25259

 

II*  

Designated  

22/10/1952  

25/05/2001  

1 Gelli Fawr  

 

Flintshire  

Whitford  

Holywell  

Gelli  

312786  

378166  

 

On the S side of a lane which runs NW from a roundabout on the A5151. The house, now divided, is set back from the road with long front gardens. To the rear, a boundary wall divides the rear gardens and joins a former stable. No 1 is to the L.  

Domestic  

 

Gelli was a grange of Basingwerk Abbey, the lands granted by Edward I. The building is said to have contained a cell and a chapel, apparently for performing divine service to the Abbot. Remains of a medieval hall and cross-passage survive, along with a probable gallery and chamber (or chapel) at 1st floor level. The doorway and several pairs of arched lights belong to this phase. After the reformation, the building was converted to a farmhouse, and is illustrated in a publication of 1796. The central doorway and openings to the R are as now, but to the L an external staircase led to an upper storey doorway, next to which was a lateral stack followed by a small window. A 3-light segmental headed window at the E end was replaced in the 1950s by an arched window of Gothic character. The house had been divided into 2 dwellings by 1871.  

 

The front room was the outer or service room of the sub-medieval house, to the R of the cross-passage (now in 1 Gelli Fawr). To the rear is a room of the C18-19, with a late C20 extension behind. The current entrance leads into the kitchen in the modern extension. There is also a half-glazed panelled door which leads into the front room. Inside this room is a blocked doorway offset to the L of the front with a Tudor-arched head and large stone jambs. The ceiling has 1 spine beam with narrow chamfer and pegs, which may have held a partition, and plain joists. The small window in the E end has splayed reveals. The S wall of the room contains a small stone fireplace, which previously had a stone head, now covered over. On the rear side of the fireplace, an opening was found in the wall, possibly of an early external window. There used to be a staircase in the front room, now replaced by one in the addition. The upper storey is open to the roof, and a corridor runs along the E side of the house, with bathroom and bedrooms off to the L. A large arched-brace truss is visible against the E gable end of the front range, and there are 3 pairs of purlins, those at the top replaced. The pointed E window has splayed reveals and a wooden lintel. To the L is a further arched-brace truss divided by a partition wall between 2 bedrooms. In the front bedroom, against the front wall, is a doorway with Tudor arched head (relating to the external doorway).  

Listed grade II* as an exceptionally fine house with medieval origins and a complex history, which retains sub-medieval character and detail.  

1 & 2 Gelli Fawr, Gelli, Whitford. Two-storey 3-window house with gabled staircase projection to rear and later rear wing, extended further in the late C20. Constructed of random stone under slate roofs with stone stacks raised in brick. Large projecting stack to W gable end; lateral stack between main range and rear wing. Detail includes large quoins and raised copings with kneelers. Most of the windows are C16; 2- or 3-light mullioned windows with hoodmoulds, but some appear to be earlier. The front range has a central doorway with Tudor-arched head and hoodmould. Immediately to its R is a small square-headed blocked window. To the R is a 3-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window with square hoodmoud. Three-light mullioned window aligned above, to the L of which is a 2-light window (possibly earlier) each light with an arched head. To the L of the doorway, the masonry is disturbed where the external staircase had been. To the L is a 3-light ovolo-mullioned window with square hoodmould, with a similar window above. Small single light to far L to upper storey. Stepped projecting stack to W gable end, to the L of which is a segmental headed light to each storey. The W side of the 2-storey staircase projection has a 2-light mullioned window with hoodmould. Similar window to gable of projection, and renewed 2-light window below. Small blocked window with square head to E side. To the rear, immediately R of the staircase projection is a 3-light window, the lights with arched heads. Above is a similar 2-light window. To the R is a late C20 glazed porch with corrugated plastic roof (opposite the front entrance), above which is a C20 window opening with brick jambs and concrete lintel. To the R is a renewed 2-light mullioned window, with an inserted window in the same style above. The E gable end has a doorway offset to the R with a segmental head of voussoirs under a hoodmould, containing double planked doors with a glazed inner door. Very small light to its L. Lighting the upper chamber, is a window replaced in the 1950s, consisting of 3 lancets in plate tracery under an arched head with hoodmould. The rear wing was extended in the late C20 to include a doorway, 2-light window above, and a stone end stack. To the R, the former doorway, under a segmental head of voussoirs, has been converted to a 2-light window with matching window above. The W side of the rear wing has renewed windows in a similar style. Two-light window to gable end offset to the L.