Tarvin Hall

Tarvin Hall is a manor house, later used as a school, and now a house, dating primarily from the mid-to-late 18th century, with a graffito date of 1776 discovered during roof repairs. A late 19th-century extension was added to the rear. The house is constructed of Flemish bond orange brick with painted stone dressings, and has a hipped Welsh slate roof across two parallel ranges, with brick chimneys. The plan is double-pile and symmetrical. The east front is three bays wide and three stories high. There’s a moulded stone plinth, a band at the first floor level, and a modillion cornice. The end bays feature Venetian windows on the lower two floors, with finely worked brick heads, and semi-circular headed sash windows above (these have lost their original glazing bars). The central bay projects slightly and is topped by a low pediment. The ground storey is stuccoed, with a Tuscan doorcase. The front door is four-panelled, with a semi-circular fanlight incorporating scrolled glazing bars that break the pediment. The first-floor window is set beneath a partial balustrade and an eared architrave with a semi-circular head and raised key block, with a four-pane sash above. A small, single-story portion to the right has a similar balustrade and contains a twelve-pane sash. To the left side are two added canted bays and a rear extension built of Ruabon brick.

The interior of the hall features a panelled dado and simple wooden doorcases. A broad elliptical arch with panelled soffits, supported by fluted pilasters, leads to the stairwell. The oak well staircase has a curving mahogany handrail and fluted square balusters, with pierced and fluted brackets on the open string and a painted panelled dado with fluted pilasters on the closed string. A six-panelled door is flanked by quarter columns and provides access to a rock-cut cellar. Later basalt and marble fireplaces are found downstairs. Upstairs, doors have shouldered architraves. One main room boasts Neo-Classical detailing, including doorcases with a frieze of husks, broken pediments with central urns, a panelled dado with fluted Corinthian pilasters, a ceiling frieze of husks and an ovolo and modillion cornice, and a blocked fireplace with a shouldered architrave.

Historically, the house was once larger, extending to the left with a single-story portion leading to a large end pavilion with a lantern, which also carried similar decorative details.