21933

 

II  

Designated  

24/06/1999  

24/06/1999  

Plas Towerbridge including L-shaped Outbuilding to SW  

 

Denbighshire  

Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd  

Ruthin  

Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd  

313753  

359338  

NW  

Located approximately 800m W of Llanbedr village towards the western boundary of the community. Accessed via a lane running NW from the main road at Pentre.  

Domestic  

 

Small late C17 or early C18 brick gentry house with earlier, probably timber-framed origins and incorporating parts of a second-quarter C17 well stair. The house is named after the Trowbridge family, who were active around Ruthin in the C16 and C17, though by the C18 it had passed to a branch of the Myddleton family. In 1741 William Middleton of 'Plas Turbridge' Esq served as High Sheriff of Denbighshire. The house was altered and extended in the late C19.  

Two-storey former gentry house of (predominantly whitened) brick with slate roofs and plain bargeboards; brick chimneys with gabled, projecting breasts to the main gable ends. Symmetrical gabled E front, probably originally U-shaped. A large storeyed and gabled central projection, added in the late C19, probably occupies what was originally a gap between the smaller flanking gabled wings; a further, and broader, late C19 gable rises up behind this with an end chimney. Early C20 wooden cross-windows to both floors of the central and flanking gabled bays, those to the former with small-pane glazing, the remainder plain-glazed. The R gable end (N) has a primary entrance to the L of the chimney breast with original bricked-up cross-windows to the R on both floors. Slated late C19 gabled porch with latticed wooden sides; late C17/early C18 studded and boarded oak door. The S gable end has a similar blocked window to the first floor and a C20 lean-to extension to the ground floor; modern windows and corrugated iron roof. The 4-bay W side is rendered and has 3 modern wooden cross windows on both floors. At the far R, the final bay has an entrance contained within a covered passage. This is formed by the roof of an adjacent L-shaped outbuilding being extended over the narrow gap between it and the house proper. The adjoining outbuilding is of 2 low storeys, the main front section of whitened rubble and the later (C19) rear arm of whitened brick; slate roof. The main (N) side has a boarded door to the left side, with plain-glazed 2-light windows to both floors beyond. To the R is a half-turn stone and brick stair leading to a boarded first-floor entrance. This is recessed beneath an oversailing gable supported from a brick-infilled, timber-framed parapet by 3 wooden posts, forming a type of open loggia. The timber-framed sections are C17 and are probably re-used from the house. Deeply-recessed 2-light window below stair parapet, formerly an entrance.  

The ground floor has late C19 and C20 partitioning and the original plan-form is consequently unclear. Painted second-quarter C17 oak stair, formerly of well type, the 2 flights now joined to form a single straight flight; short galleried landing to the first floor with flat, shaped and pierced balusters and square newels (lacking finials). Ogee stopped-chamfered main beams of late C17/early C18 type and two contemporary 2-panel doors, one on each floor; some old oak floor-boarding to first floor. C17 boarded cellar door with primary quarter-turn wooden stair down; beamed ceiling to cellar.  

Listed for its special interest as a small late C17/early C18 brick gentry house with probable timber-framed origins.