelled aprons with mutules. Renewed leaded casement windows to basement and attic. W elevation is similarly arranged with advanced central bay housing entrance (French doors in Gibbs surround) up curving flight of steps, and architraves with stressed keystones to 12-pane sash windows. 2-bay extension of c1920 to the N is 2-storeyed, with flat roof; window detail modelled on that of original house.

The house is flanked to each side by brick walls with stone copings running N-S: S of the house the wall returns to enclose the garden, terminating in a rusticated stone pier; formerly the garden was also enclosed to the E. The S wall incorporates various blocked openings, and appears to be the remains of the wall of the former school house range which comprised part of the orphanage.

Interior

Plan comprises central entrance hall flanked by principal rooms, with single room running the length of the house to the rear, and stairs between front and rear ranges. The entrance hall was probably created in the mid C19 by subdividing one of the principal rooms. Small NE room on each floor has corner fireplace, and retains moulded plaster cornice. Some original joinery survives, including panelled doors and the staircase which rises the full height of the house (with some modifications to its layout): turned balusters and square newels. Original kitchen was in the basement: a series of 3 shallow arches with stone voussoirs mark the site of its main fireplace and flanking recesses (one cut by a later inserted window).

Reasons for Listing

The house is of exceptional interest both as a well-preserved and richly detailed small house of early C18 date, and also historically as it formed part of a charitable foundation and small community with associated orphanage buildings and the church.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

Other nearby listed buildings

  • II Orphanage
    Immediatey N of the vicarage, set back from Berse Road opposite Berse Drelincourt Church.
  • II Berse Drelincourt Church
    Alongside the road, 400m approx. W of the Wrexham by-pass.
  • II* Croesnewydd Hall
    In Wrexham Technology Park, S of the junction of Rhyd Broughton Lane and Watery Lane.
  • II Gatewen Hall
    Set back from the main road and approached via a narrow lane.
  • II* Lower Berse Farmhouse
    Down a drive off Berse Lane, near its junction with the A525 Wrexham-Ruthin Road.
  • II Millward House
    Close to the roundabout at the NW end of New Broughton, on the N side of the road leading to Southsea and Brymbo.
  • II Newi: Plas Coch (former Denbighshire Technical College)
    Situated on the western edge of the town adjacent to the roundabout forming the junction of Mold Road, Berse Road and Plas Coch Road.
  • II Higher Berse Farmhouse
    Higher Berse Road runs to the N of and parallel to the A525 on the E side of Coedpoeth; the farm is towards the E of the community, close to New Broughton.

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