No 13 Llannerch Hall

No. 13 Llannerch Hall

Large country house of irregular plan, mainly of three storeys plus basement, constructed from stuccoed limestone and red brick on a chamfered plinth with fine sandstone dressings. Shallow-pitched, hipped slate roofs feature lead flashings, and tall 19th-century brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and dentilated tops.

The main south-east front has a symmetrical 3-bay primary section comprising a recessed central entrance bay flanked by full-height square projecting bays. The central bay contains an advanced single-storey classical tripartite entrance section with a decorative balustrade to its flat roof. A central Tuscan portico features a moulded, round-arched entrance with projecting key and imposts, flanked by columns and pilasters, and approached by 6 moulded steps leading to 4-panel double doors with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels. The entablature and cornice are returned onto narrow flanking sections with plain 19th-century sashes and projecting stone sills. Tripartite sash windows to the flanking bays on ground and first floors feature consoles and pediments on the first floor and moulded labels on the ground floor, with plain sill-corbelling throughout. Four-pane French windows to the first-floor central section carry simply-moulded entablatures; similar second-floor windows feature volutes to the sides. A fine moulded and dentilated cornice dating from the 1770s is accompanied by 2 contemporary lead downpipes with simple decorative hoppers to the inner returns of the projecting bays.

The north-east garden side has plain, unhorned sashes with architraves and a 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 either side of a 2-bay main section. Basement access features plain railings, a segmentally-arched entrance and window to the right, and a part-glazed door. Adjoining to the right and advanced again is a 2-storey L-shaped addition with cornice as before, containing a plain tripartite window to the main ground-floor section and paired sashes to a recessed single-bay section at the right. The rear displays random limestone rubble walling to the main block (Jacobean in character), 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 its upper storey. 12-pane windows near-flush to the first and second floors feature fine brick voussoirs, with blocked windows to the left (north-east). A small light well between this projection and the rear of the main block contains 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. The roof parapet carries a 19th-century pyramidally-roofed wooden bellcote and tin louvre, with 2 staged 19th-century brick chimneys. 18th-century segmentally-arched windows face the front on both floors with plain projecting sandstone architraves featuring 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 left-hipped roof. It carries a moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window as before (copying the 1770s work); this has been lowered and now serves 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 feature projecting sandstone lacing and a 2-stage brick and sandstone chimney. The long south-west side of this range comprises 5 bays with windows as before to the first 3. The two right-hand bays are occupied by a storeyed modern addition; a similar flat-roofed brick addition fronts the ground floor of the left bay, together with 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 with a wide canted, storeyed bay to the south-west, featuring a hipped slate roof with lead ball finial and dentilated eaves. 12-pane modern tilting sashes to the original first-floor openings carry projecting sills; the ground floor contains modern windows and door. An early 20th-century hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the left. Fronting all 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, continuing to the left to include a segmental carriage arch providing access to the rear.

Interior

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

At the end of the entrance hall, a fine 1770s staircase sequence ascends from ground to 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, comprises a large sweeping well stair with corkscrew flight. Oak treads and risers feature scrolled and moulded tread-ends and fine octagonal oak balusters with 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 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.