History

The oldest part of the house was probably built mid C18 and features on a plan of the estate dated 1770; the rear wing was built 1786, dated by a tablet set under the eaves with initials and date H H 1786, H H being Hugh Hughes of Plas, Inspector General of Excise and Licenses in Dublin. The house was extended by the addition of the wing to right(S), with tablet in the apex of the right gable bearing entwined initials E H and V (Edmund Hope Verney) and the date 1874. A further advanced wing was added to the left of the original house, again with datestone in the gable apex, 1895. Further additions include another storeyed wing to the rear, built abutting the original wing to form a double-pile; and another single storey block, set at right angles to, and abutting the gable end of the original storeyed wing, which was probably built c1912.

Exterior

Mid-late C18 vernacular house with C19 additions in idiosyncratic gothic style. The original house comprises a 2-storey, 3-window range with double-pile storeyed wing set at right angles to the rear. Advanced, taller, 2-storey, 3-window range to the right and advanced single storey wing set at right angles to the left. Entrance elevation to original house a symmetrically planned, 3-window range with central doorway. Built of rubble masonry, roughcast rendered, with sandstone dressings; slate roof with slightly projecting eaves, stone copings, a rendered stack at the left gable end and a globe finial at the right. Openings are recessed; the doorway with shallow rectangular fanlight with glazing bars and a half-glazed door with a single leaded light; windows are 12-pane sashes, with stone sills, the upper storey windows smaller and set under the eaves.

Advanced wing to the right is a 2-storey, 3-window range; with loggia to front, first floor balcony at right end and NE tower to rear abutting lean-to extension with gabled entrance and advanced single-storey gabled wing. Built of rubble masonry with sandstone dressings. Slate roof with slightly projecting eaves and scalloped red clay ridge tiles; crow-stepped gables with stone copings, rubble stacks with cornices; gable stacks and central ridge stack offset to right end. Front elevation a 3-window range with ground floor loggia on rubble piers extended at right end to form a verandah with first floor balcony above. Ground floor has french windows with louvred shutters, first floor has slightly recessed 3-light transomed and mullioned casement windows, the upper lights of decorative coloured glass. Left gable return with similarly detailed transomed and mullioned window of 2-lights above a 4-pane casement window with leaded hood. The right gable return has modern lights; central ground floor window with louvred shutters, first floor has 2 windows, that to left with stone 'trellised' balcony. A stone tablet set in the gable apex is inscribed with entwined initials E M and V and the date 1874. To the right, set at the NE corner of this wing, is a storeyed rectangular tower of rubble masonry with a tall hipped slate roof. The tower has a gable entrance with a narrow doorway with a shaped head under a large stone lintel; above the doorway is a diamond light with continuous string above. Diamond lights to first floor and slit lights to upper storey. Abutting the tower to the rear of the wing is a lean-to extension with gabled entrance; doorway with a shaped head and lintel with stressed lettering reading: PLAS TAN NAWDD DUW AI DANGNER (mansion under the patronage of God ...); a small recessed light in the gable apex above. Flanking the door are canted oriel windows of paired, mullioned, leaded lights; a single opening to the right is boxed in with chamfered panelling, 6-pointed stars pierced in upper panels. An advanced single storey gabled wing to the far right has a slate roof with red clay decorative ridge tiles and a dragon finial, and a large rubble stack to the rear.

To the left end of the original house is a single storey advanced gabled wing, with a further advanced bay window at the front gable, of 4 transomed and mullioned lights and a datestone of 1895 in the gable apex above. Pebble-dashed rendered; slate roof with red clay ridge tiles with gable finials, and a central rendered ridge stack with cornice. Entrance in the right hand return through a recessed panelled door with a shouldered head; right of the doorway are 3 tall round-headed lights.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a highly unusual and idiosyncratic development forming an irregular composition dominated by the robust, eclectic gothic late C19 ranges, but including a well-preserved mid C18 vernacular house of characteristic local type.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29497317

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

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  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
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  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)