Abbey House (Department of Theology)

Abbey House, now a university department, was originally a house and includes the former Abbey Cottage on Dun Cow Lane. It dates from the late 17th century to the early 18th century and incorporates earlier fragments. The front is made of sandstone ashlar, while the right side facing Dun Cow Lane is rendered, and the rear and left gables are brick. The building has a Welsh slate roof with a brick chimney and stone coping on the right gable. It has a basement, three storeys, and attics, with a total of five bays.

The central entrance features a six-panel door set in a stone architrave, topped by a three-pane overlight beneath a cornice supported by paired carved brackets. The windows have flat stone lintels and flat stone sills, with renewed sashes that include glazing bars in wide boxes. The parapet has cyma-moulded coping. The left side has a shaped gable with brick coping and an end chimney, while the right side reveals an earlier stone wall with a round-headed blocked door and an irregular-block right jamb. The shaped rear gable features a pilastered chimney.

Inside, there is a panelled entrance hall with a dado that has a ramped rail. The staircase has a similar dado, with two column balusters per tread and fluted rectangular newels, the topmost of which has a leaf-carved panel and supports a ramped grip handrail. The ends of the treads are block-shaped. The main room on the ground floor is also panelled. A rear brick addition is noted but is not of interest.