19192

 

II*  

Designated  

02/06/1983  

09/01/1998  

No 7 Llannerch Hall  

 

Denbighshire  

Trefnant  

Denbigh  

Llannerch  

305405  

372324  

 

Set in its own mature parkland at the northern edge of the community, approximately 1km N of Trefnant village; accessed via a long drive running NE from the A 525 St. Asaph to Denbigh road.  

Domestic  

 

A medieval site, formerly called Lleweni Vechan; a precursor of the present house was described by its owner, the poet Gryffydd ap Ieuan c1523 as 'a high-crested, too long sided, loose-eaved, short-raftered, rambling, soot-accumilating old ornament of ancient workmanship'. Llannerch was rebuilt in the early C17 by the judge Sir Peter Mutton, as a fashionable tall, gabled house with symmetrical facade and storeyed bays, clearly a sophisticated building for the period and context. During the 1660s his son-in-law, Mutton Davis laid out an astonishingly complex and ambitious terraced garden with gazebos and water features of Italian influence; of this, one of the most important gardens in Wales, nothing now survives, all having been swept away in the C19. Davies served as High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1669 and as MP 1678-1681. The house was cosmetically remodelled c1772, 'spoiled by modern alteration and frittered into an errant villa' (Pennant), though in fact the basic structure of the Jacobean house was retained. Additions of this phase included a storeyed wing to the E and a tall brick projection to the rear; of the internal elements to survive is a fine staircase sequence and elaborate plasterwork to some of the ceilings, with associated fireplaces. The house was further encased between 1862 and 1864 when it achieved its present Italianate, stuccoed appearence; this was carried out for Whitehall Dod, MP, High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1853. The house is at present divided into thirteen flats.  

 

Entrance hall with C18 (?) decorative floor of conjoined limestone flags with inset black marble squares. Dentilated plaster cornice to compartmented ceiling with classical frieze of triglyphs and rosettes; vertically-panelled dado. C19 tripartite wooden vestibule screen with tall 4-panel double doors, the upper panels leaded and with flanking classical pilasters; heavily-moulded cornices and facetted decoration to plinths. Full-height cantilevered, stone corkscrew service stair (C18); panelled doors and door and window reveals throughout. At the end of the entrance hall a fine 1770s staircase sequence ascends from the ground to the second floor. The first section, from the ground to the first floor was originally a narrow well stair with quarterpaces and a first-floor galleried landing; the well was infilled in the C19 to form a service passage. The second stage, from the first to the second stores is a large sweeping well stair with corkscrew flight. Oak treads and risers with scrolled and moulded tread-ends and fine octagonal oak balusters with stopped-chamfered decoration; elegant swept, moulded handrails of mahogany, ending in spiral twists with columnar balusters. Large stair windows to each floor with heraldic stained glass, those to the ground and first floors dated 1867. On the ground and second floors are windows incorporating fine C17 enamelled quarries, as well as some C18 enamelled heraldic panels.  

Listed grade II* for its special architectural importance as a house of Jacobean origin with fine C18 interior plasterwork and for its special historical interest as the focus for the important lost C17 gardens.  

No.s 1-13 Llannerch Hall Large country house of irregular plan, mainly of three storeys plus basement. Of stuccoed limestone and red brick on a chamfered plinth and with fine sandstone dressings; shallow-pitched, hipped slate roofs with lead flashings. Tall C19 brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and dentilated tops. The main (SE) front has a symmetrical 3-bay primary section. This has a recessed central (entrance) bay with flanking full-height square projecting bays. The central bay has an advanced single-storey classical tripartite entrance section, near-flush with the flanking bays and with a decorative balustrade to its flat roof. Central Tuscan portico with moulded, round-arched entrance and projecting key and imposts. Flanking columns and pilasters with 6 moulded steps leading to 4-panel double doors with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels; moulded entablature and cornice returned onto narrow flanking sections. These have plain C19 sashes with projecting stone sills. Tripartite sash windows to flanking bays on ground and first floors, those to the latter with consoles and pediments, those to the former with moulded label; plain sill-corbelling throughout. Four-pane French windows to first -floor central section with simply-moulded entablatures; similar second-floor windows with volutes to sides. Fine moulded and dentilated cornice (dating from the 1770s) with 2 contemporary lead downpipes with simple decorative hoppers to the inner returns of the projecting bays. The NE (garden side) has plain, unhorned sashes and architraves as before; continuous cornice. The main section is 4 bays deep with the return walls of the frontal bays, and a similar, single-bay section to the R, respectively recessed and advanced on either side of a 2-bay main section. Basement access with plain railings; segmentally-arched entrance and window to R, part-glazed door. Adjoining to the R and advanced again is a 2-storey L-shaped addition with cornice as before. Plain tripartite window to main ground-floor section and paired sashes to recessed single-bay section at R. The rear has random limestone rubble walling visible to the main block (Jacobean); cornice and C18 windows as before. To the R is a tall 4-storey plus basement wing of red brick, an C18 addition; the upper storey is modern and has a flat felted roof. 12-pane windows (near-flush) to first and second floors of this with fine brick voussoirs. Blocked windows to the L (NE). Small light well between this projection and the rear of the main block, with C19 and modern single-storey additions in front. Adjoining flush to the main block to the L (SW) side is a 2-storey, 3-bay C18 range, stuccoed and roofed as before, with dentilated and moulded cornice. Parapet to roof with C19 pyramidally-roofed wooden bellcote and tin louvre; 2 staged C19 brick chimneys. C18 segmentally-arched windows face the front on both floors with plain projecting sandstone architraves, their sills, heads and centres quoined; projecting keystones. Stepped-down and adjoining to the L (SW) is a single-storey mid C19 addition of uncoursed limestone ashlar with roof hipped to the L. Moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window as before (copying the 1770s work); this has been lowered and is now a modern glazed entrance with a further, modern window to the L. Four 9-pane sashes (modern replacements of C19 originals) to SW end with projecting sandstone lacing; 2-stage brick and sandstone chimney. The long SW side of this range is of 5 bays and has windows as before to the first 3. The two right-hand bays are taken up with a storeyed modern addition; similar flat-roofed brick addition to the ground floor of the L bay, together with a basement addition at R. Adjoining this C18 range to the rear (NW) is an early C19 2-storey red brick addition with a wide canted, storeyed bay to the SW. This has a hipped slate roof with lead ball finial and dentilated eaves and 12-pane modern tilting sashes to original first-floor openings, with projecting sills; modern windows and door to ground floor. Early C20 hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the L. Adjoining to the front is a continuous mid C19 open slated pentice. This forms a single-storey covered way and is supported on cast iron columns, themselves on low brick walls with sandstone copings. This continues to the L to include a segmental carriage arch which gives access to the rear.