Hen Rake, including attached Garden and Yard Walls

Cadw's description

Location

An isolated house approximately 500m to NW of village of Halkyn, set back on the E side of a minor road between Halkyn and Windmill.

History

A mid C19 house first shown on the 1870 Ordnance Survey. Probably a manager's house connected with mineral workings on the mountain. The house was used by Grosvenor Estate for meetings; a safe on the first floor was used for estate money, wages etc. 'Rake' is a common term for a lead mine. The Grosvenor family owned an extensive estate and mineral rights in the Halkyn area. Halkyn Castle was built for the second Earl Grosvenor in 1824-7 and was used as an occasional residence. The Earl was later made Duke of Westminster.

Exterior

A 2-storey double-fronted house of roughcast walls over stone, and slate roof with end rendered rectangular stacks to the main range and at the end of the rear wing. The front faces SE and has a central doorway with panelled door (part glazed) under a modern gabled porch. Windows are 16-pane hornless sashes, the upper-storey windows beneath the eaves, the lower-storey windows with cambered heads. On the L (SW) side the rear wing is a 2-window elevation with 16-pane sash windows, larger to R. A lean-to porch/conservatory obscures the lower R window. On the opposite, NE side, where a former cartshed has been taken into the house, are sash windows in the upper storey, a 2-light small-pane casement lower L and 2 inserted mid C20 windows lower R.

The garden to the front (SE) of the house, and the yard to the SW are enclosed by stone walls.

Interior

The entrance hall has a main stair with swept handrail, stick balusters, and tapering newel. Most rooms retain panelled window shutters; the doors in the front of house are 6-panelled, and principal rooms and bedrooms have C19 fireplaces. One ground-floor door is a simple boarded door with hand-forged ironwork. There is a second (service) stair near the rear kitchen with boarded partitioning. The doors in the rear of the house suggest a late C19/early C20 re-ordering of this area. The ground-floor front room to the N of the entrance hall has an arched recesses flanking the chimney. The front bedroom (S) has built-in panelled cupboards.

Reason for designation

Listed as a mid C19 house retaining much of its original character, with historic connections with local mineral industries.