No 8 Llannerch Hall

Large country house of irregular plan, mainly of three storeys plus basement. The building is constructed of stuccoed limestone and red brick on a chamfered plinth with fine sandstone dressings. The roofs are shallow-pitched and hipped with slate tiles and lead flashings. Tall 19th-century brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and dentilated tops are a notable feature throughout.

The main south-east front has a symmetrical 3-bay primary section. This comprises a recessed central entrance bay with flanking 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 with a decorative balustrade. A central Tuscan portico with moulded, round-arched entrance is the focal point, featuring a projecting key and imposts. Flanking columns and pilasters lead down six moulded steps to 4-panel double doors with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels. A moulded entablature and cornice return 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, with those on the first floor featuring consoles and pediments, while those on the ground floor have moulded labels. Plain sill-corbelling runs throughout. Four-pane French windows to the first-floor central section have simply-moulded entablatures; similar second-floor windows feature volutes to their sides. A fine moulded and dentilated cornice dating from the 1770s dominates the composition, accompanied by two contemporary lead downpipes with simple decorative hoppers to the inner returns of the projecting bays.

The north-east garden side displays plain, unhorned sashes with architraves consistent with the front. A continuous cornice runs across this elevation. The main section is four bays deep, with the return walls of the frontal bays and a similar single-bay section to the right being respectively recessed and advanced either side of a two-bay main section. Basement access is provided with plain railings; a segmentally-arched entrance and window to the right serve this level, with a part-glazed door. Adjoining to the right and advanced again is a two-storey L-shaped addition with cornice matching the main block. A plain tripartite window serves the main ground-floor section, with paired sashes to the recessed single-bay section at right.

The rear elevation reveals random limestone rubble walling of Jacobean date to the main block, with cornice and 18th-century windows consistent with the earlier description. To the right is a tall four-storey plus basement wing of red brick, an 18th-century addition, of which the upper storey is modern with a flat felted roof. This wing has 12-pane windows with near-flush reveals and fine brick voussoirs to the first and second floors. Blocked windows are visible to the left on the north-east side. A small light well separates this projection from the rear of the main block, with 19th-century and modern single-storey additions positioned in front.

Adjoining flush to the main block on the south-west side is a two-storey, three-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, accompanied by two staged 19th-century brick chimneys. The front elevation features 18th-century segmentally-arched windows on both floors with plain projecting sandstone architraves; their sills, heads and centres are quoined with 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 roof hipped to the left. This section has a moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window copying the 1770s work; the window has been lowered and now functions as a modern glazed entrance with an additional modern window to the left. Four 9-pane sashes, modern replacements of 19th-century originals, occupy the south-west end with projecting sandstone lacing. A two-stage brick and sandstone chimney serves this section. The long south-west side of this range comprises five bays with windows as previously described occupying the first three. The two right-hand bays accommodate a storeyed modern addition. A similar flat-roofed brick addition to the ground floor of the left bay is present, together with a basement addition at right.

Adjoining this 18th-century range to the rear (north-west) is an early 19th-century two-storey red brick addition with a wide canted, storeyed bay to the south-west. This bay has a hipped slate roof with lead ball finial and dentilated eaves, featuring 12-pane modern tilting sashes to the original first-floor openings with projecting sills; modern windows and door serve the ground floor. An early 20th-century hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the left. At 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 giving access to the rear.

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

At the end of the entrance hall ascends a fine 1770s staircase sequence extending 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, 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 on each floor incorporate heraldic stained glass, those on 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.