History
The mansion of Old Place, also known as Old Plas and Llantwit Major Castle, has its origins as a late C15 / early C16 hall house with parlour and solar block, and was in existence in the 1530s when John Leland travelled Wales for his itinerary. Edmund Van was in residence at this point.
The parlour block of this early house survives, along with an extension of c1598, that forms the right hand end of the E-plan mansion. This end was reinstated for residential use between c2012-2021.
Substantial elements of the parlour block’s first phase are evident: 2 corbels of the original (lower) floor structure; a fireplace and doorway at first floor (blocked when the floor was raised in the mid-C16); a lateral chimney and fireplace on S wall. The W wall, which incorporates the fabric of an early C16 hall, had a crow stepped gable, as evidenced by the stepped stones surviving to the N gable line on the W face. This roofline is visible on the interior of the W wall. No original door or window surrounds survive, but evidence elsewhere suggests that they would have had 4-centred and flattened ‘Tudor’ style heads.
The parlour block house that survives today is considered to be the work of Edmund Van – part of a scheme of works to the mansion carried out in the mid-C16. Van is thought to have enlarged the hall, rebuilding all or part of the rear (N) wall and most of the front (S) wall of both the hall and parlour. This included the insertion of a first floor above the hall to create a great chamber, raising the existing floor level of the solar / parlour block, and adding a new lateral chimney to it. A service wing was also added to the rear.
In the later C16 the mansion passed to George Van, grandson of Edmund. He moved to the family seat to nearby Marcross, with his son (another) Edmund taking over at Old Place. Through a marriage dowry from Griffith William of Candleston c1598 Edmund is known to have greatly altered Old Place and created the E-plan mansion by adding wings at either end of the main range, which was altered to accommodate a long gallery. It was described as ‘a very sumptuous newe house’ but also noted was the poor build quality and speed of the alterations obvious in the masonry (Stradling in Rees 1932: 77). The parlour / solar block was encompassed in a 3 storey wing at the right end of the remodelled hall range, and a stairwell was added. Both wings include large chimney stacks and fireplaces, a sign of status, which is reflected in Hearth Tax records of 1670 where John Avan, in residence by 1645, was taxed for seven hearths (Stone 1996). The roof was originally finished with pennant stone tiles in diminishing courses and finished with green glazed ridge tiles, the remains of which have been found in pieces on site. Later, Welsh slate was used, again in diminishing courses. The glaze and form of the ridge tiles are comparable to those of Sker House, Glamorgan, which have been dated to 1620-30.
It was likely that John Avan added ancillary buildings to both wings as well as the courtyard walls. Dorothy Avan is known to have been resident after 1670 but the house was then unoccupied from the early C18 and was not shown in a 1729 map of ‘Gentlemen’s Seats’ and ‘Houses of Less Note and Farm Houses’ by Emanuel Bowen, suggesting it had by this time become unoccupied. After this point the mansion became known as Llantwit Castle, stone was robbed for local construction and – after William Vann sold it to the Nicholl family – worked stone of the window and door jambs were taken for reuse at their own Ham House. The interior is recorded has having been fully dismantled by 1834.
The building had become derelict and was unoccupied when restoration started in 2012. Reinstatement of the parlour wing as a dwelling was complete at the time of inspection in 2021. The listing is intended to apply to the residential parlour wing. The remaining elements of Old Place are a Scheduled Monument (GM137).