7689

 

II*  

Designated  

26/10/1953  

21/08/1995  

Vaynor Park  

 

Powys  

Berriew  

 

Vaynor  

317651  

300234  

 

On high ground to the SW of Berriew village, in a landscaped park.  

Domestic  

 

The earliest references to a house at Vaynor are mid C15, when a hall house was built for Edward ap Hywel ab Ieuan Llwyd. This house, described as of timber and stone, probably survived until the early C17: George Devereux acquired the house through marriage in 1633, and was almost certainly responsible for its rebuilding in brick, c1640. This C17 house forms the core of the present building, both in ground plan and construction: there is some evidence to support further programmes of work c1670 and in the early C18, since documentary sources refer to sash windows as well as mullioned and transomed windows, and joinery detail inside the house includes work which suggests a late C17 date. The detailed internal layout and the external detail were modified in a major remodelling of 1840-53, carried out by Thomas Penson, the county surveyor for Montgomeryshire, for John Winder Lyon-Winder. This work included refenestration of the C17 W and S fronts, the addition of a porch and shaped gables, the reconstruction of chimney stacks, and the addition of a new E front on a slightly altered alignment. A new kitchen was added to the N of the old house (but has now been removed, together with a N wing). Internally, the plan was re-ordered, including the re-siting of the staircase.  

Red brick with stone dressings and slate roof. Side wall and axial stacks, some rebuilt or added by Penson, though possibly following an earlier form: they have octagonal shafts with scalloped caps on high rectangular bases. 2 storeys with attic, E-plan. Entrance front faces W: symmetrically planned with outer gabled wings and central projecting porch. The main structure is of c1740, though the detailing is of 1840-53, and the porch was added at this time: outer shaped gables (the gable detail C19) each have 4-light stone mullioned and transomed window with pedimented case to ground floor, and similar windows diminishing in size on upper floors, with pediment over attic window. Continuous string course over ground and first floors. Central range has stone Renaissance Revival porch flanked by paired 2-light mullioned and transomed windows, with 5 similar windows above, and 3 shaped gabled dormers with heavy scrolled copings. E front also has C19 fenestration, including a central 2-storeyed rectangular bay window, and paired round-headed attic window with scrolled architrave and shaped gable. E front is an addition of 1840-53, the alignment brought forward slightly from the original building line: 3 slightly advanced shaped gables separated by narrower bays with 3-light windows on each floor: central gable has paired windows in aedicule, with triple round-headed attic window in ornate scrolled architrave: outer gables have 2-storeyed canted bay windows, and paired round-headed attic lights.  

Plan as re-ordered 1840-53 includes central entrance hall with stair hall off-set to SE; library and drawing room in S wing, dining room to rear of entrance hall, and small sitting room to E of N wing, with kitchen etc. to NW. Entrance hall has early C17-style panelling, and stone fireplace (C19 Renaissance Revival with wood overmantle). Small sitting room has late C17-style panelling with heavy raised and fielded panels, and moulded wood cornice. Bolection moulding to fireplace which has similar raised panels to overmantle. Dining room has wall panelling of an earlier C17 type (consistent with a building date of c1670): the Renaissance-style fireplace with highly ornate overmantle came originally from a building belonging to the Crutched Friars, London, but was re-worked by Henry Street. Ribbed plaster ceiling of 1840-53, the design derived from the gallery in Hardwick Hall. Staircase beyond is c1670, though moved and reconstructed by Penson: treads splayed in plan, with scrolled moulded ends: turned balusters and square newels (the lower newel probably C19). Hall and staircase entirely panelled with heavy raised fielded panelling to walls and ceiling. Pedimented architraves over doors probably mostly C19 additions. Drawing room to SE, with ribbed plaster ceiling; library to SW: fittings of 1840-53 in Renaissance Revival style: arcaded shelves, with reeded pilasters and segmental arches and trailed frieze. Similar detail in fireplace where the overmantle may be substantially C17. Late C17 painted panelling and bolection moulded fireplace in small room to NW; turned balusters to full-height back staircase probably of C17 date.  

A major country house of exceptional quality, as a substantial early C17 brick house (one of a very small number in the county) which was the subject of a major mid C19 re-modelling itself of considerable historical interest for its Renaissance Revival detail. The quality of the interiors is also exceptional, both for the survival of C17 fittings, and for the Renaissance Revival material of the mid C19.