Tal-y-coed Court

Tal-y-coed Court

A substantial late 19th-century mansion of brick with ashlar dressings and moulded brick plinth, built in 1882. The building features a steeply pitched hipped slate roof with tall brick chimneystacks—one central and end-stacks to north and south—each with recessed panels topped by ogee heads and moulded brick caps.

The symmetrical western front presents five bays across two storeys with an attic and basement. The attic contains three tall pedimented dormers, each with 4+4 pane windows above the transom and 6+6 pane windows below, with 4 panes in each cheek. Heavily moulded eaves overhang the facade. A continuous sill band runs at first-floor level with ogee aprons below the sills. Window-heads are formed of segmental brick arches with stone hoodmoulds and fluted keystones.

On the first floor, a large central tri-partite window has a flat head. The middle window contains a 12-pane lower sash with an arched upper sash, flanked on each side by narrow 5-pane marginal sashes. On either side of this central feature are two 12-pane horned sashes. The ground floor rises to a central entrance doorway via stone steps. Above the lugged stone architrave sits a stone panel carved with foliated ornament and a shield bearing the date 1882 (the letters "JB" are now eroded). A segmental pediment supported on consoles crowns the panel, with a 5-panel oak door below. Flanking the entrance are an 8-pane sash and two 12-pane horned sashes on each side.

To the left of the main house stands a set-back former library wing of two storeys with a hipped slate roof at a lower level and a tall off-centre ridge stack capped with moulded brick. The first floor features five 12-pane sash windows with segmental brick arches. The ground floor has a central entrance doorway with a 20th-century gabled brick porch and an oak door with geometrical panels and a 3-pane overlight. On each side of this doorway are an 8-pane and two 12-pane sashes. Below the left window is a foundation stone laid in 1893 by John Harford Bradney.

The side elevation of the main house displays a 7-bay lean-to verandah with a corrugated metal roof. Slender wooden columns support glazed panels decorated with tracery in the Aesthetic Movement style. Above the verandah, the first floor shows a small central 20th-century 4-pane window flanked by projecting stacks with scrolled ashlar offsets and 12-pane sashes at far left and far right. The asymmetrical garden front employs similar architectural detailing and features a deep segmental bay window with a wooden balustrade, brick plinth, and ashlar dressings. Above each of the five 12-pane sashes in this bay are carved panels featuring masks and scrolled decoration.

The interior contains fine and well-preserved 19th-century woodwork. The front door opens directly into the entrance hall, with a former office and smoking room to the right. The hall features a moulded wooden ceiling cornice and oak panelling extending from floor to ceiling. Bolection moulded fireplace surrounds are present, with the hall fireplace carrying the Bradney crest. Shuttered windows have reveals lined with original hand-block printed Morris wallpaper. All 5-panel doors feature fielded panels and architraves with square angle-blocks and roundels. A doorway from the entrance hall opens into a broad stair-hall to the rear, with the drawing room opening to the right. The wide quarter-turn stair has a closed string, square newels with lattice-decorated panels, turned bulbous balusters, and a moulded handrail. The drawing room is appointed with a moulded plaster ceiling cornice, a segmental bay window, and vertically sliding shutters concealed under hinged wooden sills.