History

Villa of c1885 said to have been built for a Mr Roberts, Aberystwyth timber merchant, and later owned by his two daughters. Marked on 1888 O.S. map, occupied in 1891 and in 1895 by the Rev. John Colby. In 1910 occupied by Mrs E. Roberts, owned by executors of L.H. and R. Roberts. In 1926 by Lt Col Robert Cosens, later by Commander Yale. Sold to parents of present owner after 1945. The yellow bricks are stamped Bowen Ruabon.

Exterior

House, local rubble stone with dressings in moulded yellow Ruabon brick and some grey sandstone. Later Victorian with large windows, complex roofs and bays, to no particular style, but wayward in near-symmetry. Slate hipped roof with yellow brick and stone stacks, one on S side and one on the N. Two storeys and attic, roughly square plan with square gabled bays across the SW and SE angles (the SW bay broader) and a canted bay at left of W front, this capped by a three-sided slate roof with 2 small dormers. Main fronts to W and S. Windows are large sashes in cambered-headed surrounds mostly of moulded yellow brick with raised outer rim and roll-moulds to inner edges, stopped before angles. Some sandstone heads on S front. Four-pane horned sashes above, 2-pane below. Brick top to plinth, brick band at first floor, moulded brick eaves cornice, sandstone sills.
Near-symmetrical W front with big slate balcony on slate brackets across 3 centre windows between the canted sides of the two end bays, the roof carried over the balcony on 2 timber brackets. Balcony has cast-iron posts and 2 rails. Door in left bay of centre, half-glazed double doors with cambered-headed overlight. The two right windows are blank. Left projecting bay has similar windows 3 each floor and steep 3-sided roof with 2 hipped dormers. This roof runs back to a chimney. Right SW bay, projecting from corner, has decorated bargeboards, brick band across gable, pair of 4-pane sashes to first floor, slate balcony with similar iron posts and rails on 2 big slate brackets and a stone and brick centre pier, between 2 large ground floor windows. Similar window each side of bay, each floor.
S front has entry in SE gabled bay and big triple window each floor slightly right of centre. SE bay has bargeboards, brick band in gable, first floor pair of windows with sandstone cambered heads, cambered brick entrance arch with chamfered stone jambs and sloping slated timber hood on brackets with pierced boarded spandrels. Inner doorway has double panelled doors with boarded panels and big overlight. Main S window is a very unusual projected bay with cambered-headed sidelights and centre 2 windows projected as a triangular bay. Three 3 stone mullions, sandstone heads, and brick outer jambs to side lights. Moulded brick cornice to flat roof with similar iron rail. First floor yellow brick triple window, the centre broader, all with cambered heads.
N side has the steep roof to right with end stack, then lower roof to service range, to same eaves line. Windowless return of W front to right, 2-window range to centre and single-storey kitchen wing running N to left, with door, 2 windows of different sizes and another door to w face, the left door now a window.
Rear E side of main house has short corner chimney to right and irregular but similar windows. First floor has a large window with etched and coloured glass between 2 small windows, and another large one to right. Ground floor has 5 openings, the second with etched and coloured glass, and the fourth a former door with overlight. Rear of kitchen range to right.

Interior

W entrance hall leads into large centre rear stair hall. The SW drawing room was originally entered from here, door since moved to right side of entrance hall. NW library or study reached from hall. S dining room reached from rear right of stair hall, as also passage to SE corner entrance. Passage to service area behind main stairs on left, present kitchen in N room, but originally in wing running N. Consistent detail: panelled doors with stopped chamfers, very deep skirting boards, timber sloping cornices pierced with simple shapes (lozenges, trefoils quatrefoils). W entrance hall has cambered arch into stair hall. Resited door on right into former drawing room which extends into large SW bay. Coved plaster cornice. Fireplace on E wall with white-marble panels framed in pained bull-nosed timber strips. NW room, a gun-room in early C20, has grey marble fireplace on E wall with cast-iron grate. Stair hall has oak floor laid in diagonal cross patterns. Stair rises on N wall and returns across E wall to landing with similar detail. Closed string with panelling below, chamfered stick balusters alternated with shaped and pierced flat balusters, and chamfered newels with octagonal caps and finials. Pendant finials under landing newels. Small Gothic stone fireplace at NE corner and E end window with coloured leaded glass. Coloured leaded glass to half-glazed double doors to SE passage, with top-lights and cambered head. Passage has quarry tile floor
S former dining-room has ceiling in panels with moulded timber ribs, decorated with a nailhead motif, echoed on inner mullions of bay window. Large shutters. W wall fireplace with panels of dark figured marble framed in bullnose-moulded pine. Gothic cast-iron grate with fleur-de-lys pattern tiles in cheeks. Half-glazed leaded door under stairs to stone stairs to slate-flagged cellar under NE corner of house. Half-glazed leaded doors to kitchen passage running N, with half-glazed door to toilet and door to small pantry on E, and door to W to the present kitchen. Original servants bells in passage. Present kitchen has W fireplace and reset back stairs on S wall (parallel to main stair). Old single-storey kitchen to N has 3-sided plaster ceiling. Coal-house at N end altered in C20
First floor has matching landing balustrade and cornice, panelled doors and single flight of stars up to attic with similar rail. Bedrooms have plain coved plaster cornices. Small S room has fretted pelmet and tiny corner fireplace.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a remarkably unaltered late Victorian house, of an eccentric and indefinable style, quintessentially Victorian, with complete surviving interior detail, also mixed in influences, and remarkably self-confident.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29503862

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2