Front Garden Railings & Gates to Nos.56 & 58 (Cornwall House)
Designated
15 August 1974
Referenceno.
2293
Location of Cornwall House in Monmouthshire
Cornwall House is a town house located at numbers 56 and 58, Monnow Street in Monmouth, Wales. It dates in part from the 17th century but was rebuilt in several stages later. The street facade and rear facade are very different, but both are reworkings of a much older building. It is a Grade II* listed building, and has been described in The Buildings of Wales as "the most imposing house in the street".[1] Part has been the main office of the Monmouthshire Beacon newspaper since 1987.
The house was constructed in several stages, and occupies the sites of at least three burgages. In 1678 it was known as the Great House and was owned by George Milborne, brother of the recusant George Milborne of Wonastow; in 1699 it was owned by Thomas Brewer, blacksmith.[2] The Duke of Beaufort's agent, Henry Burgh, acquired it and was responsible for building the Queen Anne style frontage facing the fields at Chippenham – at the rear of the building as it now appears.
Exterior
What is now the rear of the building has a whitewashed stone dressing that covers the main red brick construction. It has two-plus-three-plus-two bays, with the central three under a pediment enclosing Diocletian windows and with a rusticated surround. There is a simple but elegant early nineteenth century staircase, and an Adamesque chimney piece with nicely carved timber.[1] A plaque on the outside gives the date of that part of the building as 1752. The secluded walled garden, which the rear of the current building now overlooks,[3] originally contained a grandstand from which the Duke and his friends could watch horse racing on Chippenham fields.[2]
Cornwall House lampholder and fence
The building now faces Monnow Street. The façade that looks onto the street is Georgian and shows two floors and an attic, with the building being set behind a railed forecourt. The new frontage was added in 1770, and (slightly later) a porch, fanlights and side doors were added in the late 18th century.[2] The house now has five bays, under a cornice and pedimented porch on slender Doric columns.
At some point in the 19th century the house was split into two parts, and the spaces between the house and the neighbouring buildings was filled by two single storey extensions. The one on the left provides access to number 56, which is now the office of the Monmouthshire Beacon newspaper, while the one on the right provides a kitchen to number 58. The street entrance to number 58 retains an elegant lampholder over the gate in the ironwork front fence.
Interior
Inside the building, the original staircases are still extant,[3] and there is "an Adamesque chimneypiece of timber carved with exquisite delicacy".[1]
Current uses and status
A plaque on the front of the building, dated 1837, refers to the Monmouthshire Beacon, a newspaper founded that year. The newspaper moved into the building in 1987, its 150th anniversary year, when Princess Margaret opened its new offices.[4] Number 58, the main part of the house, is privately owned but is regularly open to the public during selected weekends from March to September.[5][6]
Monmouth is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, two miles from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Cardiff, and 113 miles (182 km) west of London. It is within the Monmouthshire local authority, and the parliamentary constituency of Monmouth. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8,877 in 2001. Monmouth is the historic county town of Monmouthshire although Abergavenny is now the county town.
Blestium was a small fort and iron working centre in the Roman province of Britannia Superior, part of Roman Britain. It has been identified with the site of the later town of Monmouth in south east Wales, located adjoining the confluence of the River Monnow with the River Wye. A plaque on the local bank records its position.
The Shire Hall in Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Wales, is a prominent Grade I listed building in the town centre. It was built in 1724, and was formerly the centre for the Assize Courts and Quarter Sessions for Monmouthshire. In 1839–40, the court was the location of the trial of the Chartist leader John Frost and others for high treason for their part in the Newport Rising. The building was also used as a market place. The Shire Hall is owned by Monmouthshire County Council and has audiovisual guides for visitors to Courtroom 1. It is currently used as a Tourist Information Centre and as the offices for Monmouth Town Council, and is open to the public in part.
The Nelson Garden, on 13 Chippenhamgate Street, at the rear of No.18 Monnow Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire is a 19th-century garden that was the scene of a tea party held to honour Lord Nelson in 1802. The garden is one of 24 sites on the Monmouth Heritage Trail. It is bounded on the south by the line of the medieval town wall through which it is entered via a short underground passageway. The garden has limited public access and is now managed by a trust. It is included on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
The Robin Hood Inn, Nos. 124 and 126, Monnow Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a public house of late medieval origins. It was Grade II* listed in 1952.
The Market Hall, in Priory Street, Monmouth, Wales, is an early Victorian building by the prolific Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox. It was constructed in the years 1837–39 as the centrepiece of a redevelopment of part of Monmouth town centre. After being severely damaged by fire in 1963, it was partly rebuilt and is now the home of Monmouth Museum. At the rear of the building are original slaughterhouses, called The Shambles, opening onto the River Monnow. The building is Grade II listed as at 27 June 1952, and it is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail. The Shambles slaughterhouses are separately listed as Grade II*.
