Trevalyn Hall: An Elizabethan Manor House in Wales
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, English
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page11 sections
History
Trevalyn Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in the United Kingdom near Wrexham, Wales, built in 1576 by John Trevor. The Elizabethan period, the reign of Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603, saw the development of substantial country houses by the landed elite. Trevalyn Hall is important for its architectural character and its historic connections with the Trevor family.
The Trevor family and the Elizabethan house
By about 1600, the Trevor family of Trevalyn ranked among the leading families of East Denbighshire. Its members held numerous estates in Flintshire and Denbighshire, and the family also acquired the Plas Teg estate at Hope in Flintshire. Sir John Trevor I, who lived from 1563 to 1630 and belonged to the same family, built the present Plas Teg house there in 1610. The Trevors were also associated with the development of much of the surrounding built environment.
Nineteenth-century remodelling
During the early nineteenth century, the service wing and the corridor linking it to the main house were apparently coated with pebbledash, an external finish made with small stones set into render. The treatment was intended to resemble the new estate cottages at Gresford and Rossett, and it was later removed.
In the 1830s, the architect Thomas Jones remodelled the interior for the Griffith family. This work included fireplaces by Jones, while the topiary garden to the north-east was created during the same remodelling period. Topiary is the shaping of living shrubs or trees into ornamental forms.
Protection, division, and restoration
Trevalyn Hall was divided into two residences in 1984, although many original features were retained. The building was entered at Grade II* on 9 June 1952 because it is an important example of an Elizabethan country house and has historic associations with the Trevor family. Grade II* is a high level of statutory protection for buildings of particularly important architectural or historic interest in England and Wales.
In recent years, owner Alexander Daghlian undertook sympathetic restoration, redecoration, and upgrading. Materials and techniques used during some work in the 1980s were removed and replaced with traditional, breathable materials. The garden is listed at Grade II in the Cadw and ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. Cadw is the Welsh Government’s historic-environment service, while ICOMOS is the International Council on Monuments and Sites.
Remains
Trevalyn Hall is a brick building with stone dressings, standing on a stone plinth formed from five exposed courses. Its five bays follow an H-plan, in which a central range is flanked by projecting wings. The end wings and the central entrance bay project towards the south-east, giving the house a clearly articulated Elizabethan form.
The hall and its architectural details
Exterior elevations
The three bays of the front elevation have decorative tulip-shaped finials at the bases and apexes of their gables. Carved stone armorial bearings, heraldic devices associated with people or families, are set between the windows of the first and second storeys. Those bearings include examples associated with the Sackville family, an English noble family.
Interior and later extension
The interior retains many original features, including fireplaces made by Thomas Jones. A sixteenth-century fireplace was uncovered during restoration and later restored. A subsequent extension created an orangery designed to reflect the original building, using reclaimed brick, sandstone dressings, and bronze casement windows.
The restoration also included insulating the roof with sheep’s wool, replastering the walls with hemp plaster, and redecorating with clay paints. The windows were overhauled, and a limecrete floor with underfloor heating was installed. Limecrete is a lime-based flooring material, while hemp plaster is a breathable wall plaster made with hemp fibres and a lime-based binder.
Historic gardens and parkland
Deer parks and orchard
The deer parks are probably contemporary with the original house. Big Park and Pine Tree Park lie south-west of the hall and border Marford, a village built about 1813 to 1814 by the Trevalyn Estate. Walnut Park lies north-east of Pine Tree Park. The former orchard, now a field, lies to the north-west and south-west of the gardens and retains an earthen bank intended to keep deer out. The parks are now arable farmland.
Kitchen garden and topiary garden
The garden contains several tiers of historic development. The kitchen garden is walled on its north-west and north-east sides and is thought to have originally been enclosed by walls on all sides. A topiary garden lies north-east of the hall and dates from the interior remodelling of the 1830s.
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