History

Built in 1576 for John Trevor of the Trevor family of Brynkinalt. Designer unknown but suggested by Mark Girouard to have been John Trevor himself with the assistance of master-mason Walter Hancock of Much Wenlock. The Trevors claimed descent from the C10 Welsh prince Tudor Trevor. John Trevor's great-grandfather, Richard Trevor, had originally acquired the estate by marriage to Matilda, daughter and heiress of Jenkyn ap David ap Griffith of Trevalyn. John Trevor made his fortune in London largely through the patronage of the powerful Thomas Sackville, the Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset, who was his wife's cousin. He also held a few minor government posts as recorded on his monument in the parish church at Gresford. With Sackville he is assumed to have made a grand tour to France and Italy between about 1563 and 1566, and again to France in 1568 and 1571. Of his four sons only one, Richard, spent time at Trevalyn and even then preferred to stay at another house built by his father, Roft Hall, in Marford (demolished). In the 1670's the family inherited Glynde Place in Sussex which henceforward became their principal seat and Trevalyn was occupied by a succession of stewards and agents. In 1836 descendants through marriage, Thomas and Elizabeth Griffith, moved in and made extensive alterations internally and externally. These included the re-siting of the Porter's Lodge, creation of the topiary garden to the north-east, and extensive internal alterations by the local architect Thomas Jones. Sold in the 1980's and converted into two flats involving extensive works to interior and brickwork.

Exterior

Elizabethan country house, brick with stone dressings on a stone plinth of five exposed courses. Some evidence to service wing and linking corridor to suggest that the house was rendered with pebbledash in the early C19 under the stewardship of John Boydell to resemble the extensive new estate cottages throughout Gresford and Rossett in the Cottage Orne style of the Picturesque Movement. Render removed after the Hall was sub-divided. Two storeys plus attic. Of five bays with the end cross wings and central entrance bay projecting to the south-east on a H-plan. Each bay to this principal elevation is gabled and surmounted with a tulip-shaped finials at base and apex. The three projecting bays carry armorial bearings carved in stone and set between the windows of the first and second storeys including those of the Sackville family. All windows to this elevation are surmounted by triangular pediments, as is the main entrance. Windows to first and second storeys have stone mullions intersected by a single transome. Attic windows are of only two lights and may well have originally been blind as on the service wing, and many near contemporary buildings in Rossett such as Hem House. Cross wings to north and south continue this pattern of fenestration with larger windows to the second storey and projecting gabled and finialed bays east and west. North cross wing has addition of open glazed canopy supported on five classical columns, probably the result of the remodelling by the Griffiths from the 1830's. Rear elevation has projecting gabled and finialed cross wings framing a recessed central section of three bays with bracketed cornice. From the central bay is a one storey corridor to the contemporary Service Wing with a central gabled Porters Lodge of three bays with two storeys to the central bay. The corridor and Lodge are lit by two-light triangular pedimented windows which are similarly gabled and finialed in the same manner as the Hall. Entrance to the Porters Lodge is by an arched doorway framed by a Doric aedicule.

Interior

Remodelled in 1830's by Thomas Jones for the Griffith family and subsequently extensively converted into two flats in 1984. Rooms retain fireplaces by Jones and a staircase to panelled gallery upstairs; introduced modern detail.

Reasons for Listing

Graded II* as an important example of an Elizabethan country house, and for historic associations with the Trevor family who developed much of the surrounding built environment.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Trevalyn Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7838916

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings