Caerau

Caerau

This house comprises two principal blocks of different periods, joined by connecting ranges. The original late 17th-century part stands to the west, a two-storey asymmetrical structure of two windows, with rendered rubble walls and slate roofs hipped over the south end. The main elevation faces west, towards the original entrance. A two-storey servants wing occupies the east end of the south side, with a gabled connecting range to the east block and lean-tos.

The west elevation of the original house displays an end chimney to the left (north) gable, with a lateral chimney serving the hipped section to the right. A lean-to porch offset to the right contains a nine-pane window. To its left stands a twelve-pane sash window, with a matching window above on the first floor and another at the left end. The north gable wall has two narrow ground-floor windows of three by four panes set at either end. The south (approach) elevation, beneath a hipped roof, features two sixteen-pane hornless sash windows with segmental rubble heads at ground level and an eight-pane Yorkshire sliding sash window to the first floor set under the eaves. The two-storey servants wing to the right has a boarded door at its left end and sixteen-pane sash windows with segmental rubble arches to both ground and first floors of the south gable end. At the southeast corner of this wing sits a single-storey domestic service range, a lean-to built against the dividing wall between the rear yards. Constructed of rubble masonry with a slate roof, it contains a brick chimney serving the oven in the second of three rooms along the range.

The east block is two storeys (partly with attic), presenting a six-window asymmetrical facade. A full-length lofted lean-to runs to the rear under a common roof pitch, with a storeyed wing behind forming a courtyard. The walls are rubble masonry with widely slobbered mortar; the rear wall has been raised to accommodate the lofted lean-to. Slate roof with tile coping, the rear pitch being shallower to cover the lean-to. Tall rectangular gable-end chimneys with dripstones and capping include a third chimney offset to the left of centre. The main entrance, offset to the left under the third window from left, is a modern half-glazed door beside a single wide sixteen-pane sash window. Three twelve-pane sash windows occupy the ground floor to the right. The first floor shows two patterns: two original twelve-pane balanced sash windows survive (third from left and far right), the remainder being sash windows with six-panes to the upper light and nine-panes to the lower. The left gable end has a twelve-pane sash window to the left side of the original part, with an eight over six-pane window to the ground floor of the lean-to beneath a segmental brick arch roof and a modern casement to the loft above. The single-window wing similarly features an eight over six-pane window to the ground floor and a sixteen-pane sash window to the first floor. The rear elevation of the east block is two storeys and two windows, with a block of four twelve-pane sash windows to the left and a door to the right (with a lean-to corrugated iron porch). Ground-floor openings have segmental rubble voussoir heads. Gabled dormers spring from the eaves. A boarded door occupies the centre of the courtyard elevation of the wing. To the left of the lean-to stands a long rectangular chimney aligned axially (modern).

Interior: The main entrance to the 17th-century block opens into a central hallway with principal rooms to left and right, served by a 17th-century dog-leg staircase to the rear with turned balusters, double-square newel at the landing and massive swept moulded rail. The hallway walls are in and out boarded partitions with panelled doors—the right-hand door having two bolection-moulded panels and the left-hand door four panels. The left (west) room contains a faux-marble painted wooden fire surround and plain cast-iron grate, with walls lined with cupboards, some glazed and most panelled. The right (east) room has a scullery beyond beaded boarding to the rear, with steps leading down to a basement below the stairs. Both ground-floor rooms retain large hewn chamfered beams (the west room with bar-stop chamfers) and hewn joists.

The 18th-century block is said by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales to retain considerable internal detailing. The ground floor kitchen and pantry retain original built-in cupboards, shelving and dresser with panelled doors and arched recesses. A corner cupboard in the pantry bears the date 1730 on its door panel, together with geometric designs. The kitchen dresser features a moulded cornice, its upper members repeated on the plaster beams, which are chamfered with moulded stops. The first floor comprises three bedrooms entered from a passage, each lined with pine panelling with moulded cornices, door architraves and pediments. Over each fireplace sits a panel containing a contemporary landscape painting. The east room has a double-partition to the passage containing cupboards either side of the door and a closet against the large chimney stack. The staircase to the west has turned balusters, panelled newels and moulded handrail.