History

Gentry house of c1800, built before 1811 when described by Fenton as 'a handsome modern mansion belonging to my friend John Gwynne Esq.'. Illustrated in a tourist's sketch of 1825. The thick wall on the right side of the entrance hall may indicate an earlier building remodelled, but the house was not more than a farm before 1800. The site is recorded in 1594, owned by Owen Johns of Brecon, in C17 by the Owens of Trecwn, and by the late C17 by the Warrens of Trewern, leased in late C18 to the Gwynnes of Cilciffeth, and sold in 1799 to John Gwynne, attorney of Haverfordwest. The estate passed in 1875 to the Rev. Thomas Gwynne Mortimer (1830-1903), and then to his heir, Mortimer Thomas, whose family sold it in 1956.

Exterior

Country house, rendered rubble stone with slate hipped roofs, grouted in C20. Two storeys, long 5-bay W front with paired brackets to eaves cornice on front and right end walls, nogged brick eaves elsewhere. 2 large rendered ridge chimneys. Hornless 12-pane sashes, arched doorway in fourth bay in timber Ionic porch with 2 columns and modillion cornice, much decayed. Six-panel door with 4 fielded panels. Stone steps up.
S end wall of 2 bays, 12-pane sashes above, 16-pane below. Rear E return has hipped roof and just 2 cambered-headed windows at mid height, one blank, one lighting the stairs. Basement light to right. This section projects to left of main rear E wall, 3 bays including a centre window at half level lighting service stair. 12-pane sash over half-glazed door with overlight to left, 12-pane sash over 4-pane sash to right. Basement light under centre window.
N end, to service court, has whitewashed rubble lean-to with asbestos sheet roof, hipped to right. C20 window and board door to yard, tripartite sash to W end, facing front drive. Service yard is screened from drive by a wall at slight angle to main front, with derelict open-fronted lean-to range and one enclosed bay on rear. Dummy window, dummy door and one tripartite window to drive. Opposite side of service court, linked to house by retaining wall, is lofted outside kitchen, with asbestos sheet roof, large stone E end stack and sandstone ashlar large W bellcote. S side has door and 12-pane sash with cut stone lintels incised as voussoirs, and keystones Small W end loft light. Roofless rear lean-to.

Interior

Entrance hall with drawing and dining-room off to right and stairs at back. Kitchen unusually just left of entry but accessed from spine corridor into service range. Hall has 2 ceilings with simple cornices divided by elliptical arch, the second ceiling with acanthus rose. Two doors on right with deep panelled reveals into principal rooms. Elliptical arches to stair to E and service passage to N. Rooms have plaster cornices, more ornate in SE room with a guilloche moulding, 6-panel doors, dado rail, simple timber surrounds to fireplaces with original iron grates, and panelled shutters.
Staircase with turned newels, stick balusters and scrolled tread ends. Stair rises in 2 enclosed flights to broad landing running across house, with rectangular ceiling and moulded cornice. 6-panel doors into narrow room at W end of landing and 2 main bedrooms to SW and SE with original timber fireplace surrounds and grates. Panelled shutters, simple cornices. SW room has no window to front, only to S side. Two doors on N side of landing, to another bedroom and to spine passage. Fourth bedroom off W side of passage, service stair on E side leads up into loft with plastered attic rooms.
Service rooms to left of entrance hall include kitchen with triple arch feature to N wall fireplace. Beyond is back kitchen with tiled floor and S wall fireplace. E of spine passage are pantry, service stair, housekeeper's parlour and, in rear lean-to, slate floored coal room. Extraordinary cellars cut into foundations later with winding trench-like passages.

Reasons for Listing

Graded II* as an unaltered smaller gentry house of the early C19, exceptional in the region.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17741739

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)