Brunant

Cadw's description

Location

Situated at the end of a winding drive N off a minor road some 3 km SE of Whitland.

History

Smaller country house of c1850-60 to an unusual design with the principal facade on the gable end and the entrance on the lateral wall apparently through the base of a central chimney. The same design occurs at the Old Vicarage, Cenarth, Carmarthenshire. built in 1855. This house was apparently built as a shooting lodge for Morgan Jones (d 1905) of Penylan Cardiganshire and Llanmilo Carmarthenshire, and was known as Brynant or Brunant Lodge.

Exterior

Small country house in simplified Tudor gothic style. Coursed rubble stone with slate roof and moulded shouldered gable coping. Two and a half storeys, but the floor heights disguised on the entrance front which has a long blank window each side with deep hoodmould. Raised plinth. In the centre is a sandstone ashlar porch with shouldered coped gable and chamfered depressed arch. Stone flagged floor and two-panel door within with depressed-arched overlight. Above porch is an apparent wall-face chimney breast broken forward but with a single chamfered square-headed window with hoodmould over the porch. The chimney breast is shouldered at eaves level and then chamfered back each side to chimney base with inset rectangular carved stone panel. Chamfered coping above around base of a square stone stack. The garden front is a broad gabled 2-window range, 2 narrow attic oriels on moulded stone triangular corbels, two-sided with two-sided tiny slate roofs. First floor has tripartite long casements with hoodmoulds and ground floor has canted bay with hipped slate roof to left and tripartite window to right, both with painted mullions and transoms, the bay 1-2-1 light, the window 3-light. Raised plinth.
The end gable has plainer fenestration, all replaced in C20 PVCU. Three attic windows, a wide one flanked by narrow lights, the wide one not quite central. First floor has two similar windows to right and centre (slightly right of centre), but larger tripartite window to left. Ground floor has tripartite window to left, door in ashlar frame with slightly gabled lintel and deep hoodmould, and narrower window to right. Door is also C20 replacement. Rear wall has raised plinth, massive external centre chimney breast pierced by long ground floor window and short first floor window. Sloping offsets on each side above eaves level. Small window to first floor immediately right of stack.

Interior

Not inspected.

Reason for designation

Included as an unusual small gentry house design, perhaps from a C19 pattern book.