History

This house began as a hall and cross-wing in the late C15. Probably in the late C16 or early C17 it was heightened by a full storey and rewindowed, and then, later on in the C17, an additional range was built parallel to the cross-wing. This new building, together with the cross-wing, became the house and the medieval hall was downgraded to a secondary house with the windows partially blocked up, and then finally became a barn. The farm was purchased in the early C20 by Monmouthshire County Council (Bradney says 'recently purchased' in 1933) and, at some stage in mid century they removed the added top floor of the hall and cross-wing returning it to something more like its medieval proportions but with a C20 roof structure. The present owner repaired the hall in about 1985 returning it from agricultural use to commercial, it is now (1999) a shop, the rest of the building continuing as a house.
It was the house in the C17 of Nicholas Moore, High Sherriff of Monmouthshire, who was married in the adjacent chapel (now St Nyvern's Chapel House) on 13 January 1616 and was still living in the house in 1653. He twice entertained Charles I here on 22 and 24 July 1645 at the very end of the first Civil War.

Exterior

The house was built of thin coursed rubble stone with modern render to the main house front and gables and the gable to the cross-wing behind. All the roofs are pantiled with red brick uppersections of the chimneys. The house incorporates the main front range with the parallel cross-wing of the medieval house behind it. The medieval hall block is now a shop, the Welsh Archery Centre.
The main house range is of two storeys and garret, three bays to the front. Probably late C19 4-light timber mullion and transom windows have replaced the C17 windows. Modern porch in the centre with modern 2-light cross framed casement above. Steeply pitched roof with end stacks, that to the right is original with a weathered top. Garret window in the gable. C19 single storey kitchen extension on the far gable. The rear elevation of this block has one introduced 2-light casement and a blocked stair window with damaged dripmould.
The medieval house is of a single storey over a basement while the cross-wing is of two storeys. The elevation to the road has the wing on the right. This has two over two modern hardwood casements in an otherwise blank rendered wall, but illustrations of its C19 state show the left jamb of a medieval window to the left of the present upper windows and also that the first floor had a 4-light C17 window half blocked and some of these features will probably still survive under the render. To the left, the hall wing has three openings to the undecroft, all altered, a C15 almost segmental headed doorway up a flight of steps and, to the right, a 2-light C15 window. The upper floor has a late C16 4-light mullion and transom window with the outer lights bricked up, presumably in the C18 when the building was downgraded. The mullions are stopchamfered and have a double thickness central one and the transom. Dripmould over. The window is repeated on the rear wall but this one is wholly blocked. There is another C15 doorway to the screens passage with, to the left, a projection which was built to contain the staircase to the now demolished upper floors. Only the ground floor remains and this has a modern 4-light mullion and transom timber window under a concrete lintel. Low pitch slate roof to this small extension. To the right of the door is a partially altered original entrance to the undercroft/kitchen. The gable wall has another partly bricked up 4-light window as on the entrance front and, to the left of this, a blocked in doorway with an arched head, though its purpose is difficult of interpretation. At ground level is the open bottom of a vertical shaft under a massive lintel, presumably a garderobe shaft.

Interior

The interior of the house was not available for inspection at the time of resurvey but it is probably extensively altered.
The hall (now Welsh Archery Centre) is open to the roof over a replacement timber floor. There are the remains of a C16 fireplace, but the top of the stack was removed when the building was re-roofed. The roof is supported by four plain king post trusses.
The undercroft was not inspected.

Reasons for Listing

Grade II* as a C15-C17 house with a large number of good quality features surviving from the C15 and C16. The medieval part of the house is a scheduled Ancient Monument, Mon 053.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Manor Farm at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17743168

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey