Gileston Manor

Gileston Manor is a double-depth, two-storey and attic house, likely dating back to the early 16th century, with substantial rebuilding in the early 18th century and later alterations. The exterior is rough-cast with smooth render imitating ashlar on the front, limestone ashlar quoins, and cement window surrounds. The roof is hipped, covered in Welsh slate, and features a timber modillion eaves cornice. A hipped roof with three flat-topped dormers containing 2x2 pane casements is also present. Four square, rendered stacks have been heightened and are located on the end walls and ridges of the rear wings.

The south (main) elevation has five sash windows with thin glazing bars, arranged 6 over 6 panes, likely dating to 1812 and adapted from earlier mullion-and-transom casements. The central entrance features panelled double doors, an internal glazed double door, and a semi-circular hood supported on scrolled and foliated brackets, which may be 20th-century replacements but retain an early 18th-century character. Short screen walls flank the main elevation, terminating in piers topped with large vases, also 20th-century additions.

The west elevation is simpler, partially obscured by garden growth, with two sash windows on the ground floor, a late 20th-century conservatory, and three more sash windows above. A window on the north side of the upper floor has 8 over 8 panes, while the others are 6 over 6. The east elevation features a two-storey, single-bay extension, more sash windows, and another dormer, alongside a stack on the gable. The north side, overlooking the service court, shows various alterations with one and two-storey extensions to both wings. The gable end of the west wing contains the estate bell.

The entrance hall and staircase, visible during a recent survey, are floored with stone slabs and partitioned off from the rooms on either side. The doorways to these rooms appear to be 19th-century alterations. The staircase rises in straight flights and half landings to the attic, constructed from pine with a mahogany handrail, an open string with carved brackets, two cable twist balusters to each tread, and a curtail with four clustered balusters. Dado panelling with ovolo mouldings and terminal pilasters is carried up to the attic. The stair is unusually wide and uses space between pre-existing walls. The remainder of the interior’s details are documented in the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (RCAHMW) and has not been significantly altered since then, with particular mention of a vaulted cellar, 19th-century decorative changes, and further works from 1938. A moulded ceiling in the dining room and panelling in the upper rooms are also noted. Evidence of the earlier 16th-century house includes a winding stair in the northwest section, two arch-braced collar trusses suggesting a former first-floor hall in the west wing, while the rest of the roof is attributed to the 18th-century rebuilding and subsequent alterations.