Grange Farmhouse including attached Brewhouse/Dairy and Lower Cowhouse (aka The Grange)

Cadw's description

Location

Approximately 3km NE of Llantilio Crossenny, at the end of the minor road that runs NW from Onen, reached by farm track.

History

Derives its name as a former monastic grange to the nearby Abbey at Parc Grace Dieu. At the Dissolution, the grange was granted to Sir Thomas Herbert of Wonastow, Monmouthshire and William Brett. Although the present Renaissance farmhouse is largely early C18 in character, the basement contains C17 sunk chamfer mullion windows, suggesting that an earlier house may have been rebuilt on the site. In the C19 the external fenestration was changed and sash windows, some with marginal glazing bars, inserted. The present house was probably built by the Grayhurst family, silversmiths of the Strand, London, who owned the house in C18.
The attached cowhouse (bounding the E side of the lower yard) dates from the early C19.

Exterior

Large early C18 Renaissance farmhouse. External render, whitewashed; slate roof with projecting end-stacks. Three storey S front is symmetrical. Windows are hornless sashes with shallow stone sills. Ground floor (centre) has rendered C20 porch with gabled slate roof and C20 3-pane metal windows to side walls. Inner entrance doorway has 4-pane rectangular overlight, C20 4-panel door. Flanking entrance on each side are 24-pane sashes with marginal glazing bars, in wide segmental-arched openings. First floor has three 12-pane sashes in narrower segmental openings. Second floor, three smaller 4-pane sashes in square openings with flat heads. To left of main house is a one-and-a-half storey block. Whitewashed render, slate roof and partially projecting gable stack with stepped offsets. Ground floor (l to r) has 2+2+2 pane casement and C20 glazed door. Above, in centre of roof slope, is gabled attic dormer with 2+2 pane window. Back elevation has 2+2 casements on first and second floors; a 2-light leaded window on ground floor and a small leaded staircase window. At lower ground level are two doorways (centre), a 2-light mullion window with iron stanchions (left). At E gable, on each side of stack, are 1-light sunk chamfer mullions with iron stanchions. At back of one-and-a-half storey block, a single-storey brewhouse/dairy wing projects at right angles. Rubble stone walls; corrugated asbestos roof, and big stone stack projecting at N gable with recessed brick flue. W front has (r to l) boarded door with monopitch canopy, and a 6-pane window with shallow stone sill. To left of entrance, a low stone wall, approximately 2m long, projects forward. On the lower side of this wall is a stone drinking trough with farmyard below. Attached to end-gable of brewhouse/dairy at this lower level is a single-storey stone cowhouse with corrugated metal roof. W front has (l to r) a boarded door, next a blocked door, and then two boarded doors.

Interior

Centre entrance lobby has coved ceiling cornice, 4-panel doors. Ground floor rooms have shutters with fielded panels and dado rails. Room to right of entry has moulded ceiling cornice and C20 fireplace; room to left, blocked fireplace opening (former C18 wooden eared architrave stored in cellar). Behind entrance lobby is pantry with C18 8-panel door. Centre rear oak stair with winders and wall rail. Each of the upper floors has three bedrooms. On first floor is a good C18 bolection moulded fireplace surround, with hob grate. Second floor has re-used roof timbers, 6 bays, collar trusses, two tiers of purlins. Interior of one-and-a-half storey block has ground-floor kitchen with chamfered ceiling beams, panel shutters, and spit rack above fireplace.

Lower cowhouse has 5-bay interior and early C19 roof-trusses with angled queen struts. Brewhouse/dairy interior not seen at time of resurvey.

Reason for designation

Listed as substantial early C18 Renaissance house, retaining significant original internal detail. Exterior character represents early C19 re-ordering, with farmhouse and attached farm buildings to rear forming centrepiece of good farmstead group.