Fforest

Fforest is a tall, two-and-a-half-storey double-pile house, dating from the 18th century and built of rubble stone with steep slate roofs. The front range features gable stacks, while the wider rear range has a gable stack to the left and an end stone stack to the right. The front entrance retains its original stone segmental head, now with a replaced boarded door and an 18th-century overlight. Above the doorway is a stone tablet bearing a raised lozenge displaying the quartered arms of the Rudd and Lloyd families, the date 1724, and a legend in raised letters stating that the house was built by the Hon’d The Lady Rudd and by the directions of Richard Gwynne Esq. The doorway is flanked by more recently inserted small-pane horned sash windows, creating a five-window front, replacing original segmental-headed sashes that originally formed a three-bay front.

The left gable end of the front range has a pivoting attic window to the right of the stack, with a corresponding window on the right gable end. The rear range features a small 17th-century attic window in a dressed stone surround to the right of centre. A newer panelled door with brick dressings is situated lower to the right, where the outline of a former lean-to (shown in an 1889 Ordnance Survey map) is visible.

The rear elevation mainly exhibits wood mullioned windows. A tall two-light stair window, centrally located, contains three transoms, with a pivoting window beneath a brick segmental head. To its right is a boarded door, which served as the kitchen in the 18th century, under a stone segmental head; further right is a four-pane horned sash under a roughly constructed stone segmental head. A wooden cross window is positioned upper right. To the left of centre are French doors under a high overlight and brick segmental head, with an inserted window incorporating a top-hung casement, under a slate lintel. A wide wooden cross window is located to the left of centre in the upper storey.

Internal partitions have been removed, resulting in single rooms in each range. The rear range contains a full-height dog-leg staircase, retaining original square newels, handrail, and some treads, although much of it has been renewed. A segmental-headed kitchen fireplace with voussoirs is on the left side of the rear range. Above this fireplace is a blocked 17th-century two-light stone-mullioned window with arched heads and sunk spandrels, set into the dividing wall. A wooden Tudor-headed doorway, potentially leading to an original garderobe, is in the rear wall. Both ranges possess lapped collar-beam roofs.