Trefnant Hall

Trefnant Hall is an 18th-century country house, originally of local stone rubble with a slate roof. It probably comprised four window bays on either side of a central entrance. The visible portion of the house is two storeys high with five window bays, the main entrance now located in the extreme right (east) bay. This entrance is framed by an eared architraved surround, featuring a pulvinating frieze and a steep pediment, topped with a margin-glazed door. Above the entrance is a Venetian pattern window set within a fluted stone surround and keyed arch over the central 15-pane sash window. The remaining front windows are flush-framed 12-paned sashes, mostly renewed, set under voussoired flat arches of local stone; those of bays 2 and 3 originally extended to ground level. Above bays 3 and 4 is a jettied raised gable constructed of rendered timber framing on brackets, characterized by deeply protruding eaves and a small attic window. A low outbuilding, likely dating to the 19th century, is attached to the east gable.

A substantial two-storey wing at the rear was probably added shortly after the original house's construction, terminating in three gables facing north. Blind relieving arches of brick in the gables may represent later alterations, or could be decorative. A Venetian window, mirroring the one at the front, is placed at the rear of the east hall bay. A brick lean-to extends from a corner of the building.

The entrance hall, in the east bay, retains dado panelling and a plasterwork frieze with Doric triglyphs, guttae around three sides. It contains a remarkable early to mid-18th-century dog-leg staircase, featuring triple turned balusters to each tread and a wreathed handrail with a spiral finish. The treads are supported by carved foliage brackets and inlaid with a 'barber's pole' band of bog oak and contrasting holly, culminating in a central pagoda-like feature. The hall opens directly into the large, simply ceiled drawing room, which features three fielded and six-panelled doors and an axial fireplace. An enfilade door leads to the parlour, which retains two chamfered spine beams and a blocked, arch-headed doorcase that originally opened to a small secondary hall at the west end. The parlour includes a fine 18th-century chimneypiece with pilasters narrowing toward the base and a dentilled cornice, surmounting a remarkable mid-17th-century carved oak overmantel consisting of two arched panels with floral carvings and confronting grotesque beasts at the top. Opposite the overmantel, a round-headed double door opening with dentilled cornice once opened into the small western end hallway. The rear wing houses the kitchen, featuring a large fireplace with a service room and a secondary stair behind it. The kitchen doors are of two slightly fielded panels, likely from the early 18th century. The roof structure comprises four bays with heavy framed collar trusses, raking struts, straight windbraces to two tiers of purlins, and a surviving arched doorhead, seemingly from the 17th-century building. The rear wing’s roof is of similar construction, suggesting a contemporary date with the front roof.