Derwydd Mansion

Derwydd Mansion

A large irregular house of two levels rendered overall and roofed in stone tiles with decorative red ceramic ridge tiles and red brick chimneys. The building sits on a sloping site, with a high retaining wall of rubble masonry marking the change of level between the lower (older) and upper (Victorian) parts. This arrangement gives the house an overall T-shaped plan.

The lower, older part has its main range oriented north-south, now facing west. A left forward crosswing abuts the retaining wall. The present entrance to this older section is positioned to the right of the west elevation, close to the south gable, though a historic picture shows a former entrance near the crosswing. A former internal doorway in the south gable has been converted to a window. The west-facing elevation displays paired windows on the ground floor of the main range (missing label moulds), and two windows above with label moulds, each containing timber mullion and transom work. The advanced wing shows similar fenestration. The main entrance door features stained glass lettering reading "Gulston Anderson 1887".

To the rear (east) of this range, the fenestration is generally smaller and more irregularly disposed than in the upper part. All openings have Tudor-style label moulds. The rear elevation includes three mullion and transom windows and eight smaller windows with or without mullions, alongside two openings that survived restoration: a four-centred door arch at the left and a three-light window with stone mullions and four-centred lights to the right.

The Victorian part extends above the retaining wall as an east-west double range, appearing as a single gabled end beside an octagonal block at the east and a double hipped end at the west. A central north-facing gabled crosswing projects from this section. The north and east gables feature decorative timbering in the form of bracketed collars and V struts with quatrefoil and trefoil piercings in the panels. Both gables are framed by boldly projecting two-storey bay windows with their own hipped bay roofs. Small gablets mark the positions of chimney stacks at the eaves. The windows of the octagonal section and bay projections are framed by oolitic limestone surrounds and feature mullion and transom work below with transoms only above.

Interior

The lower part of Derwydd contains exceptional interior features, notably three vigorous Jacobean fireplaces of West Country type.

The hall is accessed directly without a porch. A double arch to the left screens stairs and service rooms. The hall is dominated by a large chimney positioned centrally on the east side, with a large window recess to the left and a former door lobby to the right, entered through a stone door arch. Exposed transverse beams cross the ceiling with a moulded cove to the ceiling panels between them. The large fireplace features a segmental stone bressummer and a fine overmantel dated 1644. This displays the Vaughan arms within an oval cartouche with scrolling edges, a seraph at the top with crossed wings and another below with spread wings. Female griffons serve as supporters on each side, their lower parts rendered as foliage. Pilasters flank the composition as terms bearing fruit in their hair, with an enriched cornice above.

The library occupies the original north wing and features a coffered plaster ceiling in four square panels with copious floral enrichment. Guilloche ornament decorates the beam soffits, and the cornice displays egg and dart with an enriched cyma profile. Lozenge dividers separate the panels, each containing a central roundel and ornamental features. This room is dominated by a fine Jacobean fireplace with a dark wood surround and overmantel (partly restored). The bressummer sits on volute-capped pilasters and is ornamented with eight circles arranged in a chain with smaller circles between, and a chamfer with run-out stops. A deep shelf with carved edge rises above. The two-stage overmantel contains a central picture in a circle between two arched-headed panels, with four lozenges in the upper stage.

Above the library lies the room known as the King's Room or Drawing Room, which features a late 17th-century ceiling and fireplace. The ceiling displays a deep frieze and cornice with cartouches and heraldry at intervals, linked by floral trails with small modillions beneath the cornice. The ceiling itself is plain except for a central roundel with sprigs of foliage radiating from a central pendant, and four additional features outside the roundel. The fireplace has a thin shelf on thin pilasters, above which is an oblong panel with a bayleaf oval. A frieze matching that of the ceiling is followed by a rounded pediment bearing central arms on a cartouche with swags held by putti above. Rustic figures stand to each side upon plinths within coves.

The larger bedroom at the south end of the older part is accessed through a Jacobean door with an arched-headed top panel above the lock rail and two panels below. The room is plain except for a coffered ceiling with moulded but unadorned beam sides and a fine Jacobean fireplace. The fireplace has a plain shelf on a plain bressummer flanked by two heads in relief, with plain fluted pilasters. Above the shelf stands a figure wearing tunic, sash and cross bands and carrying a sword, positioned within a plain niche. Ramped broken volutes with swags of foliage and fruit extend from the top volute eyes to left and right. Pilasters on each side feature inverted bay branches, topped by an enriched entablature with a pulvinated frieze.

Two late 17th-century doors with broad panels are located in the corridor connecting this bedroom to the King's Room. Exposed roof timbering remains visible in the older part of the house.

An important feature of the 1888 alterations is a Tudor-style staircase rising from the inner hall behind the arcade at the north of the main hall. At the head of the main flight, a quarter landing serves both a lesser flight leading to the upper hall on the first floor and a side flight to the corridor of the older part. A separate staircase of similar detailed design commences in the upper hall and rises in three flights with quarter landings to the upper storey of the newer part. Both staircases are constructed in dark hardwood with moulded handrails swept to meet newels, turned balusters, and carved newels with turned finials. The broad strings feature quatrefoil sinkings on their outer faces, and triple curtail steps lead the main flights. Integral with this design are panelling to staircase dadoes and cupboards in similar wood, arcading to the upper floor, and stone arcading in Perpendicular style forming a side lobby to the lower staircase.