History

Built in early C19 for Charles Claude Clifton, died 1841, incorporating a medieval house said to have been built by Howel Gam in the C14. Sections of medieval wall remain E of the present house including a blocked arch perhaps of the C15, and the main corridor of the house passes through a substantial masonry gateway 8' wide. Charles Clifton is said to have been a friend of John Nash and the house has a Regency Gothic flavour, but unlikely to be by Nash himself. The Gothic work to the house, partly in Bath stone, has similar details to Felin Newydd, Felinfach. There is Gothic plasterwork downstairs and ribbed vaulting in the hall corridor. The staircase has wood-carving by the historian and antiquary, the Rev Thomas Price, 'Carnhuanawc', rector of Cwmdu. Some Gothic pinnacles have been removed. Clifton's son, the Rev. C. Clifton, sold the house in 1841 to P.M. Pell of Lincolnshire, High Sheriff in 1856, then sold to Mr Franks. The house was later sold to William de Winton, 1823-1907 of the banking family, High Sheriff 1874. It was occupied in 1866 by Major W. C. Braddon. Owned after 1907 by Wilfred S. de Winton.

Exterior

House, Bath stone and render, with slate roofs and rendered chimneys with diagonally set small shafts. Two storeys and attic, Georgian Gothic remodelling of an older building, square plan, the gables with large ogee pointed recesses (like those at Felin Newydd). The windows are mostly Georgian Gothic with marginal glazing bars.

N front has centre projecting two-storey porch partly of thin coursed stone, with fretted bargeboards, between two rendered and Bath stone gables also with fretted bargeboards. Porch has plinth and string-courses, big first floor 4-12-4-pane flat-headed triple sash, and carved shield in gable. Side buttresses flank big segmental pointed moulded archway with hoodmould. Gables to either side of porch each have a hornless 12-pane first floor sash with hoodmould, that to the right partly lost, and two ground floor pointed windows with pointed hoodmoulds. The sashes have Georgian Gothic intersecting glazing bars.

W side has gabled crosswing to right with two large ogee-pointed ground floor French windows, moulded string course, four light first floor window, the centre two with marginal glazing bars and Tudor heads, the outer ones with flat heads, deep hoodmould and carved head stops. Attic gable has an ogee-pointed window with paired casements with arched heads to lights and marginal glazing bars. Small diagonally-set gable shaft. Ridge stack with two shafts between gabled bay and bay to left, which is framed by buttresses, the right one ashlar with two incised crosses. Moulded plinth, and stringcourse under eaves, first floor paired sashes under double cusped head with centre pendant and mullion. Stone sill. Ground floor has broad four-light window with deep hoodmould with head stops. Segmental-pointed head over two segmental-pointed two-light windows with marginal glazing bars, cusped quatrefoils in heads. Left buttress is part rendered with ground floor incised cross. This buttress had a pinnacle in old photographs.

S side has two gables with the left one oddly asymmetrical, but both with ogee sunk panels. Massive ridge stack with four diagonally set short shafts. First floor has three three-light windows with blind-boxes and deep hoodmoulds. Lights have segmental-pointed heads and small-paned glazing. String course over ground floor. Centre timber gabled porch with half-glazed doors flanked by windows. Large ogee-pointed four-light window to left and right, with marginal glazing bars, pointed heads to centre French window and side light each side.

E side has gable to left with ogee attic window and first floor casement window offset to right. Further first floor casement window to right with hoodmould and altered glazing. Single storey extension with lean-to roof attached and further 1 ½ storey garage attached to E.

Interior

Largely remodelled c.1820 in a Strawberry Hill Gothic style. 2 floors plus attic; ground floor with a central N-S hallway with 2 rooms to either side and stair central to W. On first floor rooms divided over two levels and around a central stair.

The N entrance door leads to a full depth hallway with ribbed vaulting of 7 bays with crocket capitals and shafts; four bays up to the central crossing with the stair on the left and then three further shallower bays to the S. S entrance with double half glazed doors with marginal glazing and half glazed panels to either side and ogee glazed arch above with intersecting tracery. Oak boards to the hallway. Doorways to hall have deep moulded architraves and doors with applied Gothic mouldings.

2 doors on the right of the hall lead to principal ground floor rooms; that to S with good Strawberry Hill detailing with deep enriched cornice, fireplace, skirting, window lining and shutters and a pair (one false) of highly decorative Gothic timber door surrounds to the internal wall. Room to N has more restrained early C19 fittings with fireplace, skirting and cornice. Similar 2 doors to the left of the hall; that to the N leads to small boot room, door to the S leads to a further good Strawberry Hill room retaining marble fireplace, enriched cornice, timber window linings and shutter, skirting, and big niche with crockets and to one side a recess with door. Further door to stair in NE corner.

The stair is reached through the central door on the left of the hall and a short vaulted passage with the cellar door on the right. It is a top lit timber stair with paired square balusters with quatrefoil discs and cusping between each pair. Similar vaulting and detailing as to hall. At the base of the stair a door to the left leads to a kitchen, and a further door leads directly ahead to the single storey extension on the E side of the house. The stair rises up a short straight flight to a landing and small balcony with cusped pierced panelling projecting into the hall, and then turns and rises to the main first floor. A further short flight of steps rises from the landing to the room in the NE corner. First floor rooms largely retain early C19 doorframes and doors and skirtings.

Reasons for Listing

Included at II* for its special architectural interest as an important Georgian Gothic remodelling of a medieval house retaining a high quality early C19 interior Also significant for its historic interest as a house with early origins and links to important historical figures.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17740177

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.

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