History

Pencerrig was a Tudor mansion of the Powell family. From c1750 it was the home of Thomas and Hannah Jones, whose son, the landscape painter Thomas Jones (1742-1803), inherited in 1789. Thomas Jones' main contribution to Pencerrig was the creation of a landscape garden. The C18 house he inherited was substantially rebuilt by Thomas Jones' descendants after 1831. The 1845 Tithe map shows the main house and service wing on the W side. Under the ownership of Miss Clara Thomas (1842-1914), who inherited in 1863, the service block was extended by adding a W service wing to form an L-shaped plan and enclose a small service courtyard, which is shown on the 1889 Ordnance Survey. The house has been a hotel since 1958. The roof was partly rebuilt after a fire in the late C20.

Exterior

A 2½-storey early C19 Gothic style country house of pink roughcast walls with moulded freestone band between storeys, and slate roof on deeply projecting eaves. The service wings have roughcast stacks, each with 2 diagonal shafts. The main elevations are to the E and S but the entrance is within the asymmetrical 3-bay N front. An ashlar porch has diagonal buttresses, a Tudor arch with quatrefoils in the spandrels, and steps up inside to double-half-lit doors under a Tudor head with flanking half-glazed panels and traceried overlight. Pointed windows are in the side walls, of which the R-hand is enclosed within a later lean-to. Windows in the main house have Tudor-headed margin-lit sashes under hood moulds. In the gabled bay to the L of the entrance is a 2-light window in the upper storey and a single-light attic window. The central bay has 2 single-light windows above the porch and, set back, the R-hand bay has two 2-light windows (formerly beneath a gable with attic windows). In the lower storey is an added lean-to to the R of the porch. At the R end a single-light window in the lower storey, now visible only from the service yard where it is not obscured by a late C20 extension.

The symmetrical E front is dominated by 2 slightly advanced gabled bays, with a narrow bay in the centre, and has diagonal freestone buttresses. The gabled bays have 2-light canted bay windows with transoms and incorporating French doors, further enriched by thin Gothic clustered shafts. Above are 2-light upper-storey windows and single-light attic windows. In the central bay is a Tudor-headed niche, and 2-light window above.

The asymmetrical 4-bay S garden front has a gabled bay on the R with 2-storey 3-light canted bay window similar to the E front, but without transom in the upper storey. To its L is a 2-light canted bay window and 2-light upper-storey window (formerly under a gable). Set back further L is a bay with an added hipped 1-storey lean-to with triple sash window flanked by single sashes, and 3-light window above (also formerly under a gable). Immediately to its L is a 2-light window in the lower storey below a V-shaped oriel.

Further L is the service wing. Its 4-window S front has Tudor-headed sashes, 12-pane in the lower storey and 9-pane under gablets in the upper storey. In the basement is a 2-light window to the R end (now enclosed within a greenhouse), and a single casement to its L.

On the W side of the N front is a late C20 link to a late C20 wing built at the N end of the service block, and now closing off the service yard on the W side of the house. The W side of the main house has a slate-hung gable and 1-storey projection. The S service wing is of painted brick and effectively 3 storeys to the service yard since the ground level is lower than on the S garden front. It has a central gabled bay with Tudor-headed 9-pane sash window in the upper storey, 18-pane segmental-headed sash window in the middle storey and 3-light casement in the lower storey. The lower 4-window W service wing is also of painted brick. It has, in the upper storey, Tudor-headed sash windows under gablets and 2 stacks rising from the eaves. In the lower storey are 2 round-headed doorways with recessed doors, and 2-light casement window to the R.

Interior

The entrance hall is top-lit. It has a quarter-turn stair with cusped-arch balusters and moulded tread ends, that is reached through a small lobby and is carried across the entrance hall through a Tudor arch. The entrance hall also has a fireplace with stone surround decorated with high-relief oak leaves and grapes. The most richly decorated room is in the S front, immediately opposite the N entrance. It has a plaster rib vault on head and foliage corbels, with foliage bosses. In this room the doorways and window have surrounds with thin shafts. This and other rooms retain Gothic panelled shutters and doorways with Gothic panelled reveals and doors.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its special architectural interest as an early C19 Gothic country house retaining original character and detail, and for its special historic interest as the ancestral home of one of Wales' foremost landscape painters.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q26212261

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas