No 10 Llannerch Hall

Llannerch Hall

A large country house of irregular plan, mainly of three storeys plus basement, dating primarily from the 18th century with later additions. The building is constructed of stuccoed limestone and red brick on a chamfered plinth with fine sandstone dressings, and is roofed in slate with lead flashings on shallow-pitched hipped roofs. Tall 19th-century brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and dentilated tops punctuate the roofline.

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, near-flush with the flanking bays and topped by a decorative balustrade. A central Tuscan portico features a moulded round-arched entrance with projecting key and imposts. Flanking columns and pilasters frame 6 moulded steps leading to 4-panel double doors with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels, with a moulded entablature and cornice returned onto narrow flanking sections. These sections have plain 19th-century sashes with projecting stone sills. The flanking bays display tripartite sash windows on the ground and first floors; those on the first floor have consoles and pediments, whilst those on the ground floor have moulded labels, with plain sill-corbelling throughout. Four-pane French windows to the first-floor central section are simply moulded, with similar second-floor windows featuring volutes to their sides. A fine moulded and dentilated cornice dating from the 1770s crowns the front, together with 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 with architraves and continuous cornice. The main section is 4 bays deep with return walls of the frontal bays, and a similar single-bay section to the right, respectively recessed and advanced on either side of a 2-bay main section. Basement access features plain railings, a segmentally-arched entrance and window to the right with a part-glazed door. Adjoining to the right and advanced again is a 2-storey L-shaped addition with matching cornice. The ground floor of the main section has a plain tripartite window, whilst the recessed single-bay section to the right has paired sashes.

The rear of the main block displays random limestone rubble walling of Jacobean date, with cornice and 18th-century windows as before. To the right is a tall 4-storey plus basement wing of red brick, an 18th-century addition with a modern flat felted roof to the upper storey. 12-pane windows with fine brick voussoirs appear near-flush on the first and second floors. Blocked windows on the left (north-east) side indicate former openings. A small light well between this projection and the main block contains 19th-century and modern single-storey additions.

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. The roof has a parapet with a 19th-century pyramidally-roofed wooden bellcote and tin louvre, together with two staged 19th-century brick chimneys. The front elevation displays 18th-century segmentally-arched windows on both floors with plain projecting sandstone architraves, their sills, heads and centres quoined, 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 roof hipped to the left. It features a moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window copying the 1770s work; this window has been lowered and now functions as a modern glazed entrance, with a further modern window to the left. Four 9-pane sashes (modern replacements of 19th-century originals) to the south-west end have projecting sandstone lacing, with a 2-stage brick and sandstone chimney. The long south-west side of this range is 5 bays with windows as before to the first 3 bays. The two rightmost bays are occupied by a storeyed modern addition, with a similar flat-roofed brick addition to the ground floor of the leftmost bay and a basement addition to the right. Adjoining this 18th-century range to the rear (north-west) is an early 19th-century 2-storey red brick addition with 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 the original first-floor openings and projecting sills; modern windows and door appear to the ground floor. An early 20th-century hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the left. A continuous mid-19th-century open slated pentice adjoins to the front, 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.

Interior

The entrance hall features an 18th-century (or possibly earlier) decorative floor of conjoined limestone flags with inset black marble squares. A dentilated plaster cornice crowns a compartmented ceiling with a classical frieze of triglyphs and rosettes, whilst a vertically-panelled dado lines the walls. A 19th-century tripartite wooden vestibule screen with tall 4-panel double doors features leaded upper panels and flanking classical pilasters, heavily-moulded cornices and facetted decoration to plinths.

A full-height cantilevered stone corkscrew service stair of 18th-century date is panelled throughout with doors and window reveals.

A fine staircase sequence dating from the 1770s ascends from ground to second floor at the end of the entrance hall. 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 feature scrolled and moulded tread-ends, with fine octagonal oak balusters displaying stopped-chamfered decoration. Elegant swept, moulded mahogany handrails end in spiral twists with columnar balusters. Large stair windows to each floor incorporate heraldic stained glass, those on the ground and first floors dated 1867. The ground and second-floor windows contain fine 17th-century enamelled quarries, together with some 18th-century enamelled heraldic panels.