Llangattock Court

Llangattock Court

A substantial timber-framed house of early Tudor origin with significant 17th century remodelling, constructed with local brown rubble stone and a concrete tile roof. The building is L-shaped in plan, with a main range facing the road, a cross-wing to the left, a small bakehouse wing projecting from the rear of the cross-wing, and a late 20th century pent added along the rear of the main wing. The architecture displays a plain late Elizabethan style with two tall storeys and a garret throughout a single depth plan.

The entrance elevation is composed of five bays. The first bay consists of the cross-wing on the left, which has a small two-light 17th century window to the left below with a dripmould, and a larger three-light window with an elliptical head dated 1913 above; a small single-light 17th century window stands to the right, leaving most of the gable end blind. The second bay contains a modern casement window below and a three-light elliptically headed window above. The third bay presents a two-storey gabled porch with a two-centred moulded stone arched entrance; within the porch is a part-glazed door with sidelights dated 1913, set into a fine circa 1600 four-centred moulded stone doorway. The porch gable contains a two-light mullion-and-transom casement of approximately 1913. The fourth bay has a small window below and a larger one above, both 20th century. The final bay features a canted bay below and a three-light mullion-and-transom window above, both 20th century. The steeply pitched roofs are served by a rebuilt red brick stack on the gable end of the wing, a large red brick stack (since truncated) at the right junction of the porch, and a small rebuilt stack on the right gable end.

The left return elevation of the cross-wing displays three large 20th century windows on the ground floor, all with ancient relieving arches, and one 20th century window on the first floor within a disturbed wall surface that suggests further original windows once existed. The right return elevation contains an inserted doorway on the ground floor, a three-light 20th century window with an ancient relieving arch on the first floor, and two 20th century garret windows.

The rear elevation reveals the hall stack on the left, which is stone with two brick shafts. The ground floor is obscured by a modern lean-to. Above the stack to the right stands a stair window—a circa 1600 four-light mullion-and-transom stone window now entirely faced externally with cement. A slight projection contains a 20th century window in a red brick frame, with a small single-light 17th century window to its left. The cross-wing gable end displays a small 17th century window with ovolo surround on the ground floor but is otherwise featureless. A single-storey projecting bakehouse with 19th century doors and windows features timber framing with red brick infill gable end.

The interior is wholly timber-framed, comprising elements of differing character. A room to the left of the entrance (now the Dining Room) features large box-framing of early Tudor character with an upper cruck-framed roof; a single survivor of a cruck foot survives by the main door, apparently retained to support the new fireplace above when the house was raised circa 1600. Small-scantling framing appears elsewhere and within plastered walls. The planning of both the early Tudor house and the circa 1600 house remains confused by 1913 alterations.

The front door enters a hall with tiled floor and a turned baluster stair of 1913. To the right, the Drawing Room sits at a lower level and contains a very large and fine circa 1600 moulded stone fireplace on the north wall. The west wall of this room is a thin timber-framed partition not aligned with the cross-passage, suggesting a date of 1913. The ceiling displays 17th century plaster decoration of small rosettes and fleur-de-lys. The south wall window retains its original embrasure, though the 1913 canted bay lies outside. The room is underwindowed relative to its size, indicating a major spatial rethink at some period. To the left of the hall, the Dining Room contains two large timber-framed walls with some later infill; the doorway into the hall appears original. This single door perhaps indicates the family quarters, with the missing screens partition once separating the original hall. The Dining Room is similarly underwindowed, but its window shows a canted embrasure on one side and a straight face where the porch was built into it. Other rooms are largely featureless. The front fireplace is stone-framed and supported by the base of the cruck blade. A moulded doorhead of early 17th century Monmouthshire character on the first floor, now blocked, once provided entry to the attic stair.