Grand Lodge at Main Entrance to Vaynol Park

Cadw's description

Location

Set well back from the main Caernarfon to Bangor road, behind the boundary wall that curves inwards towards the Main Entrance to the drive.

History

Probably contemporary with the later C19 improvements to the estate. However the quantity of materials listed in the Building Accounts for 1905 suggests that it was substantially altered then. It appears on the first edition of the OS map, surveyed in 1888.

Exterior

Built of rock-faced rubble with a slate roof. Tudor style. Single storey, 'L'-plan, with the entrance in the re-entrant angle brought flush with the projecting gabled wing facing the driveway with a stone roofed canted stone mullioned and transomed bay window, ornamented with a pilaster pinnacle over, and crude Tudor panelling in the apron below. The bay is flanked by giant arrow-slit like windows with extended hoodmoulds, one opened to a lozenge at its centre. The entrance has an open Tudor arch and asymmetrically stepped 'Dutch' parapet between diminuative crenellated towers. The gable has a string course implying a parapet. A pointed bay on the SE side gable and a 2-storey tower to the rear with stone chimney stacks.

Reason for designation

Included as an interesting example of picturesque lodge architecture, of intrinsic interest and of group value with the Main Entrance gates and screen at Vaynol Park.