Cefndyrys

Cefndyrys is a Georgian country house of two storeys with attic and basement, constructed from coursed freestone with a continuous plat band. The roof is hipped, covered with graded stone tiles on projecting boarded eaves, and has coursed stone and roughcast chimney stacks.

The front elevation comprises five bays with a wider central gabled bay brought forward. The entrance is accessed via a 19th-century Tuscan portico, which has a half-glazed door flanked by similar panels and topped with a radial glazed overlight. The lower storey features 2-pane margin-lit sash windows, while the upper storey has 12-pane hornless sashes. In the central bay, the upper-storey window is flanked by round-headed, round-backed niches, and above these is a lunette set within the gable. Set back on the right side is a lower additional bay of matching materials, containing a 2-pane margin-lit sash window in the lower storey and a 12-pane horned sash window set in a flat-roofed half dormer.

The three-bay west side features a panelled door to the left of centre beneath a small-pane overlight, with a blind window to its left, a segmental-headed 2-light central window, and a 12-pane hornless sash window to its right. The upper storey contains a central round-headed small-pane hornless sash lighting the service stair, a 12-pane hornless sash to the left, and a 12-pane fixed window to the right. The attic features flat-roofed dormers comprising a central pivoting small-pane window lighting the stair, flanked by 6-pane sashes.

The five-bay rear elevation is dominated by a central full-height bow containing three 12-pane hornless sash windows in each storey, flanked by similar windows in the outer bays. In front of the basement steps leading to a central half-glazed door are iron railings, with a small casement window to the right and a replaced window to the left. Iron railings also front a light well serving two 12-pane hornless sash windows lighting the basement kitchen.

Set back at the left end is an early 20th-century extension featuring half-glazed doors under a round-headed overlight, with a 12-pane horned sash window to the left and a similar dormer. The extension's three-window side wall has margin-lit 2-pane sashes in the lower storey and 12-pane horned sashes in half dormers. The east wall of the original house contains three roof dormers with 6-pane sashes, similar to those on the west side.

Internally, the house has a double-depth plan with central axial corridors on each storey. From the entrance hall, a Serliana with marble-painted Ionic columns and elliptical arch leads to the corridor. Similar elliptical arches within the corridor access the main rooms and, on the right side, the stair. The open-well stair features a wreathed hand rail, plain balusters (three per tread, with the central one lobed and pierced with three circles), some balusters of iron rather than wood, and moulded tread ends. When the house was extended in the early 20th century, an additional flight was added to the extension in similar style.

The drawing room to the right of the entrance contains a neo-classical fireplace with a panelled overmantel, the central roundel of which depicts Venus and Cupid. The library to the left of the entrance has a panelled wooden ceiling with moulded ribs and bosses, and a polished stone fireplace. The dining room at the rear features panelled wainscot and a polished stone fireplace. Rooms in the lower storey retain original panelled doors and shutters.

At the west end of the lower storey are service rooms. The corridor leads to a full-height open-well service stair with turned newels, plain balusters, and moulded tread ends. Attic rooms have plain panelled doors. A straight stair descends from the service end to the basement, where the kitchen contains a stone camber-headed fireplace. Beyond it are a dairy with a flagged floor, a larder retaining wire meshes to the window, and a stone-vaulted wine cellar.