Swiss Cottage, Rockfield

Last updated
Swiss Cottage
The Swiss Cottage, The Hendre, Monmouthshire.jpg
"...not particularly Swiss"
TypeGatehouse
Location Rockfield, Monmouthshire
Coordinates 51°49′32″N2°45′17″W / 51.8255°N 2.7546°W / 51.8255; -2.7546
Built1905
Architect Aston Webb
Architectural style(s) Arts and Crafts
Governing bodyPrivately owned
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameSwiss Cottage, Llangattock-vibon-Avel
Designated3 September 1991
Reference no.2857
Monmouthshire UK relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location of Swiss Cottage in Monmouthshire

The Swiss Cottage, Rockfield, Monmouthshire is a gatehouse to The Hendre estate and was designed by Sir Aston Webb in 1905. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Contents

History and description

The Hendre was the country home of the Rolls family since the 18th century [1] and, as the fortunes of the family rose, was subject to three major expansions in the 19th and 20th centuries, to the designs of George Vaughan Maddox, [2] then Thomas Henry Wyatt, [2] and finally Aston Webb. [2] Webb constructed the Cedar Library at the main mansion in the very late 19th century [2] and in 1905 designed the Swiss Cottage. [3] It formed a terminal point on the “3-mile Drive” constructed by Lord Llangattock, and designed by Henry Ernest Milner. [4]

The cottage is single-storeyed, with a dormer above, and is constructed of old red sandstone. [3] The roof is hipped and pierced at either end with large chimneystacks. The interior contains an inglenook fireplace. Cadw notes influences from Lutyens and Voysey, [3] while the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales considers it "an inspired and unusually distinctive symmetrical Arts-and-Crafts design". [5] The architectural historian John Newman described Swiss Cottage as "a sweet little thing but not particularly Swiss". [6]

Notes

  1. Newman 2000, p. 247.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Newman 2000, p. 250.
  3. 1 2 3 Cadw. "Swiss Cottage (Grade II*) (2857)". National Historic Assets of Wales . Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  4. Whittle 1990, p. 3.
  5. "Swiss Cottage (20874)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  6. Newman 2000, p. 516.

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References