Cefn Tilla Court

Cefn Tilla Court

A country house built in Jacobean style, constructed primarily of purple sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. The building displays two storeys and an attic, with all roofs covered in red plain tile accented by broad bands of fish-scale tiles and crested ridge tiles. Coped shouldered gables with kneelers are characteristic throughout, whilst tall corniced chimneys—all raised in height during the 1880s—punctuate the roofline. The close-eaved roof features a 19th-century ashlar eaves course.

The original 17th-century structure forms the core of the building, evident in the N front's five main bays with original C17 walling, though the windows themselves are 19th-century replacements; some relieving arches above may be of 17th-century date. Four large stacks serve the building, two positioned at end walls and two at the ridge. The house has undergone significant extensions: a 19th-century addition at the E end and a substantial service range to the W, both raised to the same roof height during the 1880s to provide additional bedrooms. Low T-plan service and stable ranges extend to the SW.

The N front presents a complex elevation. The E end addition features a lower roof with a tall lateral stone chimney and an ornate half-round ashlar oriel on its E gable, carried on a diagonal pier. The oriel displays a moulded half-round base, carved motto, 5-light window and cornice, with a 2-light window to the ground floor to its left. The main five-bay section comprises three bays marking the former hall and passage, with one bay each for two rooms to the W, differentiated by chimneys. The first two bays contain stone 2-storey canted bays to the left with flush windows to the right, executed in grey (Forest of Dean) stone with 3-light windows featuring mid transoms and dripstones. Bath stone dressings follow, with smaller windows incorporating top-lights rather than mid transoms. The third bay features a large Jacobean-style porch with an arched doorway flanked by paired pilasters beneath a scrollwork parapet with ball finials, together with an inscription commemorating the gift of the house. A 2-light window sits above, succeeded by the first of three close-spaced 2-light attic windows breaking the eaves beneath shouldered gables. The fourth bay displays a 3-light window on each floor, whilst the final bay rises to three storeys, with a 2-light window under the eaves, a 2-light to the first floor and two 2-light windows to the ground floor; only the first-floor window includes top-lights.

The kitchen range projects to the right, featuring a prominent gable with shoulders and kneelers. It contains a 3-light attic window, three 2-light first-floor windows all with top-lights, and ground-floor projections including a pyramid-roofed smoke-house to the left with a louvred lantern, followed by a stepped parapet over a 4-light kitchen window. A projection continues to the right across the final one-window section, with a 3-light first-floor window.

The W side, raised during the 1880s, exhibits a gable to the left and a short wing to the right gabled to the S, both rising two and a half storeys with varied fenestration.

The service court comprises a W range of two attractive, low sections, each with a ridge stack. The first features two eaves-breaking gabled dormers and a broad elliptical-arched carriage entry to the right; the second serves as stables, lower in height and hipped to the S end, with a timber louvred lantern and two tall doors with cambered heads and large overlights. Beyond the arch lies a cobbled courtyard crossed by a wall on its E side, with a single-storey S range added just right of the throughway. This S range comprises two sections: the first hipped to the W with a chimney to the E, and the second a 3-bay coach-house with a lower roof hipped to the E. The courtyard face of the W range displays two half-dormer gables and a timber-posted veranda before three doors.

The rear elevation is complex in composition. From the right: the C17 main house wall displays an SE buttress, a 3-light ground-floor window and a 3-light first-floor mid-transom window in grey stone, followed by the tall ashlar wall-face chimney serving the hall fireplace. An added stair gable follows, with 3-light windows set to the left on the main floors and a central 2-light to the attic, all featuring top-lights. The next bay to the left contains an attic 2-light gabled window breaking the eaves, positioned above a decorative projected timber gallery (constructed to resolve circulation issues) featuring red-painted quatrefoil patterns, a 3-light timber window and a pent roof. The ground floor shows two later 20th-century French windows with an 1889 date inscribed between them, and a 20th-century conservatory. The final bay of the main house is a short hipped wing with a 3-storey, 2-window range of six cambered-headed windows, two to the right left blank. A curious structural joint to the left of these windows suggests later construction than the adjacent gable. A chimney sits to the left in the valley leading to the 19th-century next gable, which displays narrow service stair lights to the right, a cambered-headed centre window on each main floor and two narrow attic lights. Another chimney rises to the left in the valley before the E wing, which projects slightly further and displays a one-window range on its E face.

Interior

The porch provides access to the former cross-passage, now open to the principal C17 room to the W, converted to a dining-room in the 19th century and now serving as a music room. The exceptional S wall features a painted plaster overmantel displaying the Herbert arms with two supporters in crude classical armour, dated 1616. The fireplace itself exhibits fluting and guilloche ornament to the frieze and a Tudor arch of early 17th-century character; it is reputed to have come from Raglan Castle. An exceptional painted carved oak heraldic frieze encircles the room, said to originate from Usk Priory. One shield bears the initials EW, several display emblems of the Passion and other religious symbols, whilst the remainder are armorial, including the arms of Henry VIII and those of the Percy, Clare and Lucy families. The Priory origin is considered unlikely, though Raglan Castle may indeed be the source. The 19th-century E end features linenfold panelling below and a door to an E end smoking room, added in the 19th century and now a garden room.

Opposite the front door stands an arch leading to the 19th-century added stair hall, which contains an open-well stair with pendants to newels, a moulded rail and turned balusters. The present drawing room, formerly a study, was divided by a 19th-century passage along the S side, subsequently removed in the 20th century, with two French windows then opened in the S wall. A stone Gothic fireplace inscribed 'R 1971' sits within, accompanied by an oak and walnut bookcase on the E wall. The butler's pantry, originally part of the C17 house, has been opened into the 19th-century kitchen, which retains a large built-in dresser and features a cambered arch to the kitchen bay window. A passage behind provides access to a W rear entrance. The study to the N side of the passage, within a projecting wing, was originally the housekeeper's room, with a scullery and servants' hall positioned further W.

The first floor contains 19th-century 6-panel doors throughout. A drawing room to the E features a Gothic carved fireplace, whilst the boudoir at the E end is lit by its oriel window and contains a small Gothic fireplace. Smaller rooms to the W of the drawing room, positioned at a lower floor level, originally served as a dressing room and Lord Raglan's bedroom; one now functions as a library.