Llanvihangel Court | |
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General information | |
Architectural style | Tudor |
Town or city | Llanvihangel Crucorney |
Country | United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°52′42″N 2°58′40″W / 51.8782°N 2.9779°WCoordinates: 51°52′42″N 2°58′40″W / 51.8782°N 2.9779°W |
Construction started | circa 1600 |
Completed | circa 1900 |
Designations | Grade I listed |
Llanvihangel (or Llanfihangel) Court, Llanvihangel Crucorney, is a Tudor country house in Monmouthshire, Wales, described by the architectural historian John Newman as "the most impressive and richly decorated house of around 1600 in Monmouthshire". The court has a "complicated building history" stretching from the mid-16th century to the early 20th century. It is a Grade I listed building.
The court was originally constructed by the Morgan family in 1559, although earlier medieval elements were incorporated. It was later substantially embellished and extended by the Arnolds,Members of Parliament for and High Sheriffs of Monmouthshire in the 17th and 18th centuries. The north front is of two storeys and six bays from the late 17th century, whilst the east front was largely rebuilt as late as 1905. The interior contains plaster ceilings, screens, fireplaces, doorcases and a "magnificant" staircase of very high quality, some from the 17th century and some from later re-modelling.
The Monmouthshire author and artist, Fred Hando, visited the house in the early 1950s and described it is his book Journeys in Gwent. Hando recorded the "seventeenth century decorated plaster work ceiling" in the great hall, and the fire-back, dated 1694, which had previously formed a bridge over a nearby stream.
The grounds and outbuildings are also of note. The stable block is "a great rarity dating from 1630–40 and largely unaltered". It is a Grade I listed building in its own right. Near the lake there is a small brick summerhouse, also called the Guardhouse or Garden House, which may originally have been one of a pair completing a walled enclosure around the court. This has its own Grade II* listed designation.