Porth-Mawr Gatehouse

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Porth-Mawr Gatehouse
Porth Mawr.jpg
Type Gatehouse
Location Crickhowell, Powys, Wales
Coordinates 51°51′37″N3°08′15″W / 51.8604°N 3.1376°W / 51.8604; -3.1376
Built15th century
Governing bodyPrivately owned
Listed Building – Grade I
Official namePorth-Mawr Gatehouse
Designated4 January 1952
Reference no.7158
Official namePorth Mawr
Reference no.BR114
Powys UK relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location of Porth-Mawr Gatehouse in Powys

Porth-Mawr (Great Gate) is a gatehouse on Brecon Street in the centre of Crickhowell, Powys, Wales. Constructed in the 15th century by a branch of the Herbert family as the entrance to their Tudor mansion of Cwrt Carw, it is a Grade I listed building.

Contents

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". [3] 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. [lower-alpha 1] [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]

Notes

  1. During extensive reconstruction at the very end of the 20th century, the gatehouse was given a, historically accurate, coating of yellow limewash. [5] This provoked considerable comment in the local press. [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Porth Mawr Gate House, Cwrt-y-Carw (16106)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  2. Cadw. "Porth Mawr House (Grade II) (7157)". National Historic Assets of Wales . Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  3. Scourfield & Haslam 2013, p. 473.
  4. "Porth Mawr Boundary Wall (31268)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  5. "Porthmawr Gatehouse in Crickhowell". Tŷ-Mawr Lime. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  6. "Porthmawr Gate House, Crickhowell". Historypoints.org. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Cadw. "Porth-Mawr Gatehouse (Grade I) (7158)". National Historic Assets of Wales . Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  8. Cadw. "Porth Mawr Gatehouse (Grade SM) (BR114)". National Historic Assets of Wales . Retrieved 26 August 2024.

Sources