Hergest Court

Manor house, now a farmhouse and divided into two separate dwellings. It is believed to have been built around 1430 for Thomas Vaughan, although the house stands on the site of an earlier building and was largely remodelled in the 17th and 18th centuries, with further alterations in the 20th century. The construction is a mix of sandstone rubble, close-studded timber framing with wattle and daub infill, and shingle cladding on the south-east side. The roof is covered in Welsh slate. The building is arranged in an L-shape, with wings oriented southwest/northeast and northwest/southeast, meeting at the northeast corner. A turret containing the staircase projects from the angle of the L. There are lateral and end stacks. The house has two storeys, with cellars and attics. The front facing the shingle cladding has a three-light casement window on the right; two further three-light casement windows are on the ground floor. The stair turret projects to the right, with a single-light and a two-light casement window. A small projection with a lean-to roof sits below the stair turret gable, featuring a two-light casement window and a stone doorway with a two-centred head and chamfered jambs, now obscured by a 20th-century lean-to porch. The southwest face of the adjacent wing has two three-light casement windows. The northwest front reveals close-studded timber framing. Inside the southwest wing are sections of late 16th or early 17th-century panelling, with a decorative enriched frieze in an upper room. The early 17th-century staircase has decorative splat balusters, square moulded newels with shaped terminals, and moulded handrails. The interior of the southeast wing was not inspected, but records indicate the presence of a stone fireplace dating back to around 1500. It is documented that the Welsh bard Lewis Glyn Cothi described Hergest Court as having eight strong buildings, which were demolished during the 18th century. Local tradition holds that "The Red Book of Hergest" was discovered here, from which the Mabinogion were compiled. Originally, the court was surrounded by a moat.