23978

 

II*  

Designated  

08/09/2000  

08/09/2000  

Tredean  

 

Monmouthshire  

Devauden  

Chepstow  

Devauden  

347758  

199255  

W  

About lkm north west of Devauden village approached by a long drive off the west side of the Monmouth Road on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the Wolvesnewton valley.  

Domestic  

 

Built 1901-2, designed by Arthur Jessop Hardwick (1867-1948) of Kingston-upon-Thames for Henry Simpson and built by Turner of Cardiff. Henry Simpson had bought the eastern Wolvesnewton and Kilgwrrwg estates from the Duke of Beaufort in 1900. The house remains almost unaltered from when built and during the 1990s has been restored and refurbished to a very high standard.  

Built of roughcast over rubble with some dressed rubble visible, for instance below some windows, while the chimneys are ashlar, two of these have been rebuilt in the 1990s. Vertical timber framing to the gables and along the first floor of the entrance front. Arts-and-Crafts style, strongly influenced by the Voysey 'Lakeland ' manner then in vogue. Red tile roofs, recovered in the 1990s. The house is situated terraced into a steep hillside and is to some degree the wrong way round in that the main entrance is on the garden side where there is only a small terrace above the garden, while the approach road goes to the service entrance facing the hillside. The published designs (see References) significantly show the house largely as built but apparently on a very much flatter site. Large rambling two-storey and-attic house with a full basement due to the artificial ground level. It faces west over the valley with the east front into a steep hillside, with a Billiard Room at the south end and the service wing on the north end. The entrance front has a gable to the left with a ground floor pentice and mullioned lattice windows to the Dining Room. Two long bay central range with buttress, with timber mullioned windows and vertical timber framing above, then a projecting wing with the Sitting Room, which has a semi-circular bay window. In the angle between them is a canted timber framed gabled porch leading to the Entrance Hall. The Sitting Room has a large lateral stack with crowsteps, then comes a one bay section with a flat topped dormer, then the single storey gabled Billiard Room with canted corner bay window with ten panes of lattice windows and a leaded roof. Vertical framing to this section, large stack and roof-light. The east front has similar details with a two gable projecting wing and a two storey ashlar projection in the angle with stone mullioned windows. Finally the service entrance is in the angle of the Kitchen and Dining Room. It is a square projection with a corner porch and arched entrances, flat lead roof above the first floor. Large flat topped 6-light dormer to the right. The house has seven large ashlar stacks in all, which have distinctive moulded caps, two of these have been rebuilt in the 1990s. They form a very significant feature of the house design.  

The interior is more Norman Shaw 'olde English' than Voysey in character. It is very unaltered, although some of the features are reproduction or introduced in the 1990s. The Entrance Hall has a stained splat baluster open-well stair with panelled walls, a splendid stone fireplace, and stained glass windows by Wragge of Manchester. The Dining Room has another fine stone fireplace and a panelled ceiling. The hall and corridor have plank doors with ironmongery and light fittings all complete. The secondary staircase is painted white in the Queen Anne/Bedford Park manner. The Sitting Room has fitted bookcases in matching style which were built in the 1990s but the fireplace is original. The Billiard Room has an open framed roof with four arched braced queen post trusses, the centre two supporting the skylight; elaborate brick and timber fireplace with beaten copper hood. The bedrooms have contemporary doors and some joinery and fireplaces, but have been altered to some degree for extra bathrooms etc., though these are mostly in what were dressing rooms. There is a 1902 Bathroom with tiling and sanitary ware all complete. The basement has service rooms, boiler room, wine-store etc.  

Included and highly graded as a particularly good and almost unaltered Arts and Crafts house dating from 1901-2 and designed by Arthur Jessop Hardwick. The interior is especially rich with many surviving features.