Henblas

Henblas is a Grade II* listed house comprising a main southern block with attics and cellars, two rear wings, and a stair block to the east, forming an approximate U-shaped plan. The walls are constructed of limestone and grit rubble (the southern wing laid roughly to courses) with some gritstone dressings, and thin slate roofs throughout.

The southern front elevation is a two-storey, eight-window range with the door offset to the right (windows arranged 5-2). Tall gable-end chimneys of grit ashlar with chamfered cappings and a similarly detailed ridge chimney offset to the left mark the extent of the entrance hall. The reset square-headed dressed sandstone doorway has chamfered sandstone jambs with broach-stops. Above the door is a reset sandstone panel bearing a lion rampant regardant (sable) with the inscription TANGNEFEDD IR TY HWN over H M 1626, referring to Morgan of Gwaethfoed. A second reset gritstone panel above and to the left reads 16 (cross) 25. The door is early 20th-century, boarded and studded with two narrow lights and prominent hinges. The windows are replacement four-pane sashes with flat voussoir heads in gritstone ashlar, with reduced heads to the first floor.

The eastern stair block has a basement with half-storey over and attic, with rubble walls of poorer materials than the main southern block and a slate roof with flat-roofed dormer. The eastern elevation has three windows to the half-landing with roughly-dressed voussoir heads and three internally splayed slit windows to the basement. The western elevation has steps leading down from the north to a broad boarded door in the centre with a dressed voussoir head. Of the three formerly first-floor windows on this elevation, only that to the right remains unblocked, showing a round-headed window with Gothic glazing bars. A flat-roofed dormer to the right has 12-pane sash windows.

The western service wing, which forms the original 17th-century house, is a two-storey, six-window range with principal elevation facing west. A tall grit ashlar ridge stack with chamfered capping stands to the right of the second window from the left. The western elevation ground floor has two 12-pane sash windows with slate sills to the left end, a blocked doorway with flat voussoir ashlar head, and a modern glazed doorway with flanking panes to the right end; a single-storey lean-to is built against the far right end. The first floor has five 12-pane sash windows with slate sills to the left (the third with brick jambs) and a six-pane sash at the far right above the lean-to. The rear eastern elevation has a full-height slightly advanced gabled block at the left end linked to the eastern rear wing by a lean-to, with a 12-pane sash in the first floor north wall. The ground floor of the service wing has two 12-pane sash windows to the right end; the first floor has a single 12-pane sash to the left, with a hipped-roofed dormer containing a four-pane casement window at the right end. A gabled roofed linking block at the north end of the service wing has modern half-glazed doors with side windows on each elevation.

The former stable range, now forming the northern wing parallel to the southern block, is built of local rubble with a slate roof with tiled ridge and copings. Grit ashlar and brick ridge stacks with chamfered and shaped cappings are positioned at the eastern end and northwest corner respectively. The principal elevation faces north, with three gabled dormers breaking the eaves line on the first floor: the central dormer is positioned over a doorway reached by external stone stairs, and the flanking dormers contain 12-pane sash windows. The ground floor has two small-paned casements to the left end, a smaller casement to the right of the stairs, and an ornate cast-iron ventilation grille to the right end. The right gable return has 12-pane sash windows with segmental stone heads and slate sills to each storey; the left gable return has a first-floor window of paired four-pane lights. The rear elevation has a modern doorway to the right end with a 12-pane sash above and a nine-pane sash to the left.

Interior

The principal southern wing's front entrance leads into the former hall, now a sitting room, with the former drawing room to the right. The former drawing room contains wall-panelling of circa 1700 and a late 18th-century ornate marble fire surround. The former hall has a stone-flagged floor, panelled shutters to the windows, a moulded dado rail, and an inserted fireplace at the western end with a rough stone segmental bressumer. The ceiling has two rough chamfered beams and a narrow reset crossbeam (possibly imported) of two timbers, broken short and bearing the mutilated inscription DOMVS . FACTA FVIT IN / ANO DOMINI / 1581.

To the rear of the principal wing is an axial corridor. Entry to the staircase wing, to the rear of the hall, is through an 18th-century wooden elliptical archway with a moulded architrave and cornice supported on fluted pillasters. The dog-leg staircase has turned balusters, a moulded handrail, and square newels with moulded caps. Original beams are present in the room at landing level and across the opening at the head of the stairs; the roof features pegged trusses. The stairs lead to the axial landing; first-floor rooms have panelled reveals and six-panel doors, with roofs of sawn and chamfered king-post trusses.

To the right of the stairs, along the rear corridor, is a panelled door leading to stairs down to the stable area. To the left is a doorway leading to a brick-vaulted wine cellar, and further left a doorway to the passageway running along the north wall of the western wing (the older part of the house and former kitchen). This room contains a massive inglenook with a chamfered segmental voussoir arch, with former brick bread ovens flanking a small central grate beneath the range. In the southwest corner is a repaired 18th-century dog-leg staircase with a moulded handrail and shaped splat balusters. The roof has hewn A-frame trusses with shaped collars; the pantry has exposed beams, the central beam with slots for a former partition.