The Friars (Postgraduate Centre of Royal Gwent Hospital)

The Friars is a large house dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, extensively remodelled in the mid-19th century and subsequently used as the Postgraduate Centre of Royal Gwent Hospital. The north-facing entrance block is constructed of bathstone with a scribed stucco finish on the east side, featuring hipped slate roofs with decorative, cusped bargeboards to the gables and dormers, and diagonal brick stacks. It has three bays, with a central gabled bay containing a stepped attic window, and a matching gabled dormer to each side. The first floor has three-light mullion and transom windows, and the ground floor has similar windows in the outer bays, with a central gabled porch featuring windows on either side. To the right of the entrance block, set back, is a single-storey block with a chimney at the right end. To the left is a stucco block with two twelve-pane sash windows on each floor, a two-window return to the left, and further to the left a block of similar style with three windows and a ground-floor lean-to. Further to the left, as the ground slopes, a lower block containing a former dairy has altered windows, a slate roof with paired diagonal chimney stacks, and a junction lean-to addition. The south front is in a more conventional mid-19th century style. It features a gabled block with a two-storey bay window and an attic window, a recessed three-window block with a dormer, and a further recessed two-window block, culminating in a gabled block at the right end with three-light mullion and transom windows instead of bay windows. A rear section of the dairy block has a roof of scalloped slates, a large bay window with Gothic windows, and a steep gable to the right. A modern extension to the southwest incorporates former conservatory windows.

The interior is generally well-preserved, with panelled doors, shutters with scrollwork, and linenfold panelling. A notable feature is the re-use of 16th and 17th century carved woodwork, repurposed as chimneypieces, panelling, and shutters. The entrance hall contains a large chimneypiece with low-relief panels, and a Jacobethan staircase ascends within. A chimneypiece in the library (formerly the dining room) includes relief roundels depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin. The dairy at the east end of the house has stained glass to the Gothic windows, oriental-style ceramic tiles to the floor, and around an octagonal table above a central octagonal basin; some wall tiles have been removed, and a shelf with iron Gothic cresting remains at the head of the walls.