Old House including attached outbuildings

Cadw's description

Location

Situated about 1 km SSW of Pen-y-clawdd in open countryside near the bottom of a valley, down drive on W side of lane to Usk.

History

C16 to early C17 3-room plan house with parlour and hall in main range with stone spiral stair at each end. Cross passage and gabled crosswing with service rooms at W end. Formerly known as Pigeon House Farm until C19. Old House was noted as one of the finest examples in the development of the 'Regional' style of Monmouthshire houses by Fox and Raglan for the retention of "archaic," i.e. medieval, elements in its planning including the solar-type parlour wing with upper floor accessible only via parlour stairs, and the cross-wing with buttery and pantry, and probable farm-store and granary above. The detail of mouldings make this house one of the group of nearby houses characterised as enriched: including Coldbrook and Trecastle. The cross-wing was separated from the main house in function, and in fact by a barred door into the private quarters from the cross passage.

Exterior

Farmhouse with attached agricultural range, built across slope with 2-storey main range and 3-storey cross-wing at the lower end, with gables on wall-line of main house. Rendered rubble stone with concrete tiled roofs to house. Brick axial end stacks to main range, the left stack on ridge at junction with crosswing. Rendered S end stack to crosswing. Main house has 3-window range, fenestration C20. Three small casement pairs under eaves, ground floor left oak four-centred arched doorway in rectangular frame, in lean-to porch, then small square light to right, then 2 C20 casement pairs aligned with centre and right windows above. Old photographs show a string course under the first floor windows, and different casement windows.
Cross wing gable to left has a big external chimneybreast with offset on right and chimney also offset to gable. C20 ground and first floor casement-pair window to left of stack (first floor window in site of a loft door). W side has 5-light wooden diamond-set mullion window set centrally to third storey of cross-wing, the mullions with a bead at each angle. Large single storey lean-to below returned around N gable. N gable has no chimney, 2 tiers of dove-holes in apex. N elevation of main range has lean-to to ground floor right and small casement window, and lean-to to left overlapping out building. Long first floor string course under 2 timber mullioned windows, each shown in Fox & Raglan as 6-light divided 3 and 3 by a heavy 5-sided centre mullion.
Attached agricultural range of later date to right of main house. Rubble stone with corrugated iron roofs, two ranges. Range to left is lofted granary to left, ground floor door to extreme left, next to stone outside steps to eaves-breaking loft door with catslide roof. Broad full height cart-shed opening to right. Second range to right has lower-pitched roof and 2 ground floor doors with timber lintels.

Interior

Plan given in Fox & Raglan vol 2 Fig 8. Ground floor only partially available for inspection December 1999. Three rooms with parlour and hall to main range, cross-passage and crosswing to W end. Cross-passage with flagstone floor and framed timber wall to the cross-wing. Two rooms on Fox & Raglan plan, former buttery and pantry, the buttery with small S fireplace (the only one to S external chimney). Chimney of main house backs onto passage with planked and filleted studded door in chamfered four-centered doorway at entry to hall on N side of fireplace. Sockets for draw-bar. Moulded beams and joists to hall, beam with bead and hollow mouldings (echoed on window lintels) winding stair on S side of fireplace. Post and panel partition between hall and parlour, moulded on both sides with concave and convex moulding. Mitred mouldings over the partition door. Chamfered wooden lintels to fireplace in hall and parlour. Winding solid oak baulk stairs. Strap hinges to planked and ledged doors. Fox & Raglan note that the bedroom over the parlour originally had no other access than by the parlour stairs, a reminder of the medieval solar wing although the hall was here floored from the beginning. Bedroom over parlour has timber-lintel fireplace. Modern doorway through to bedroom over hall. Cross-wing timber-framed wall goes right up to apex, but much rougher to upper floors and the upper floors are unheated, the second floor with mullion window, open to roof (Fox & Raglan 30). The first floor room is accessed from the hall stairs across a passage corresponding to the cross-passage below. It is possible that the second floor is inserted.

Reason for designation

Included as C16 to early C17 house with unusual gabled end bay to three-room and cross-passage plan and for the survival of much interior detail.