History and description
The Herbert family, of Raglan Castle, were Anglo-Welsh nobility whom became predominant in South East Wales in the 15th century. A branch of the family constructed a large mansion at Crickhowell, Cwrt Carw (Cwrt-y-Carw), and Porth-Mawr (Great Gate) was built as a grand gatehouse entrance to the mansion in the late 15th century. [1] The mansion itself was torn down in the 19th century after a serious fire, and a new house was built on the site in around 1825. [2] At the same time, the gatehouse, and the attached wall in which it is set, were given castellated decoration. [1] Robert Scourfield and Richard Haslam, in their Powys volume in the Buildings of Wales series, describe the reconstruction as "highly Picturesque". The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales attributes the wall to the late 18th and/or early 19th centuries. [4]
The gatehouse is built of rubble and is of two-storeys. [a] [7] A spiral staircase leads to a first-storey chamber and the gatehouse has a small turret to the roof. [7] Porth-Mawr is both a Grade I listed building [7] and a scheduled monument. [8] Cadw's listing record notes Porth-Mawr is an example of a gatehouse to a secular, as opposed to an ecclesiastical, building, of a type relatively rare in Wales. [7]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
