CPAT Regional Sites & Monuments Record

PRN 102629 - Trimley Hall House
Listed Building 8 (II* )

A 2 storey square stone house built about 1650 with a pyramidal slate roof and central square stack. It has mullioned windows. Now used for storage only.; (cas 4/12/93)

Hall was begun in the late 1630's. It is a square plan 2-storey Renaissance gentry house with a highly unusual massive central chimney creating the distinctive hipped roof.

The following is from Cadw's Listed Buildings database

Situated c1km NW of Ffrith, reached from a series of by-roads running W from the B5101.

Trimley Hall was built by John Eyton Jnr. of neighbouring Leeswood in the late 1630s. Both John Eyton and his father were prominent Royalists who served in the garrison at Denbigh. There is evidence that Trimley was made defensible at a time when many of the region's gentry houses were being plundered or torched by General Mytton and his troops. The loss of the top floor of the building probably dates from the fighting of 1645. The date 1653, carved on the newel of a stair in the hall, probably records a phase of rebuilding and internal alteration after the Civil War. The family left the house c1707; Edward Llhwyd records 'Thomas Eaton' as the owner c1700. A tenant named Thomas Jones was in residence in 1757. No significant alterations have been made to the building since the late C17, and it is currently (1997) being used for agricultural storage.

Square-plan, sub-medieval, 2-storey gentry house with highly unusual massive central chimney creating the distinctive hipped roof. This design resulted from the 1653 remodelling, the earlier house having probably had a gabled attic storey in traditional manner. Built of local rubble stone with sandstone dressings under a slate roof; all-round high plinth, quoins and deep gable kneelers. 2, 3 and 4-light mullioned windows with moulded jambs throughout, some retain iron stanchions and some have been bricked up. On the principal E side there is a storied gabled porch with an offset entrance, this is now concealed by C20 agricultural additions.

The interior was largely inaccessible at the time of the 1997 survey. The plan form appears to survive unaltered and includes an unusual L-shaped hall around two sides of the central chimney which is said to have contained a similarly L-shaped dining table. The 'low', servants, end was unlit and unheated while the 'high' end for family and guests was both heated and lit. The hall retains a C19 oak chimneypiece with bracketed lintel. The ceiling is a later insertion with vertically-set joists. A dog-leg staircase, dated 1653, is situated at the NW corner. It has splat balusters and a newel with a tall, tapered finial. There is said to be a further staircase concealed around the central chimney but there is no evidence for this. The cellar has been filled in. The original oak front door is recorded as having (blocked) siege loops for musketry in it. Other recorded evidence includes Tudor-arched fireplaces in the attic testifying to a former upper storey and chamfered and stopped doorcases. Parlour to W, kitchen, buttery, and pantry to S, and an L-shaped upper-floor great chamber.

Listed grade II* for the exceptional interest of the surviving plan, largely unaltered fenestration, C17 interior features and historical associations of this important C17 gentry house.

Group value with Trimley Hall Barn.

E Llhwyd, Parochialia (Archaeologia Cambrensis Offprint, 1911), c1700, p96; E Hubbard, Clwyd, 1986 p385; P Smith, Houses of the Welsh Countryside, 1988, p232, fig132; F Davies, Plas Trimley, a Record and History of a House and its Occupants, Unpublished BA Dissertation, University College of North Wales, 1988; Information from Peter Welford.

Sources:-
CCC visit form , 1980 , ,
Cadw Listing database , 2000 , ,
Historic Buildings Council for Wales , 2000 , , 28
OS record card , 1975 , SJ 25 NE 19 ,
RCAHM , 1912 , Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouth II - County of Flintshire , 54
Smith, P , 1975 , Houses of the Welsh Countryside ,
Welsh Office , 1952 , ,

record created 30/09/1985 SG85 - copyright CPAT , last updated 16/07/2004
The above data are supplied by CPAT in partnership with its Local Authorities and the partners of END, © CPAT SMR partnership, 2005 (and in part © Crown, 2005 - as indicated)

CM - 11/04/2005 ( 16:41:14 ) - HTML file produced from CPAT's Regional SMR
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, Curatorial Section, 7a Church Street, Welshpool, Powys SY21 7DL.
tel (01938) 553670 , fax (01938) 552179, email trust@cpat.org.uk , website www.cpat.org.uk