History

Garth was the home of the Gwynne family from the C17 but little of that date is readily
discernible in the present house. The original house was transformed to a small Georgian country house in the C18, probably by Marmaduke Gwynne (c1694-1769) who lived there with his family, a chaplain and some 20 servants, together with numerous visitors. Gwynne befriended Hywel Harris and through him John and Charles Wesley. Gwynne's daughter Sarah (1726-1822) married Charles Wesley at nearby Llanlleonfel church in 1749.

The house was extended again from 1876 when it was inherited by W. Fuller-Maitland and the character of the present house is principally of that date, except for later replacement of sash windows and renewal of some internal features.

Exterior

A small country house of 2 storeys and attic, comprising a main range with rear wing offset to theL side, and an additional service wing set back at right angles on the L side. Of pebble-dashed walls and slate roof with projecting boarded eaves, rendered and brick stacks to the main house and brick stack to the rear wing. The 3-bay entrance front has large-pane sash windows. The R-hand bay is beneath a gable with attic sash window. A gabled dormer is L of centre. The entrance is in the narrow central bay, with a
porch with double fielded-panel doors and flanking windows. The lower storey has tripartite sashes with bracketed sills. The window upper L has a moulded architrave, upper centre a plain surround, while the R-hand upper window is tripartite similar to the lower storey.

The R end wall has a large external stack, possibly part of the C17 house, the upper portion of which is narrower and rebuilt, beyond which is a further but smaller external stack. A single narrow sash window is between the stacks. The rear wall retains earlier windows. On the R side is an C18 Venetian stair light with rusticated pilasters and hornless sash glazing. Lower L is a T-shaped mullioned window below a hornless sash window. Upper R is a 3-light fixed window. The attic window is a late C19 large-pane sash.

The side wall of the rear wing is 4 bays with an added higher projecting round turret with pyramidal roof offset L of centre. The wing has large-pane sashes in the lower storey, and small-pane sashes above. A rubble stone wall, with lean-to added facing the yard on the opposite side, is attached to the end of the wing.

The L gable end of the main house has an external stack, the upper portion of which is rebuilt in brick, a horned sash upper L and plate glass sash to the attic R of the stack. The rear wing, which is continuous with the L gable end, has an added late C19 conservatory in the lower storey below a large-pane sash window, and two 2-light roof dormers with flat roofs. Further L is a late C19 link to the service wing, which has a hornless sash window over the conservatory and hipped roof. In its L side wall is a tripartite sash window in the lower storey.

The 3-window service wing, facing the front, has a single casement in the lower storey, large-paned sashes in the upper storey, except the R side which has a small-paned sash. Above it is a 4-light roof dormer with a flat roof. The L gable end of the service wing is slate hung in the upper storey, while attached to it is a long, lower former coach house now converted to a garage, the gable end of which is crow-stepped. It has a projecting gabled bay offset to the R, and 3 former carriage entrances with shallow stone arches. The rear of the service wing has a full-height vertical joint R of centre, indicating that the R-hand end, which has a wide wooden lintel in the upper storey over a former opening, is later. The rear has mainly sashes under wooden lintels, and is continuous with the rear wing of the main range which has plate glass sashes under stone segmental heads and a boarded door within an open lean-to.

Interior

A central entrance hall leads to a stair hall, which has an open-well stair with moulded tread-ends but replaced turned newels and balusters and wreathed handrail.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a small Victorian country house with earlier origins and for its association with Sarah Gwynne, wife of the Methodist Charles Wesley.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29485858

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

• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)