Malpas Court

Cadw's description

Location

About 400m W of A4042, in area of modern housing, to SW of school.

History

Built 1834 - 1838 for Thomas Prothero of Newport: architect T H Wyatt, perhaps inspired by Llantarnam abbey nearby. The house replaced the previous house nearer to main road. The historian Sir Joseph Bradney married Florence Prothero of Malpas Court in 1927.

Exterior

C19 country house in early Tudor style. Built of brown rock-faced stone, stone chimneys, mullion and transom windows. Two storeys plus attics. Main block faces NE with recessed service wing to NW, forming L-plan. Gabled entrance block flanked by octagonal buttresses with pinnacles; gable pinnacle surmounted by bird, heraldic shield in gable. First floor has oriel window. Entrance doorway with hoodmould, Tudor arch; panelled door. To the left, a polygonal formerly castellated tower with narrow windows: turret-like polygonal chimney. To the right, recessed block has two-storey gabled bay with three-light first floor window over splayed bay window; narrow windows each side. To the right of this, set back, a two storey service wing, four windows, two gablets. Three-window SE elevation of main block has two pinnacled gables. First floor central doorway flanked by three-light windows: on ground floor, semi-octagonal porch with elliptical arches with spandrels containing carved foliage with the initials ‘C’ and ‘P’. Doorway has hoodmould and overlight; four-light mullion and transom window to each side. To the SW, the main block is of three bays, advanced gabled end bays; ground floor splayed window to left (with three-light window over) between end bays, ground floor advances as splayed bay window. Two storey service wing with gablets to left.

Reason for designation

Listed as a substantial early C19 house in the Tudor style, by a well-known architect of regional importance.