Rhydonen

Rhydonen is a two-story former gentry house of a U-plan, dating to approximately 1700, with later alterations. The primary construction is timber-framed, incorporating limestone rubble and brick infilling. It is covered by a slate roof. The house is arranged with a central hall section recessed between two advanced, gabled wings. The wing to the right is the original and features modern replacement brick on the ground floor and decorative timber framing above. It has deep verges and modern bargeboards. The wing to the left is a modern copy of the original. The recessed central block exhibits a mix of early and modern brick, with the vertical timber studs visible on the upper floor. A central rendered stack fronts the house, leading to an entrance lobby; the plan is of a lobby-entry type. A C19 boarded door, within a large, gabled, modern open porch with a pitched, slated roof and decorative bargeboards, provides access. Flanking windows are present on both floors, with first-floor windows set within similar gabled dormers. All windows have been replaced with modern uPVC tilting or opening casements. The original cross-wing features a large lateral stone chimney with a coped and kneelered gable and a tall stack with brick capping in oversailing courses. Modern windows are on the rear elevation, along with two modern slated stone lean-to additions.

Inside, the house follows a lobby-entry plan with stopped-chamfered hall ceiling beams and a wide, gently-curved, stopped-chamfered fireplace bressummer. A timber-framed partition in the parlour (cross-wing) includes a blocked primary Tudor-arched doorway with wattle and daub infill. A C1700 oak two-panel door with a pegged, moulded doorcase leads off from the hall to the rear. A contemporary moulded doorcase in the centre of the partition gives access to a small lobby with three repositioned two-panel doors, also dating to approximately 1700. One door leads to a 20th-century staircase, and the other to a late Stuart parlour. The parlour boasts large-field oak panelling on three of its four walls, along with a moulded cornice and a bolection-moulded architrave to the door, and retains its original oak floor. The plastered ceiling has been recently removed, revealing original late 16th/early 17th century stopped-chamfered ceiling beams. A wide fireplace with a cambered and stopped-chamfered bressummer is also present. A further chamber, accessed through the central lobby, has a plain joisted ceiling with a wide, stopped-chamfered main beam and relocated small-field early 17th century panelling forming a dado decoration on two walls, one section showcasing arcading that was originally part of a frieze.