Monmouth Lodge

A former gate lodge to The Hendre. Walls of random rubble, roofs of red tiles with gable parapets and fleur-de-lis ridge tiles. Irregular plan with a short main range parallel to the road (but not facing it), a rear crosswing and a porch-tower in the S angle thus formed. One-and-a-half and 2 storeys in a theatrically-eclectic style. Striking composition when seen by visitors arriving from the Monmouth direction as their carriages forked off the public road. This consists of the E gable-end of the main range with the porch-tower set back on its S side. The gable wall has an unusual single-storey semi-circular "turret" at ground floor level, with a steep semi-conical tiled roof and a chamfered 1-light window in each of its 3 cardinal sides; a pair of narrow chamfered 1-light attic windows flanking the apex; and a steep crow-stepped parapet with a ball finial on the apex. The set-back porch-tower to the left, which is 2-storeyed, has steps up to a round-headed arch containing a square-headed doorway with the date 1896 in the tympanum, a small chamfered 1-light window at 1st floor, a corbelled and embattlemented parapet and a tall pyramidal flèche with triangular lucarnes and a finial. The N and S gables of the rear wing match the front gable. The front and rear ranges each have a large chimney with a corbelled cap. (The design was almost exactly repeated for North Lodge in Hendre (q.v.) The item forms a good group with its associated gateway (q.v.).