Adjoining Cottage including Forecourt Walls to W and adjoining outbuilding, Ganllwyd, Gwynedd

History

Mid-C16 hall house with C17 and C18 alterations,originally the seat of a branch of the Vaughans of Hengwrt. William Madocks (the builder of Tremadoc and Portmadoc) purchased the estate in 1798 and built a cottage ornee which is partly incorporated in the later structure. The house was greatly extended by Charles Reynolds Williams, a London solicitor whoaquired the estate in 1859 and built a villa in simple VictorianGothic style onto the earlier core, perhaps to designs by hisbrother George Williams, architect of Liverpool. C.R. Williamswas High Sherrif of Merionethshire 1882-3. Later C19 alterationsto the house were possibly also for him.

Exterior

Main House: Large mid-Victorian villa in gabled Gothicstyle; irregular plan, mainly of two-and-a-half storeys. Rubbleconstruction with limestone dressings, string-courses andsteeply-pitched slate roofs. 3 gabled sections to N (entrance)front. The central one is a tall storeyed and projecting porchwith steep crow-stepped gable with stone capping. Chamfered,Tudor-arched entrance converted (later C19) to 3-light woodencusped tracery window. Later entrance to E return with panelledVictorian door. Above the porch, a rectangular wooden oriel madeup out of re-used, highly-carved C19 Indian elements with carvedposts and pierced foliate screen sections; 4-light leaded windowand shallow lead ogee roof. The oriel is supported on decorativebrackets. Above, a recessed sandstone heraldic plaque. To the L,and set back slightly, a high gabled section with pierced foliatebargeboards and deep verges. 2-light rectangular windows to firstand second floors, the latter a C20 steel-framed replacement;splayed reveals. To ground floor, a (later C19) triple-arched porch/loggia with Tudor-arched openings, the central one an entrance. Rustic balustrade with central pier bearing heraldric plaque and surmounted by a stone ball-finial; similar, smaller finial to corner pier to L. The R gabled section is broader and lower and is partly Madocks' work of c.1800; plain bargeboards and deep verges. C19 fenestration: 3-light wooden mullioned window to the ground floor with heraldric stained glass to the upper sections. Two 6-pane recessed casement windows to first floor and a similar 4-pane to gable apex.

The E side faces a terrace overlooking the Afon Mawddach. 3 bays,the central one advanced with crow-stepped gable, kneelered andcoped and with off-set finial to apex; chamfered corners to firstfloor. To the R and behind the gable a large stack withheavily-moulded capping. 2-light wooden mullioned windows toground floors of flanking bays and 3-light cross-window tocentral, gabled bay; modern window to gable apex. The rear (S)side has a gabled section to the R with a storeyed timber-framedbay window, with decorative framing to its upper section. Further, smaller section to L with similar upper treatment, withprojecting gablet. To the L of this, a 4-storey tower withcrenellations and decorative machicolations; now flat-roofed,though formerly with a lead spire. Single-storey C20conservatorey extension to L (W).

Exterior, primary house: The C16 house abuts to the W at therear. It consists of a rectangular, gabled block with a largegabled and slate-roofed lateral chimney to the NW corner, creatingan L-plan. This has a 2-tier C19 chimney. Single-storey plusattic; rubble construction with renewed slate roof. Modernwindows to ground floor S side with two 6-pane C19 casements togable above. Original window openings to W side, that to the Rnow a modern French window. Further original window opening to Eside (facing the conservatory). Modern fire escape to upper Ngable.

A wooden and corrugated iron lean-to adjoins to the W. Abutingthis to the SW a small semi-circular rubble turret with squarecontinuation to the N. This contains a water tank. Blindcross-loop and crenellations with entrance to S with boarded door. A sloped, slate-coped rubble wall leads E for 5m where itterminates immediately opposite the W wall of the primary house. 2 further, single-storey ranges adjoin to the N, the furthest along outbuilding (former stables?) with 3 boarded doors and 2windows to its E side. The other is an external WC block;construction as before.

Adjoining the main house to the NW, a single-storey service range;construction as before with modern door and window and, to the Rtwo wide, Tudor-arched 4-light windows. Rustic balustrade to flatroof, as before; modern additions to rear. This curves in ashallow arc northwards with, in front, a further open rusticarcade, of 7 arches, the 2 northern-most ones stepped-down; thisforms a screen to the W of the forecourt. The service range behind terminates in a half-round turret with blind cross-loop as before at the junction with the cottage.

The Cottage is a C19 domestic remodelling of an earlier (C16/17) barn. Rubble construction with steeply-pitched slate roof. Two 2-light wooden mullioned windows with cusped heads to ground floor of long N side (facing the drive) and 2 gabled dormers above with narrow rectangular 4-pane door-light. Upper loading bay to W gable external stone-stepped access. Deep verges with plain bargeboards and projecting decorative gable truss; 4-pane arched-headed sash window in gable. Off-centre chimney with weather coursing. Modernised interior.

Interior

House interior: Long, high entrance hall with decorative plasterceiling bosses around cornice. Narrow oak well stair withbarley-twist balusters and similar quadruple-clustered newel postswith cup-and-cover finials. Similar straight flight to secondfloor. Good stained and pressed glass window to stair-well; inC13 style with heraldic panels at top displaying the Williams'arms, together with figure subjects. Slate fireplace to drawingroom with round-arched opening and acanthus brackets supportingmantelpiece. 4 stained glass panels to upper lights of the rearcanted bay. These are made up of fragments of late Medieval glass(chiefly late C15/early C16) supplemented with C19 coloured glass. Re-located C19 dado panelling to dining room with Renaissancestyle shallow relief carving. Tudor-arched fireplace with glazedceramic tiles and enamelled fleurs-de-lis plaques (fragments of Pugin-design wall paper flank the fireplace). Geometric ribbed ceiling of conjoined octagons and squares. This room is part ofan apparently C17 wing, added to the primary C16 core, which wassubstantially remodelled c.1800 and later by Williams. A largefireplace ingle-beam with chamfering is said to survive on the Wwall, though this is obscured by later plaster. A short corridorleads from the dining room to the primary block which isstepped-down about 1m from the main house. To the L of thecorridor, a large square mass of rubble masonry containing a corkscrew stair which rises to the second floor. The primary block consists of a 2-bay hall and a single-bay parlour to theground floor, now one room, though the evidence for the partitionscreen survives on the southernmost transverse ceiling beam. Heavily-beamed ceiling (a mid-C17 insertion to a former openhall); stopped-chamfered detail. Stopped-chamfered timber lintelsto splayed windows; hall fireplace reduced and with modernbressummer. A pair of cruck blades (plastered over) is visible inthe first-floor room, originally the upper part of the open hall.

Reasons for Listing

A sub-medieval hall-house with interesting Victorian-Gothic additions.

External Links

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