Abergwydol

Abergwydol is a substantial dwelling combining a main range and cross-wing in a T-shaped plan, built of random stone beneath slate roofs with stone chimney stacks. The main range is one-and-a-half storeys, while the cross-wing rises to two storeys. Nineteenth-century alterations and improvements introduced timber-framing to parts of the upper storey, fretted barge boards to the gables, and iron windows with diamond glazing throughout.

The main range faces north and features a two-storey gabled porch positioned to the right of centre, which functions as the lobby-entrance. The porch contains a boarded door beneath a four-centred arched timber head—probably an original feature—with a long timber lintel above. A two-light plain-glazed iron casement lights the upper chamber. The gable is timber-framed with fretted barge boards, and small wooden lights appear to the right return of the porch and immediately to its left at a low level. Further left is a three-light iron-glazed window set beneath an attached timber hoodmould on brackets; the upper storey above it features nineteenth-century box-panelling and a two-light iron casement. To the right of the porch, the former parlour at the downhill end stands on a large boulder plinth and has a four-pane wooden window with timber lintel to the lower storey. The west gable end rests on a plinth and contains a twentieth-century wooden window to the gable.

The cross-wing forms a garden front facing east. It is a two-storey, asymmetrical two-window range with a central gabled single-storey porch featuring a four-centred arched head, likely from the nineteenth century. Inside this porch is a boarded door with small light and overlight. To the right of the porch stands a lateral stone stack in a narrow gabled projection with fretted barge boards, supporting a diagonally-set shaft. Another stone stack at the left end of the cross-wing supports a pair of diagonally-set shafts. The windows are iron casements with diamond glazing: a three-light to the left of the porch with wooden hoodmould, and two two-light casements to the upper storey, aligned above the lower window and porch. A gablet with fretted barge boards crowns the left window. To the right, beyond the lateral stack, the upper storey is box-panelled; this detailing returns to the north gable end of the cross-wing, which has diagonal braces to the gable and decorative barge boards. The lower storey of the north gable end displays a three-light transomed iron window with diamond glazing beneath a timber hoodmould, and the upper storey has a two-light plain-glazed iron window. A small two-light cellar window is visible at ground level. The south gable end of the cross-wing has a twentieth-century top-hung wooden window, offset to the left of the upper storey. A shallow outshut has been built against the main range, flush with the gable end of the cross-wing. Part of its upper wall has been rebuilt in shaley rubble. It contains a two-light wooden casement to the centre with concrete lintel, top-hung wooden lights to the right, and two more to the upper storey. Adjacent to the original west gable end of the main range is a boarded door.

The lobby-entrance leads into the hall, which contains a fine wooden coffered ceiling with deeply chamfered spine- and cross-beams with lambs-tongue stops. A large stone fireplace with chamfered timber lintel faces a post-and-panel partition with planked doors—two to the left and one to the right—which originally led to inner rooms. These inner rooms were later incorporated into the cross-wing, which now contains reception rooms and a straight staircase rising to the west, occupying the position of the former north inner room. At the top of the stairs, part of a box-panelled partition is visible above the post-and-panel screen. The ceiling levels in the cross-wing are higher than in the main range; the trusses were not visible. The former parlour at the west end, not inspected, is now used for storage, while the kitchen occupies the outshut to the south of the main range.