Cartshed (former Hall-house) at Hendy Farm

Cadw's description

Location

Some 2km E of Llangattock Lingoed, at the end of a farm track that runs S off the minor road between Llangattock Lingoed and The Bont.

History

The medieval hall-house at Hendy features as the frontispiece to Part 1 of Fox and Raglan's ‘Monmouthshire Houses'. On plan this exceptional mid C15 building had a 3-bay hall in centre, and solar cross-wing at upper end, and service room at lower end. Broad entrance doorways led into a wide screens passage at lower end of the hall. The hall had arch-braced roof trusses and a late C16 inserted chimneystack. At each end of hall, post and panel partition with doorways gave access to a service room at lower end, and the solar cross-wing at upper end. Solar had a fine trefoil headed window (Fox and Raglan Plate XVI) and fireplace was flanked by unusual ‘decorative brackets for torches or lamps in the form of polygonal moulded half-caps supported respectively by a male and female mask'.
Since Fox and Raglan recorded the building in 1949, the interior of this remarkable building has been almost entirely destroyed and the cross-wing demolished. At the time of resurvey the building was in use as a cartshed.

Exterior

Ruins of medieval hall-house of c1450. Rubble stone with ashlar dressings and corrugated asbestos roof. E front has external stone quarter-turn stair leading to entrance doorway of former screens passage. Doorway has two-centred arch with chamfered ashlar surround and C20 boarded door. Former ground-floor windows to hall (right) and service room (left) are blocked but retain timber lintels to window-head. Projecting (far right) is the curved ruined wall of the solar cross-wing, which includes the base of projecting gable stack. Attached (far left) is single-storey dairy with lower roof-line. Ground-floor of dairy has C17 4-light diamond mullion window with angled dripstone (left) and plank and batten door with strap hinges (right). Garden front faces W and the principal feature of interest is the blocked entrance doorway to former screens passage which has similar two-centre arched door. To right of doorway is small chamfered blocked window opening. S gable has former entrance doorway (left), tiered base of projecting gable stack (centre) and W wall of dairy (right).

Interior

The building has been reroofed with C20 trusses. A single C17 chamfered ceiling beam is the only internal feature that now survives of the former hall-house.

Reason for designation

Listed as containing the very important remains of C15 hall-house at Hendy, including fine stone cross-passage doorways to former medieval hall.