Plas Muriau

Plas Muriau is a mid-Victorian country house, built in the 1860s in a Tudor-Gothic style. Constructed of local slate stone, it has a slate roof and prominent stone chimney stacks, some arranged diagonally in a stellar pattern with crenellated caps. The house is characterized by steep gables, which are narrower over the gabled porch. Each gable features cusped bargeboards; the finial on the porch gable remains in place, while others are stored on site. The front elevation has three-light windows with mullions and transoms on the ground floor, and a single-light window in the central gable. Unusually, all windows retain their original blind boxes with scalloped valences, brackets, and iron operating mechanisms. The porch has large, rusticated quoins and a centrally located segmentally arched entrance, featuring half-glazed doors with sidelights. The right-hand gable has a large chimney breast with a stepped arched recess and four clustered stacks; a similar chimney is present on the left-hand end, but with only three stacks. A single-storey projection, known as the Garden Room, is located on the right-hand end, likely originally intended as a lobby providing access to a garden terrace with a pond. This gable features a finial and a large bracketed slate lintel above the doorway, which has a slate slabbed architrave. A small verandah is situated on the west side of the house, facing forward. The rear elevation has three gables with plain bargeboards, and features paired hornless sash windows with unusually thick frames; one window is modern. A lower, single-storey range with matching detailing and a hexagonal stellar chimney stack is set lower at the left-hand (north) end. Behind the house lies a walled service yard containing former stables, a cowhouse, and a dairy, along with a staircase of slate steps leading to the planned gardens and potentially implement stores. Slate-edged paths were originally designed to lead to a circular summer house, now in ruins.

Internally, the house retains much of its mid-19th century character, featuring six-panel doors on the ground floor and four-panel doors on the upper floor, and a centrally planned staircase with top lighting. A particularly significant feature is the surviving painted decoration in the main drawing room, executed by Pietro Romoli. The ceiling depicts putti within a circular border, likely set within an oval frame, complemented by foliage and floral details in the corners. This style of ceiling painting, drawing inspiration from 17th century North Italian artwork, is considered unusual in a house of this size and type. While the extent of the surviving decoration is yet to be fully revealed, it is believed to be in good condition. A painted ceiling by Drury-Lowe himself once existed upstairs, but no longer survives.