Plas Glyn-y-Weddw

Plas Glyn-y-Weddw

Built in Victorian high Gothic style, this is a substantial two-storey house constructed of snecked brown stone with steep slate roofs and prominent stone chimneys featuring tall square brick shafts linked at the heads. The building follows an irregular E-plan with a rear wing containing service quarters.

The entrance front faces east and is dominated by three principal gabled bays. The central bay contains a two-storey gabled porch with corbelled sides, approached through double-leaf panelled doors set in a square-headed Tudor moulded arch. Above this entrance is a large three-light Perpendicular window serving the upper floor chamber, with a further arched inner doorway beneath. The porch bay is flanked by narrow recessed bays forming part of a large gable behind the porch structure. These recessed sides are lit by two-light Perpendicular windows on the first floor and mullion and transom windows on the ground floor. The end wings are also gabled; the left wing features a two-storey canted bay window with crenellations and mullion and transom windows, while the right bay has a corbelled first-floor oriel window positioned above a five-light mullion and transom window on the ground floor. Lighting the centre of the house is an elaborate octagonal timber lantern with a bulbous lead dome.

The south elevation displays a restored conservatory in front of a gable with a chimney at the apex and a dormer window to the right. The north elevation features a tall external shouldered chimney, and to its right, a two-window gable lit by mullion and transom windows to the first floor and three-light windows to the ground floor. Further right is a Tudor-headed doorway with a quatrefoil above and a small first-floor window.

To the rear of the house, lower two-storey blocks contain service accommodation with various window treatments including small-pane sash glazing, mullion and transom windows, and twelve-pane sashes. An attached single-storey range with seven timber windows features leaded glass and a door, which has been altered.

The interior is exceptionally fine. The entrance leads through a remarkable Chinese-style inlaid walnut veneered lobby embellished with fine crest decoration. Beyond lies an immense lofty hall roofed with close-spaced hammer-beam roof trusses whose pendants carry heraldic shields. A grand flight of stairs rises from the hall floor, dividing at the half-landing and continuing to a gallery that runs around the full circumference of the hall. The gallery balustrade features pinnacled newel posts and cusped Gothic tracery in iron, and is supported throughout on corbelled hammer-beams. At the head of the stairs stands a large three-light Perpendicular-style stained glass window with heraldic shields relating to past owners of the house. A tripartite glazed Gothic screen at the front of the gallery opens to the upper room of the porch. The hall floor is laid in polychrome tiles and contains a diminutive stone medieval-style fireplace carved with a roundel containing the initials EJP.

The rooms opening off both the hall and gallery are distinguished by Tudor doorheads with panelled doors and deep panelled jambs. The main ground-floor room on the right features a ladder cornice, central rosette, and an arch feature on the end wall. The room on the left contains a fine Carrara marble fireplace with honeysuckle painted panels and an iron grate, together with a ceiling rose and Gothic cornice; its front window is set in a columnar frame. A Perpendicular-style window-door opens to the conservatory. The service rooms to the rear include a high servants hall with a large stone fireplace.