History

Probably built by Walter Williams, gent (dated 1640 on an inscribed stone). Regarded by Fox & Raglan as a good example of a house built on the traditional "Regional" rectangular plan but subject to Renaissance influences. S gable wall rebuilt in late C19 or early C20; interior slightly altered.

Exterior

A sturdy rectangular 3-cell, 2½-storey lesser-gentry house distinguished by the rational regularity, if not symmetry, of its design. It is built of sandstone rubble brought to courses, with a blue slate roof and red brick gable chimneys, and stands on a N-S axis set back from the road, from which it is approached by its own gatehouse (q.v.). The S gable incorporates a re-located datestone inscribed "Hec domus / facta fuit / per W.W. / Anno Domini / 1640".
Having a gable-end entry at the S end (retained when this wall was rebuilt), the side walls have only windows - almost all with original wooden mullions. These are arranged in the same pattern on each side, with 3 regularly spaced at ground floor and 2 offset right at 1st floor, but differences of detail distinguish the E side as the architectural "front" and the W side as the rear. On the E side the central window at ground floor has an ovolo-moulded wooden lintel protected by a stone slate hoodmould with returned ends, and all the others have wedge voussoirs with unemphasised keystones. All three at ground floor and both at 1st floor are of 4 lights with ovolo-and-fillet moulding to the mullions (but the right-hand half of the central window at ground floor was blocked when a staircase was built inside c.1800). This side of the roof has 3 small symmetrically arranged gabled dormers, now with modern glazing. On the W side all the windows have wooden lintels (except that at ground floor of the N bay, which has been replaced with a concrete lintel). Those at ground floor have wooden mullions like the E front except that the centre pairs of lights have been replaced with casements; and the upper windows, which are smaller than those on the other side, now have modern casement glazing.
The N gable wall has two small 2-light wooden mullioned windows on each floor; and, in the gable above, 2 pairs of pigeon-holes with ledges, the lower double and the upper single.
Linked to the W corner of the S gable, at right angles to the axis of the house, is a long single-storey outbuilding which Fox & Raglan believed to have housed a kitchen and "cellar". Built of random rubble but with altered roof covering (part imitation slate, part corrugated sheet), and with a red brick chimney at the E gable, this is (in their words) "a patchwork of various dates" and has mostly altered openings, including a garage door in the S side.

Interior

A 3-cell plan with a heated former hall at the S end and a heated parlour at the N end separated by an unheated timber-framed pantry and through-lobby (now containing the staircase). The ground floor has ceiling beams variously moulded as double-hollow or double-ovolo, with tongue-and-bar stops. The parlour fireplace, though modernised, retains a massive Tudor-arched oak lintel with double-ovolo moulding. The 1st floor has beams like those at ground floor except at the S end, where they are chamfered, with tongue stops. The attic contains 5 large collar trusses.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a very good example of a mid-C17 lesser gentry house, retaining many original features both externally and internally; and as the principal element of an unusually good group.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Tŷ Mawr at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17744289

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)