Cwrt Herbert

Cwrt Herbert and Herbert's Lodge

An asymmetrical 2-storey house of snecked rock-faced limestone under slate roofs with polychrome brick stacks. Built around an original mid-19th-century house of roughly square plan, it was substantially remodelled in 1885. This remodelling added a higher gabled east wing, creating an L-shaped plan, and introduced an entrance bay on the north side positioned in the angle between the original house and the new wing. The entrance front faces north and the garden front faces south. Windows throughout are sashes with margin glazing, set under slightly cambered heads with stone sills.

The north entrance front features a flat-roofed 3-window bay with timber-framing to the upper storey. The doorway sits in the chamfered north-east angle with double panelled doors under an overlight. To the right, in the east wall of the original house, is a single sash window to each storey. The north wall of the original house has 3 windows, with a late 20th-century half-lit door offset to the right, and a single steep-pitched roof dormer with 2-light casement. The north wall of the east wing displays a mock corbelled first-floor stack.

The east gable end of the east wing contains a polygonal conservatory (replaced after bombing in 1941), above which the wall is rendered above a moulded corbel table, with a single window. The gable is timber-framed on another corbel table, and the eaves project on moulded brackets.

The south garden front, dating from 1885, is dominated by a large polygonal bay to the left incorporating French doors with windows to each face, rendered to the upper storey in place of timber-framing. To the right are two further pairs of French doors leading to a veranda supported on wooden columns with glazing above, beneath a slate roof that continues around the east gable end to the conservatory. To the right of the polygonal bay, the upper storey has a plain sash and a large oriel window. A bay of the earlier house survives to the left of the polygonal bay, beyond which a long 3-window west wing was added in 1928, rendered under a hipped slate roof with late 20th-century fenestration and a polygonal west end with sash windows. To the north, this wing joins the south-west angle of the original house, which contains a flat-roofed 1- and 2-storey entrance bay with wide double panelled doors flanked by small windows.

The west side of the original house is not refaced in snecked stone; detailing is 20th-century, including a 2-storey staircase projection to the left. Two original attic dormers with 2-light casement windows are retained.

The interior reflects distinctive Chinese influences. Access through the house is staggered, following Chinese custom, and many interior fittings are of Chinese design or materials. Coloured glazing to doors and windows depicts waterside scenes with swallows or swifts, predominantly in yellow. Panelled doors and false window shutters bear carved bands with different flowers or leaves. The entrance porch has a floor of pink and grey Chinese stone, with double half-lit doors leading right into the hall. A cloakroom to the rear retains original fittings and coloured glass. The hall floor contains encaustic tiles by Carter Edwards of Ruabon. A dog-leg staircase to the rear of the hall features Chinese fret balusters and leads to a 3-sided gallery with matching balusters projecting on brackets with pendant finials.

Two reception rooms occupy the front of the house. The drawing room to the east has a recessed archway to the south and boarded ceiling. Two pairs of French doors open onto the veranda, bearing the waterside design with birds. The veranda has Carter Edwards floor tiles. A pale marble fireplace in the north wall features a shouldered head and triple shafts to the jambs, the inner order in dark grey marble. The second reception room, which belonged to the mid-19th-century house, has a polygonal bay with window seats. A projecting fireplace in the west wall has angled panels to the sides and below the mantelpiece, bearing foliage motifs including the Welsh daffodil. Moulded coving and dado rail are present. The west wall now forms the dividing wall with Herbert's Lodge. The kitchen, modernised, was formerly the pantry and wine cellar. On the first floor to the north is a former dry food store, reached by servants' stairs to the west. Half-lit double doors with coloured glazing prevented servants from entering the main house. On the east side of the gallery is a small room formed by screens, originally for the Chinese man-servant of Frank Morgan. The screens consist of half-lit round-headed panels containing Chinese paper hangings depicting scenes of old age and good fortune. The main bedroom to the south-east has an interconnecting dressing room, with a further bedroom to the south. Cast-iron fireplaces include Rococo-style examples from the 1850s.