2619

 

II*  

Designated  

04/03/1952  

18/07/2001  

Persondy  

 

Monmouthshire  

Goetre Fawr  

Pontypool  

Mamhilad  

330103  

203230  

N  

About 500m south west of the Church of St. Illtyd.  

Domestic  

 

This house dates from the late C16 and was the priest's house for Mamhilad parish. It is an extraordinarily richly finished house for one so small, with joinery of the highest quality and all of it moulded. It began as a two cell end entry house and has never been extended apart from the verandah which covers the south and east ground floors and is said to have been added in c1940 when there were also alterations to the doors, windows and fireplace. The present owner has seen a full refurbishment during the years 1952-1990 and the roof material and all the new windows date from then. Despite its change in appearance externally the interior remains extraordinarily unchanged for so small and ancient a house which has apparently never gone out of domestic use. A full reconstruction of the house's probable original appearance is shown in 'Houses of the Welsh Countryside'.  

The exterior of this house gives very little away of its true interest and importance. It is constructed of local rubble stone, but it is entirely rendered and has a roof of imitation stone slates, with a concrete tile roof on the modern verandah. It is a two storey two room house with a mid C20 single storey verandah running along the east long wall and the south gable wall. This verandah has continouous glazing and hides the original entrance in the south gable, the present entrance in the east wall and the ground floor east window. The south gable had a stair window once but this is now under the render. The main stack is on this gable. The east wall has a 3-light casement and a 3-light casement in the upper floor, these may have partly original frames. The west wall has three windows below of which the centre one is a 4-light one in a probably original frame, that to the right is in the end of the verandah. That to the left is into what was originally the dairy and this would not have had a window except on the north. The north gable has this window, plus another above which lights the closet, these may have some original work. For the once external features now hidden by the verandah see Interior below.  

Three ground floor features are now internal as they are within the verandah. The south gable entrance was reopened by the present owner and has a modern oak plank door. The east entrance door into the parlour is inserted into an original window, this was also probably done by the present owner, Fox and Raglan record it as a window. The east window is an original opening with oak lintel for a 5-light window, the diamond set mullions and the cill are both late C20 as this was the entrance in 1960. The two cell plan is still evident internally as the oak post-and-panel partitions survive through both floors. Every member is moulded with elaborate quarter and half rolls, including the two door frames which have 4-centred heads. The hall has three cross beams, two of which are very obviously cranked. The chamfers have five parallel quarter and half roll moulds running the full length and dying into the stops. The joists also have moulded chamfers and carry the original oak floorboards. There is an unexplained gap between the end of the beams and the lintel on the east wall, the site of an alteration of some kind. The fireplace was reopened by the present owner and the lintel reported by Fox and Raglan was reinstated having been found in the field outside. This has shrunk and cracked to some degree but is also seen to have the same mouldings. The firestair, which has had some alteration, leads to the upper floor. The partition doors are missing, as is the inner room partition, though its former position can be clearly seen, it was in place for Fox and Raglan. The east room was the priest's study and is finely finished with the same mouldings to the ceiling and the back of the partition. These are missing for the dairy which has plain chamfers. This room once had a salting stone, now gone. The upper floor has an unmoulded partition, but the door to the right survives. The ceiling beams are again cranked and quarter roll moulded with ogee stops. The joists are also moulded, but these and the floor boards are modern replacements. There are modern oak fitted cupboards and the inner room has been divided into bathroom and second bedroom, but everything is in character. Three bay roof with two massive A-frame trusses halved and tenoned at the apex, two tiers of purlins, rafters, ridge piece on the diagonal, all complete.  

Included and highly graded as an exceptionally unaltered C16 parsonage which retains almost all its very high quality joinery and carpentry.