Brynkinallt Hall

Brynkinallt Hall

The early house is built of brick in English garden-wall bond with sandstone quoins, some repaired with rendering, and slate roofs. It has two principal floors with a second floor above, arranged in an 'E'-plan facing south. The composition features a central porch with recessed bays either side and forward wings. The Gothic pointed arch doorway is studded oak with a crest over, set below a label mould that rises to a string extending between floors completely around the front elevation. The porch and wings have shaped gables; the recessed bays have straight coped gables. Stone finials crown the composition.

The windows are ogee-moulded behind a chamfered surround, mullioned and transomed. The porch chamber has five-light windows, the ground floor of the wings has four-light windows, with three-light above and three-light without transoms to the attics. Lead downpipes with the Trevor crest are mounted on the hoppers. The return ends of the 1612 house are of two bays, the second bay similarly gabled.

On the west side, a single-storey three-bay extension dates to around 1808, further extended two bays for the kitchen. A similar balancing wing on the east contains three bays for a drawing room with longer windows, and two further bays containing a conservatory. Both wings have a shaped gable over the centre bay. The windows are twelve-paned sashes with three-centred stone heads and chamfered plinth. Both wings terminate in a three-sided bay with hipped roof; the south has a shaped gable and the ground floor extends as a terraced balcony.

The rear elevation has five window bays at each end with shaped gables and a narrower central bay, also gabled. A three-storey canted bay window with arched stone lights to the principal floor stands under a painted brick arch. Timber windows with labels light the second floor. Extruded corner towers with smaller gables rise above. External stairs on an arcaded base placed either side, with crenellated parapets, provide access to the main floor. A stone panel records that "the N and W fronts, with the hall and staircase, were erected from the sole design of Charlotte Viscountess Dungannon, 1808, whose genius planned, and whose taste embellished, the surrounding grounds and park." The recessed bay on the right contains a large stained-glass window lighting the great stair hall.

On the east side, where early 19th-century rendering has not been removed, a tall circular tower of five stages ends in a crenellated top, set behind a canted bay. Further to the rear is a recessed section with an indented centre, trefoil and pinnacle over, and a further canted bay.

From the entrance porch, the doorway opens into the east end of a reception hall and sitting area extending west and opening at the far end into the formal dining room, previously the billiard room. This has an arcade of double fluted columns with entablature across each end. The north wing of the early house opens off as a smaller panelled parlour. To the east, a room with the library opening off in the early south wing leads to a drawing room in the added east wing with a plaster Adamesque ceiling by Jackson & Sons of 1973. To the rear, the great stair hall of 1808 occupies the former yard between the rear service wings. It has a gallery around the sides carried on Tuscan columns, reached by a grand axial stair at the far end with ornate iron balustrading. A central domed roof light illuminates the interior, which is largely in a heavy Classical style. One fine marble 17th-century chimneypiece features a heraldic overmantel with carvings, volutes and a segmental head. The glass over the main entrance screen was a gift of the Marquess Wellesley, cousin of Lord Dungannon and brother to the Duke of Wellington.