Shirenewton Hall
| Shirenewton Hall | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Location | Shirenewton, Monmouthshire |
| Country | Wales |
| Coordinates | 51°38′13.56″N 2°45′5.4″W / 51.6371000°N 2.751500°WCoordinates: 51°38′13.56″N 2°45′5.4″W / 51.6371000°N 2.751500°W |
| Designations | Grade II listed |
Shirenewton Hall, originally Shirenewton Court, is a large country house and estate adjoining the village of Shirenewton, Monmouthshire, Wales, about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Chepstow. The 29.5-acre (11.9 ha) estate is located on a hillside, and commands views across the "Golden Valley" to the west and the Severn estuary in the south.
The main building was constructed around 1830, and partly rebuilt around 1900–1910, on the site of an earlier house which was the birthplace of William Blethyn, Bishop of Llandaff. The house is now a Grade II listed building, and the tea house in the adjoining Japanese garden is listed as Grade II*. The estate is not open to the public.
Prior to the construction of Shirenewton Court, an earlier building was occupied since the Middle Ages by the Blethyn (or Bleddyn) family. It was William Blethyn's birthplace, probably around 1520; he died in 1590.
Shirenewton Court was built around 1830 in an Italianate style on or near the site of the older building. It was built for William Hollis by an unknown architect. Hollis, a descendent from an industrialist family who developed paper mills at nearby Mounton, was the Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1831.
About fifty years after Shirenewton Hall's construction, when it was no longer known as Shirenewton Court, the Blethyn family had "descended in the social scale", and sold the property to Edward Joseph Lowe. He was a botanist, horticulturalist, meteorologist and writer who was largely responsible for designing and planting the surrounding gardens. Lowe added two open pavilions, the larger being of sandstone with a glazed tile roof, while the smaller had a copper roof. He also added a summer house with a marble sundial. Lowe wrote many books on the cultivation of woodland ferns and some species of these grow around the churchyard walls at Shirenewton Church.
...
Wikipedia