1590

 

II*  

Designated  

07/06/1963  

08/12/1995  

Esless Hall  

 

Wrexham  

Esclusham  

 

Rhostyllen  

331910  

349258  

 

Set back down a drive on the NE side of the Old Hall Farm estate on the E side of Rhostyllen, and above the River Clywedog.  

Domestic  

 

The present building represents the surviving part of a house of probable late C16 date. Its main range is the W bay of a once longer range but it is not known when the rest of the building was lost. The surviving section was extended to the SE in the late C19, and much of the window and roof detail appears to date from this period.  

The house comprises a two and a half storeyed single bay main range, with a lower bay (possibly a somewhat later addition) on the same alignment to the W, and a lower wing to the NE. An extension was built to house the staircase and fill in the angle between these two lower ranges to the NW, and is probably early C19. A late C19 block adjoins the lower W wing to the S. Single bay main range is timber-framed with some wattle and daub panel infil, the rest brick; some brick repair work painted in imitation of framing. Steep slate roof with coped gable to left; end and rear wall stacks. Doorway to left in reeded architrave with segmental arch with keystone; round-arched glazed panels to door. 2-light casement windows on each floor and a similar window in a timber-framed dormer are not aligned; upper windows have small panes. Gable-end return to the right represents a later reconstruction when the house was shortened: the principle beams over the ground and first floor were clearly once internal, and the stop-chamfers, and slots for joists are visible. Lower wing to rear is also timber framed though with some brick repair work. 2-light casement windows, including gabled dormer in the roof, and a canted bay window in the gable end. Angled extension beyond has 8-pane tall sash window. Lower W range is largely concealed by the later extensions, but its exposed W gable is timber-framed with brick nogging. Extension to the SW is 2 storeyed, brick painted in imitation of timber-frame. 3-light casement window on each floor. Windows throughout have wooden canopy hoods carried on brackets; scalloped bargeboards to all gables and dormers. Adjoining this extension is a small yard enclosed by a series of single storeyed outbuildings.  

The internal layout of the house is probably largely the result of a mid C19 remodelling which created a separate T-shaped hallway with moulded plaster arches at its junctions; moulded plaster cornices in principle rooms of E range. Some early joinery including panelled internal doors and boarded floors; staircase in angled rear extension has plain balusters and banded circular newel.  

A building of considerable historical interest as the partial survivor of a much larger house of C16-C17 date: its C19 remodelling is of particular interest for its re-interpretation of the vernacular character of the original building, attaining an unusual consistency of character in the surviving early features and the later additions and detailing.