History

Late C17 house, built 1678, with later alterations. An additional staircase was erected beside the original one towards the end of the C18. In the mid C19 the house was the centre of a substantial holding of over 80 acres(32.4 hectares) and was part of a large estate in the area owned by Thomas Peers Williams Esq, probably a descendant of the Williams', for whom the house and estate buildings were built; occupied and farmed by Robert Williams and his family. The house has been renovated in the late C20 and the rear wing at the SE corner re-roofed and completely renewed internally. Some of the panelling has had to be destroyed and some has been relocated from an upstairs room to the sitting room in order to enable a complete restoration.

Exterior

Late C17, double pile gentry house; 2-storey and attics and cellar. Built of roughly coursed limestone and gritstone. Slate roof with stone copings; tall rectangular gable stacks with capping.
The principal elevation faces S; a symmetrical 7-window range of 12-pane hornless sash windows which has a small central gable with moulded copings and shaped kneelers surmounted by a chimney with a moulded capping. The central doorway has a pedimented doorcase and moulded architrave; original (repaired) door with fielded upper panels. Above the doorway is a dummy window, and above that, set in the gable apex, is a small recess with flat pointed head and moulded architrave. Bands of dressed gritstone run along the range at the height of the window heads, with a slightly projecting keystone over each window. The sill level of all the ground floor windows has been raised and modern sills added.
The E and W gable returns each have a main and a secondary advanced gable, with moulded copings and shaped kneelers to the former. The E gable return has a tripartite 1st floor window over a 12-pane hornless sash; the cellar entrance below has a boarded door. The advanced gable has a first floor venetian window over a 3-pane light at the head of a boarded window (to the ground floor room of the formerly roofless wing).
The rear (N) elevation has an unbroken wall face with 3 gables; above the end gables are original chimney stacks of gritstone ashlar with moulded cappings. Windows have flat gritstone heads with projecting keystones. Beneath the central gable is a late C18 venetian window lighting the later staircase. The entrance doorway below is square-headed with chamfered jambs. Flanking gables have 12-pane 1st floor hornless sash windows; 16-pane ground floor sash windows to R and a boarded door under a 3-pane fanlight and 6-pane light to L.

Interior

The main entrance opens into a central hallway, with flanking principal rooms to front and staircases to the rear flanked by the service rooms. The hall has a panelled dado and a ceiling of 9 bays with original beams and moulded cornice. Above the fireplace is a painted shield of the arms of Iarddur in plaster, (a stag's head cabossed). The doorway to the staircase hall has a semi-circular head with a moulded architrave and panelled pilasters with moulded caps and bases; those to the adjoining rooms have square heads and moulded architraves. The room to the L (E) has re-used panelling of the early C17 with a moulded cornice and some cupboards of the late C18; the opposing room is said (by RCAHM) to have original painted wall panelling with moulded cornice and dado rail (not inspected at the time of the survey). The kitchen has an original oak beam and a segmental arch above the former fireplace; lower arch to the former deep bakehouse oven to the R side. The repaired door to the kitchen is late C17, but is incised with the initials and date: R R 1769. The original staircase has boldly turned balusters, moulded strings and handrail and square newels. The later staircase has slender balusters and a continuous handrail; above it is a barrel vaulted ceiling.
The first floor has 4 rooms along the S (above the hall and principal rooms) and another over the kitchen; each panelled, the 2 above the hall with bolection mouldings, the other rooms with similar panelling to the W principal ground floor room (c1700) some of which has been removed to replace the damaged panelling in the ground floor room. The SE wing has been re-roofed, and a raised ceiling and floor inserted to make a first floor bedroom.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as fine high-status house of considerable architectural refinement: an exceptionally early example of a renaissance house of a type associated with the richer gentry in the later C17.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17742197

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

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings