History

A smaller villa is shown on the site on the 1837 Tithe map, which was advertised to let in 1840 with 3 parlours and 5 bedrooms. The house was rebuilt c1855 by William Wesley Jenkins, architect of Carmarthen, which was a house of double-depth plan, probably under a hipped or near-pyramidal roof, and in the Italianate style that Jenkins employed on other country houses in the 1850s. At the rear was a courtyard around which was built stables and coach house. In 1884 the house was bought by William Morgan Griffiths, a local solicitor, who enlarged the house by extending it to the rear, and at the same time remodelled the front and altered the 1850s rooms, with replacement of the original staircase.

In 1937 the house was bought by the Church of Wales and became the Diocesan High School for Girls, a private boarding school, when classrooms were added at the rear of the building. A detached chapel was also built, although this is no longer a part of the property. The school closed in 1964 and was subsequently used as offices, but in October 2020 had been disused since 2013.

Exterior

Substantial detached house in Victorian Italianate style, painted stucco with hipped slate roof, plain eaves cornice. Long rectangular building with facade on short S end and 2 large yellow brick stacks with stepped caps, containing 10 shafts, on roof hips to S and N. Two-storey and attic, channelled angle piers with floral capitals, moulded band between floors, plate glass sash windows in moulded stucco surrounds. Three-bay S front has 3 first floor sashes, 2 ground floor stuccoed canted bay windows added in the late C19, and central stuccoed porch, which has a modern replacement door under arched overlight. Additional bay to left has arched window over square-headed ground floor window. Long E side has 2 attic lead-roofed stucco dormers, with moulded arched heads and moulded arched surrounds to sash windows. First floor has 3 canted oriels, with plate glass sashes, dentilled cornices at main eaves level, and panels below sills. Also 2 plate glass sashes to left of central oriel and 1 to right. Ground floor has blank window to right of first oriel, then half-glazed panel door with overlight in columned porch. Two thin cast-iron columns and pilaster responds, corniced flat roof. Five sash windows to right. N end has 2 similar round-headed dormers, square-headed sash to first floor left and arched window right of centre, now door. Large added lean-to to ground floor and pyramid roofed 2-storey addition at NW corner. W side has 2-storey addition in angle to right and generally plate-glass sashes, some in moulded frames. Flat-roofed classroom additions of the 1930s to the rear.

Interior

The 1850s house has a central entrance and stair hall with rooms R and L. The extension follows this scheme with a central corridor along the length of both storeys. Few original details survive in the earlier part of the house. The drawing room on the L has retained a rich plaster cornice and there are 6-panel doors on the first floor. Other details belong to the 1880s enlargement and remodelling. From the porch there is a doorway to the entrance hall, which is in a half-glazed surround with etched glass. The doorway from drawing room to conservatory is in a similar surround. The open-well stairway has wreathed wooden handrail on cast iron balusters. A new entrance hall was created on the E side. Some rooms retain panelled shutters.

In the late C19 extension to the house the corridor has arches with fluted pilasters with egg-and-dart moulding to the capitals. There is also a full-height dog-leg service stair with turned balusters and newels.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a substantial later Victorian suburban house in Italianate style.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29504930

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper