Bachymbyd Fawr

Bachymbyd Fawr is an elegant gentry house of two storeys plus a dormer storey in the attic, constructed in 1666. It comprises a seven-bay main section with an advanced two-bay wing to the right; the corresponding left wing has either been lost or was never executed.

The building is constructed of brown brick on a moulded stone plinth with buff-coloured sandstone dressings. The principal floors feature ovolo-moulded leaded cross windows, with dressed quoins at the corners, a moulded eaves cornice, and a string-course. The slated roof has oversailing eaves and five large hipped-roofed dormers, four to the main section and one to the wing. Three large sandstone chimneys are present, one lateral and the others with grouped stacks; the upper sections of these have been renewed.

The main section presents a symmetrical front elevation. The brickwork above the porch has been disturbed, and the arrangement of the central bay dates to the 20th century. The entrance comprises a boarded doorway with a hipped wooden porch on a brick base. Above this sits a date stone of 1666 with accompanying strapwork decoration and heraldic carving displaying the Salesbury arms.

The rear elevation shows a large gabled stair projection with an asymmetrical window arrangement featuring mostly two, three and four-light mullioned and transomed windows. The southeast return of the stair projection includes a Tudor-arched cellar entrance. Between the main block and the surviving cross-wing is an extruded one-and-a-half-storey lean-to addition with rendered walls and two modern windows, adjoined by a further single-storey modern lean-to of unrendered rubble. A further single-storey modern pitched-roofed addition adjoins to the northwest.

The northwest gable end is a modern rebuilding that terminates the main block where it would have adjoined the former or projected left wing. This is executed in brick with sandstone dressings, copying the style of the original work, and features cross-windows to the upper floors and a large projecting bay to the ground floor with an eight-light mullioned and transomed window.

The entrance hall is fitted with late 19th-century oak linenfold panelling, apparently brought in during the early 20th century. Three entrances lead off this hall, each with highly-carved doorcases assembled from imported carvings. The doorcase to the present hall on the right incorporates an oak shield with the Salesbury family arms carved in relief together with the date 1666. Behind the entrance hall is the staircase, featuring an original heavily-moulded oak opening with a smaller doorcase to the left giving access to the cellar, which retains its original two-panel door. A broad dog-leg stair rises the full height to the attic floor. While the basic structure is original, the balusters and handrail are simplified replacements.

To the left of the entrance hall is the present drawing room, which has three-quarter height oak panelling that, whilst apparently re-set and to some degree supplemented with later panelling, is likely original to the house. The panelling is of small-field type with two tiers of arcade carving to the frieze. A 20th-century Tudor-style lateral stone fireplace and a parquet floor are present.

The room to the right of the entrance hall has plain 20th-century panelling. Leading from this is a small room retaining primary in situ small-field panelling. A mezzanine service area to the right of the staircase contains two further original two-panel moulded and fielded doors together with a contemporary panelled cupboard door.