No 11 Llannerch Hall

No. 11 Llannerch Hall

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

The main south-east front displays a symmetrical 3-bay primary section with a recessed central entrance bay flanked by full-height square projecting bays. The central bay features an advanced single-storey classical tripartite entrance section with a decorative balustrade to its flat roof. A central Tuscan portico contains a moulded round-arched entrance with projecting key and imposts. Flanking columns and pilasters lead to 6 moulded steps and 4-panel double doors with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels. A moulded entablature and cornice return onto narrow flanking sections with plain 19th-century sashes and projecting stone sills. Tripartite sash windows light the flanking bays on ground and first floors; those to the first floor have consoles and pediments, while those to the ground floor have moulded labels with plain sill-corbelling 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) has 2 contemporary lead downpipes with simple decorative hoppers to the inner returns of the projecting bays.

The north-east garden front has plain unhorned sashes and architraves; a continuous cornice runs across. The main section is 4 bays deep with return walls to the frontal bays, with a similar single-bay section to the right, respectively recessed and advanced on either side of a 2-bay main section. Basement access has 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. A plain tripartite window lights the main ground-floor section and paired sashes light the recessed single-bay section at the right.

The rear elevation displays random limestone rubble walling to the main block (of Jacobean origin), with cornice and 18th-century windows as before. To the right stands a tall 4-storey plus basement wing of red brick, an 18th-century addition with the upper storey being modern and flat-roofed. 12-pane windows near-flush to the first and second floors have fine brick voussoirs, while windows to the left are blocked. A small light well separates this projection from the rear of the main block, with 19th-century and modern single-storey additions to the front.

Adjoining flush to the main block on the south-west side is a 2-storey 3-bay 18th-century range, stuccoed and roofed as before with dentilated and moulded cornice. A parapet to the roof 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; their sills, heads and centres are quoined with projecting keystones. Stepped-down and adjoining to the left is a single-storey mid-19th-century addition of uncoursed limestone ashlar with roof hipped to the left. Moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window as before, copying the 1770s work; this has been lowered to become 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 extends 5 bays with windows as before to the first 3; the two right-hand bays are occupied by a storeyed modern addition, with a similar flat-roofed brick addition to the ground floor of the left bay and a basement addition at the right.

Adjoining this 18th-century range to the rear 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 light the ground floor. An early 20th-century hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the left. Adjoining to 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 an 18th-century decorative floor of conjoined limestone flags with inset black marble squares. A dentilated plaster cornice rises to a compartmented ceiling with a classical frieze of triglyphs and rosettes; a vertically-panelled dado runs throughout. A 19th-century tripartite wooden vestibule screen has tall 4-panel double doors with leaded upper panels flanked by classical pilasters; heavily-moulded cornices and facetted decoration ornament the plinths. A full-height cantilevered stone corkscrew service stair (18th century) connects the levels, with panelled doors and door and window reveals throughout.

At the end of the entrance hall ascends a fine staircase sequence dating from the 1770s, reaching 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 have scrolled and moulded tread-ends with fine octagonal oak balusters bearing 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 are dated 1867. On the ground and second floors are windows containing fine 17th-century enamelled quarries, as well as some 18th-century enamelled heraldic panels.