Blackbrook House

Blackbrook House is a late-Georgian country house, built on the site of a medieval manor associated with Skenfrith Castle. It dates from the late 18th century and has undergone alterations and recent renovation. The house is built of stuccoed rubble with a shallow hipped slate roof. It has a compact, double-pile rectangular plan with a north-south main axis and three storeys, presenting a symmetrical facade to the east. The facade features a 1:3:1 window arrangement, with the outer bays slightly projected and a light Tuscan colonnade with a dentilled cornice spanning the recessed central bay at ground floor level. Behind the colonnade, two large rectangular four-light windows with slender horizontal glazing bars flank a narrow window, potentially formerly a doorway, also with glazing bars. Narrow French windows with horizontal glazing bars are situated in the projected outer bays at ground floor. The first floor has tall 12-pane sash windows, while the second floor has square six-pane sashes. A dentil and moulded eaves cornice runs around the entire building, flanked by a pair of lateral chimney stacks on the roof ridge.

The three-window south front is flush and hipped, and also symmetrical. Here, large segmental-headed tripartite sashes flank a round-headed niche at ground floor and a narrow segmental-headed 12-pane sash at first floor, with slender glazing bars. The second floor has three wide tripartite lunettes, also with slender glazing bars. The north side, overlooking a service courtyard, has similar windows in the outer bays only. A pair of small 12-pane sashes flank the centre line at first floor, and a simple doorway at ground floor appears to be a later insertion. The hipped roof on this side has an M-profile. The west side, originally the rear but now the main entrance front, is distinguished by a broad centre bay that projects slightly, containing a Venetian stair window. A modern glazed porch sits below the stair window, with a shallow segmental-headed tripartite window above.

Attached to the northwest corner is a long single-storey service wing of rubble construction, which forms the west side of a service courtyard enclosed by brick walls on the other two sides. When Blackbrook House was initially listed, it was noted to contain a full-height stair around a spacious well with variously-shaped landings. Pevsner and Newman (2000) record the presence of a bowed gallery at second-floor level.