No 12 Llannerch Hall

No. 12 Llannerch Hall

This is a large country house of irregular plan, predominantly three storeys with a basement. Built mainly of stuccoed limestone and red brick on a chamfered plinth with fine sandstone dressings, it has shallow-pitched hipped slate roofs with lead flashings. Tall 19th-century brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and dentilated tops are characteristic features.

The main south-east front displays a symmetrical 3-bay primary section. A recessed central entrance bay is flanked by full-height square projecting bays. The central bay contains an advanced single-storey classical tripartite entrance section, nearly flush with the flanking bays and topped with a decorative balustrade. A central Tuscan portico features a moulded round-arched entrance with projecting key and imposts. Flanking columns and pilasters lead to six moulded steps ascending to 4-panel double doors with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels. A moulded entablature and cornice return onto narrow flanking sections with plain 19th-century sashes with projecting stone sills. Tripartite sash windows light the flanking bays on the ground and first floors; those to the first floor have consoles and pediments, while those to the ground floor have moulded labels. Plain sill-corbelling extends throughout. Four-pane French windows on the first-floor central section feature simply-moulded entablatures; similar second-floor windows have volutes to the sides. A fine moulded and dentilated cornice, dating from the 1770s, is accompanied by two contemporary lead downpipes with simple decorative hoppers to the inner returns of the projecting bays.

The north-east garden front has plain unhorned sashes and architraves as before with a continuous cornice. The main section is four bays deep with the return walls of the frontal bays and a similar single-bay section to the right, respectively recessed and advanced either side of a 2-bay main section. Basement access features plain railings, with a segmentally-arched entrance and window to the right and a part-glazed door. An adjoining L-shaped 2-storey addition to the right is advanced further, maintaining the cornice. It has a plain tripartite window to its main ground-floor section and paired sashes to a recessed single-bay section at the right. The rear elevation displays random limestone rubble walling visible to the main block, dating from the Jacobean period, with cornice and 18th-century windows as before. To the right stands a tall four-storey plus basement wing of red brick, an 18th-century addition; the upper storey is modern with a flat felted roof. Twelve-pane windows, nearly flush, light the first and second floors with fine brick voussoirs. Blocked windows appear to the left (north-east). A small light well lies between this projection and the rear of the main block, with 19th-century and modern single-storey additions in front.

Adjoining flush to the main block on the left (south-west) side is a 2-storey, 3-bay 18th-century range, stuccoed and roofed as before, with dentilated and moulded cornice. A parapet to the roof incorporates a 19th-century pyramidally-roofed wooden bellcote and tin louvre, with two staged 19th-century brick chimneys. 18th-century segmentally-arched windows face the front on both floors, featuring plain projecting sandstone architraves with quoined sills, heads and centres and projecting keystones. Stepped down and adjoining to the left (south-west) is a single-storey mid-19th-century addition of uncoursed limestone ashlar with a hipped roof to the left. It has a moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window as before, copying the 1770s work. The window has been lowered and is now a modern glazed entrance with a further modern window to the left. Four 9-pane sashes, modern replacements of 19th-century originals, stand at the south-west end with projecting sandstone lacing; a 2-stage brick and sandstone chimney is present. The long south-west side of this range comprises five bays with windows as before to the first three. The two right-hand bays are occupied by a storeyed modern addition, with a similar flat-roofed brick addition to the ground floor of the left bay and a basement addition at the right. Adjoining this 18th-century range to the rear (north-west) is an early 19th-century 2-storey red brick addition featuring a wide canted storeyed bay to the south-west. This has a hipped slate roof with lead ball finial and dentilated eaves, with 12-pane modern tilting sashes to original first-floor openings, with projecting sills; modern windows and door light the ground floor. An early 20th-century hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the left. Adjoining to the front is a continuous mid-19th-century open slated pentice forming a single-storey covered way supported on cast iron columns set on low brick walls with sandstone copings. This continues to the left to include a segmental carriage arch providing access to the rear.

The entrance hall features an 18th-century decorative floor of conjoined limestone flags with inset black marble squares. A dentilated plaster cornice runs around a compartmented ceiling with a classical frieze of triglyphs and rosettes. Vertically-panelled dado panelling lines the walls. A 19th-century tripartite wooden vestibule screen with tall 4-panel double doors features leaded upper panels and flanking classical pilasters, with heavily-moulded cornices and facetted decoration to the plinths. A full-height cantilevered stone corkscrew service stair of 18th-century date provides secondary circulation, with panelled doors and door and window reveals throughout.

At the end of the entrance hall, a fine 1770s staircase sequence ascends from the ground to the second floor. The first section, from ground to first floor, was originally a narrow well stair with quarterpaces and a first-floor galleried landing; the well was infilled in the 19th century to form a service passage. The second stage, from first to second storey, is a large sweeping well stair with corkscrew flight. Oak treads and risers have scrolled and moulded tread-ends and fine octagonal oak balusters with stopped-chamfered decoration. Elegant swept and moulded mahogany handrails end in spiral twists with columnar balusters. Large stair windows on each floor incorporate heraldic stained glass, those to the ground and first floors dated 1867. The ground and second floors contain windows incorporating fine 17th-century enamelled quarries as well as some 18th-century enamelled heraldic panels.