Hyam's Mineral Water Works is a nineteenth century building at 23 Glendower Street, Monmouth, Wales. Formerly a mineral water works, it is currently used as residential apartments. The building holds one of the 24 blue plaques awarded by the Monmouth Civic Society to buildings of especial historical and social interest, and features on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
The Monmouthshire Beacon is a weekly tabloid newspaper covering the areas of Monmouthshire, south Herefordshire and western Gloucestershire. It has been in continuous publication since 1837. Since 1980 the newspaper has been part of the Tindle Newspaper Group of local newspapers owned by Farnham Castle Newspapers and chaired by Sir Ray Tindle (1926-2022).
George Vaughan Maddox was a nineteenth-century British architect and builder, whose work was undertaken principally in the town of Monmouth, Wales, and in the wider county. Working mainly in a Neo-Classical style, his extensive output made a significant contribution to the Monmouth townscape. The architectural historian John Newman considers that Monmouth owes to Maddox "its particular architectural flavour. For two decades from the mid-1820s he put up a sequence of public buildings and private houses in the town, in a style deft, cultured, and only occasionally unresolved." The Market Hall and 1-6 Priory Street are considered his "most important projects".
Chapel House, Hereford Road, Monmouth, Wales, is a Georgian townhouse, built in the early eighteenth century, described by the architectural historian John Newman, as "the best house in the entire street". The house was designated a Grade II* listed building on 27 June 1952. Chapel House is now a boarding house of Monmouth School.
Overmonnow is a suburb of the town of Monmouth, in Wales, which is located to the west of the River Monnow and the Monnow Bridge. It developed in the Middle Ages, when it was protected by a defensive ditch, the Clawdd-du or "Black Dyke", the remains of which are now protected as an ancient monument. In later centuries the area became known as "Little Monmouth" or "Cappers' Town".
The Clawdd-du, also known in historical records as the Black Dyke, Black Ditch or Clawthy, is a mediaeval linear defensive earthwork or moat, constructed as protection for the faubourg of Overmonnow, on the opposite side of the River Monnow from the town and castle of Monmouth, Wales.
Whitecross Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was in existence by the 15th century, and appears as Whit crose on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed. It runs in an east-west direction, between Church Street and St James Square. It has been suggested that the street takes its name from a plague cross. Whitecross Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.
St James Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It appears as a segment of Whitecross Street on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed and is within the medieval town walls. On more recent maps, it extends from St James Square southwest to Almshouse Street. In 2010, the street was the site of discovery of Mesolithic era artefacts. St James Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.
The Grange consists of three attached, grade II listed buildings in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is in the St James Street neighbourhood, within the medieval town walls. The Grange was originally built by Captain Charles Philipps at the site of a former farm house. The buildings later served as a preparatory school, one of the schools of the Haberdashers' Company, until 2009. In 2011, the buildings were converted into a boarding house for students of Monmouth School, another Haberdashers' Company school.
St James House is a grade II listed building in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is in the historic St James Square neighbourhood, within the Medieval town walls. While the house currently has an attractive, 18th-century facade, it originated as a burgage tenement. In addition, behind the house, evidence of a kiln has been unearthed, with both Medieval and Post-medieval pottery. In 2010, archaeological excavation in the square revealed the first evidence of Mesolithic human settlement in Monmouth. Recent residents of St James House have included boarding students from Monmouth School.
Glendower Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It extends to the southeast from the intersection of Agincourt Street and St John's Street, within the medieval town walls. Glendower Street is lined with numerous listed buildings, including one of the 24 blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
St John's is a grade II listed building in the town centre of Monmouth, Wales. It is located in Glendower Street within the medieval town walls. The house is most remarkable for the rear of the property which features a Coalbrookdale verandah and formal walled garden that have been separately grade II listed with the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The villa's garden is also registered with the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust.
1–6 Priory Street in Monmouth, Wales, is a row of six shop houses designed by the architect George Vaughan Maddox and constructed c. 1837. They form part of Maddox's redevelopment of the centre of Monmouth and stand opposite his Market Hall. The architectural historian John Newman has written that Maddox's work "gives Monmouth its particular architectural flavour," and considers Priory Street to be "his greatest work."
Royal George House in Monmouth, Wales, is a large Georgian townhouse of c. 1730. Its architectural style is "old-fashioned" for its date, drawing on Carolean models such as Tredegar House. Built as a private residence, in 1800 it was occupied by the commander of the Monmouthshire Militia. In the 19th and 20th centuries the building was a hotel, first the Ivy Bank and then the Royal George. By the 1980s, it was empty and derelict. Restored, and significantly altered internally, in 1985–1987, it was subsequently a nursing home, and as of 2017 it houses commercial offices and residential apartments. It is a Grade II* listed building.
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