Caer Rhun Hall

Caer Rhun Hall

This is a large T-shaped house of two-and-a-half storeys with an adjoining L-shaped service and subsidiary range of two storeys. It is constructed of snecked limestone with red sandstone dressings and pale slate roofs. The facades are asymmetrical, featuring leaded mullioned and transomed windows, both plain and arched, with paired or clustered chimneys mostly offset and finished with moulded cornices and capping. Stepped and kneelered gables throughout carry ball finials mounted on diagonal offset shafts that connect with plain moulded stringcourses.

The north, or entrance, front comprises a five-and-a-half bay main block with a three-bay subsidiary range set at right angles to the right. At the corner is a large octagonal stair tower with banded decoration, featuring single-light windows with chamfered reveals and an octagonal roof topped with a lead ball finial. To the left of the main block is a wide gabled bay with a first-floor canted oriel window of twin and flanking single lights, finished with a crenellated parapet to its flat roof. Above this, in the gable apex, sits a plain stone shield-plaque. A dentilated stringcourse divides the ground and first floors, returning around the east side. To the right, an advanced storied and gabled porch projects with the upper floor corbelled out slightly at the sides but flush with the ground floor at the front. The arched entrance has a returned label and is surmounted by a pedimented niche containing a sculpted relief crest of the Gough family, with boarded double doors below. Above the porch is a first-floor bowed oriel with a four-light mullioned and transomed convex window and a stone domed ogee roof. To the right of the porch are four-light mullioned windows with arched heads and returned labels, flanked by similar three-light windows. Three cross-windows light the first floor, above which rise three stepped-gabled dormers with two-light mullions.

The connecting subsidiary range has two three-light mullioned and transomed windows with arched heads to the right of the stair tower, with three similar three-light windows above contained within gabled dormers corbelled out slightly. A stepped-gabled projecting cross-wing to the right has a single-storey canted bay window to the ground floor with a three-light mullioned and transomed central window flanked by single lights. Above is a further mullioned and transomed window with a pediment. Extruded in the corner between the subsidiary range and cross-wing is a single-storey lean-to porch with a crenellated parapet and an ogee-headed entrance with moulded jambs. A stepped lateral chimney and adjoining single-storey porch are set to the north return of the cross-wing.

The south, or garden, front has the lower subsidiary range set back to the left of the main block, with a projecting end chimney to its left gable. The window arrangement is irregular, with three three-light and one two-light mullioned windows to the ground floor, and a further four-light mullioned and transomed window to the far right. A plain stringcourse divides the storeys, stepping up to the right section. An arched entrance with moulded jambs and an elliptical window above is positioned at the angle with the advanced main block. Two paired cross-windows light the first floor, the right-hand one surmounted by a stepped gable. A similar gable to the right contains paired two-light mullioned windows, with a smaller gable beyond containing a single two-light window.

The main block features two storied canted bays with surmounting stepped gables, the left slightly larger than the right. The left bay has a five-light arched-headed mullioned and transomed window with single-light returns to the ground floor, with a dentilated and moulded stringcourse above. A plain five-light mullioned and transomed window lights the first floor of this bay, with a plain four-light mullioned window to the third gabled storey. The right bay has a three-light mullioned window with two-light returns to ground and first floors and arched heads to all lights. A two-light mullioned window is set in the gable, above a plain stone plaque that was never ornamented. Between the bays the first floor is corbelled out, with further mullioned and transomed windows to the first floor and arched single-light windows to the ground floor. A gabled dormer to the attic contains a modern window.

An angled turret with a tall pyramidal roof stands at the southeast corner, topped with a lead ball finial and wrought iron weathervane, with feathered eaves. A storied flat-roofed bay occupies the centre of the east side, finished with a crenellated parapet. It features wide-arched multi-cusped heads to two-light double-transomed windows with decorative lead glazing. A plain veranda with a half-hipped roof, carried on simple cast iron columns, encloses part of a service court to the west along the south side of the northwest cross range. Windows throughout the court are two-, three- and six-light mullioned or mullioned and transomed as elsewhere.

Internally, the entrance hall features a counter-changed floor of sandstone and polished black slate slabs. Three-quarter height small-field panelling of re-used 17th-century material from Plas Caerhun lines the walls. Twin-arched openings to the left lead to the stairwell, supported by Tuscan columns carrying round arches. A narrow oak well stair with Jacobean-style geometric finials and strapwork decoration adorns the newel posts, which also feature barley-twist balusters and dado panelling. A segmental opening with panelled doors gives access to the panelled hall to the right. A large Tudor-arched niche contains a Plas Mawr type fireplace with simple fluted pilaster decoration to its overmantle and a moulded mantelpiece. The beamed ceiling features ovolo moulding to the main beams and stopped chamfered detail, with re-used 17th-century panelling throughout. At the far, service end, a carved foliate board above the doors bears a late 19th-century inscription reading 'fear God and honour the King'.

The drawing room and dining room open off the main hall. The drawing room has painted dado panelling. The dining room features a panelled fireplace niche with a Jacobean-style fireplace, its baluster-columns supporting a mantelpiece with a geometric overmantel.

A cantilevered stone circular service stair is contained within the octagonal tower, with a swept oak rail and ball-finial to the bottom newel. Re-used 16th and 17th-century chamfered ceiling beams are found in the room off the kitchen. The kitchen has a high ceiling with contemporary glazed ceramic dado tiles and range alcoves.