Rhiw-goch including gatehouse

Rhiw-goch including Gatehouse

This is a two-storey house aligned roughly north to south, built of mortared local stone with large stones used as quoins and lintels. The roof is modern slate with overhanging verges and tall ridge and gable stacks with dripstones and capping. Modern timber casement windows are throughout, with sandstone dressings to the openings of the original house.

The older part of the building comprises a roughly reversed L-shaped plan along the south and west sides of a small cobbled courtyard. The north end of the building is joined to the contemporary gatehouse by a linking wall lined internally with bee bole shelves. The gatehouse stands along the north side of the yard and has been extended east and north. The older part of the house has been extended to the south by the addition of an early to mid-twentieth century block which is advanced from and extends the line of the west range and has a wing which is parallel to the east-west wing of the original house.

The gatehouse stands at the north end of the range. The extent of the original building may be seen in the joint in masonry to the left (east) of the entrance arch, which is a flat-headed arch with broad stone lintel and is offset to the right (west). Above the arch on the outer wall is a recessed stone slab which bears a heraldic shield of arms: a chevron between three crows, each of which has an ermine spot on its beak. These arms are attributed to Llywarch ap Bran from whom the Lloyd family claimed descent. To the left is a carved inscription, also seen at Corsygedol: "Sequere iustitiam et invenias virum" (though the source notes this appears misspelled). Over the arch on the inner wall is another recessed stone inscribed with a roughly carved shield which is held by a crowned lion to the left and a dragon to the right. Windows have been inserted directly under the eaves above the inner and outer arches, and there is a gable stack to the right (west). The extension to the gatehouse is to the east, and the main elevation opens into the courtyard to the south. To the right of the entrance arch is a first-floor doorway reached by an external flight of stone steps, with a window set under the eaves to the right over a ground-floor doorway. To the far right is the gable end of a cross wing which has a doorway facing a raised ground level at the east end of the cobbled yard. The rear of the cross wings extends to the north and has a ground-floor doorway in the north gable; the west return has a single first-floor window, and there is a similar window to the left (east) of the entrance arch.

The house entrance is in the east-west range, which is a four-window range with doorway offset to the right (west), opposing the entrance archway of the gatehouse. The doorway has a four-centred head over which is a shield on which no charges can be seen (this may have been painted originally); above is a helm surmounted by a carved crest in the form of a bird (crow) close. Below the shield appear to be two roses. In the spandrel to the left are the carved initials M/R LL, for Robert and Mary Lloyd, and to the right is the date 1610. There are two windows to the left (east) of the doorway—a first-floor casement above and a single window to the right with flat-roofed dormer in the roof above. At the junction of the two blocks of the original house is a first-floor window angled across the junction, and there are two windows along the west range with a ground-floor doorway to the north end. At the east gable of the entrance wing are two ground-floor windows and blocked windows above which retain the original sandstone frames. The rear of the west range shows it to be a long range of two parts, each probably a three-window range. The left (north) end now has a central ground-floor window with flanking blocked openings, and the part to the right has a doorway to the left (north) end and two windows to the right with flat-roofed dormers over the two openings to the north. There is also a small window set under the eaves between the two parts.

The modern block to the south is at a slightly lower level and has modern doors and windows throughout.

Interior

The main doorway opens into a hallway retaining plank and muntin panelling which leads up the dog-leg staircase and along the first-floor landing. One first-floor bedroom retains a plaster overmantel which has three shaped shields directly over the fireplace and a plumed helm above flanked by the letters H (to the left) and P (to the right). To the left of the helm is a rose and to the right is a thistle; to each far end is a lion's head over the initials R/M to the left and LL to the right. To the left of the hallway is an entryway which has an arch-braced chamfered cross beam and chamfered jambs.