Abbey Hotel

Abbey Hotel

The Abbey Hotel is a complex building that incorporates the south-west tower of a medieval priory into a later domestic structure. The building is constructed mostly from coursed squared red sandstone with ashlar quoins, though the medieval sections are built in ashlar. The roofs are laid with stone tiles. The structure is of mixed height—partly two storeys with attic and partly four storeys, the latter being the medieval tower.

The building presents an unusual arrangement with two distinct rear elevations, which, as seen also at Court Farmhouse, may reflect a reversal of orientation when the property changed from farmhouse to public house, possibly in the 18th century. The entrance front now faces east towards the Priory ruins, as befits a hotel designed to accommodate visitors to the site.

The entrance elevation is a low two-storey structure with a steeply pitched roof. An open pentice on a timber frame of four bays with Welsh slate roof partly obscures the ground floor. Behind this are two part-glazed double doors with elliptically arched heads. To the left is a paired 6 over 6 sash window, with another similar window placed higher on the façade to the left. Three sloping-topped dormers with 3 over 2 sashes are set at different levels in the roof, reflecting different floor heights—an inevitable consequence of converting a medieval building to domestic use. A centrally placed rebuilt red brick chimney rises through the roof. The present ridge line is considerably lower than the medieval ridge line, which is ghosted as a line on the south-west tower. The left-hand upper floors are accessed by steps leading to a door in a lean-to, with paired sash windows serving the main living room of this section. The hotel occupies the right-hand part, incorporating the undercroft and tower. The south gable has a lean-to against it with two small 20th-century windows above.

The west elevation onto the garden is plainer, with a half dormer breaking the eaves line and a full dormer in the roof as described above.

The south-west tower of the Priory is incorporated at the north end of the building. Dating to probably the early 13th century, it rises to four storeys with a room on each floor. The south wall rises above the main range and is blind, topped by a red brick chimney. The east wall bears the ghost outline of the south aisle roof at third-floor level. Above this is a pointed arched small-paned window, probably an early 19th-century insertion, fitted with a tilting window in the head and a 6 + 6 casement below.

The north wall, which looks towards the church, features Early English arches on the ground and first floors, now blocked with rubble walling. Above these is a two-light casement window in an arched head. The wall is buttressed on either side and retains fragments of vaulting. A doorway opens onto what was formerly the walk behind the great rose window of the church's west front.

The west wall, originally external to the church, is decorated with applied colonnettes in the Early English manner. A round-arched first-floor window has a drip mould above. A stair turret occupies the south-west corner. The tower is capped with a hipped stone-tiled roof.

Interior

The house section on the left contains no visible medieval features beyond the vaulted undercroft, which was not observed at the May 1997 resurvey. It retains a 13-foot oak table dated 1690, which was accepted by the Llanthony Estate as rent payment from the tenant of Llwyn-celyn Farm. This table was recorded by Bradney in its original position in 1906.

The hotel interior includes a bar situated in the 2-bay vaulted undercroft, dating to the early 13th century. The dining room is similarly vaulted and features an early 19th-century fireplace. Two stone spiral staircases are present: the original 13th-century staircase ascends to three bedrooms in the tower, the topmost of which has a vaulted roof. No other rooms were examined during the survey.