History
The building is of three storeys, with a prominent bay window on the ground floor, and faced with white stucco which dates from the early nineteenth century. [3] There was an earlier inn, the Swan and Falcon, on this site from at least 1709, but by 1774 it was known as the White Swan. [1] The inn, and surrounding court, were rebuilt in 1839, following the redevelopment of Priory Street, a reconstruction to which the prolific Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox contributed. It had a coach entrance from Priory Street when the new by-pass was built, and this archway provides one entrance to what is now White Swan Court, with the other entrance from narrow Church Street. The name probably refers to Mary de Bohun, who gave birth to Henry V in Monmouth Castle – the heraldic badge of the Bohun family was the Bohun swan, a swan collared and chained.
The White Swan was appropriated for a billet by a Troop of the 12th Lancers when the Chartist Trials took place in the Shire Hall in 1840. This event caused great consternation amongst the "respectable folk" of the town who feared a revolution and thought that the Lancers were there to protect them. The hotel continued until the late 1950s, and its lead sign of a swan was still displayed here until stolen some years ago. Now the courtyard provides for a pleasant collection of shops, a coffee house and a cafe bistro. In Church Street, it is worth noting the rather irregular bow window to the chemists by the entrance to White Swan Court, which the poet laureate John Betjeman said "must never be demolished".
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 King's Head Hotel is a hotel standing opposite the Shire Hall in Glyndŵr Street, Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Wales. It dates from the mid-17th century, and as one of the major inns in Monmouth was reputedly visited by Charles I of England in 1645. It has a fine black-and-white painted stone façade and became an important posting inn in the late 17th century, with a yard through an archway where visitors' horses could be stabled and where regular coach services called. In the 18th and 19th centuries, stagecoaches for London left from the inn. The range of buildings along Agincourt Street now includes the former Monmouth Bank and the County Club, while the inn itself is now part of the J D Wetherspoon pub chain. It is one of 24 buildings on the town's Heritage Trail and is a Grade II* listed building.
The Monmouth Heritage Trail is a walking route which connects various sights in the town of Monmouth, Wales.
The Savoy Theatre, Church Street, Monmouth is a theatre and cinema, reputedly the oldest working theatre site in Wales. It has a capacity for 360 people and is run by a charitable trust. One of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, the theatre is a Grade II* listed building.
St Mary's Priory Church, in Whitecross Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales, is an Anglican church founded as a Benedictine priory in 1075. The current church dates mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1952. It is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
Monmouth Priory, in Priory Street, Monmouth, Wales, is a building that incorporates the remains of the monastic buildings attached to St Mary's Priory Church. The priory was a Benedictine foundation of 1075, and parts of the mediaeval buildings remain. The buildings were substantially redeveloped in the nineteenth century for use as St Mary's National School, and now form a community centre. The complex is a Grade II* listed building as of 27 June 1952. It is one of 24 sites on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
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*.
The Beaufort Arms Hotel, Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south-east Wales is a former coaching inn dating from the early eighteenth century, though the frontage may have been modified by the prolific early Victorian architect George Vaughan Maddox in the 1830s. A stone cornice on the central block still carries the inscription "The Beaufort Arms". It is a Grade II* listed building as of 27 June 1952. It is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
Agincourt House, No. 1 Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales is a notable early seventeenth century half-timbered building.
The Angel Hotel, Church Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south-east Wales is a Grade II listed building. The building was in use as an inn in 1700 and closed in 1985, the longest period of continuous history of any public house in Monmouth. The building is of three storeys, with a roof of Welsh slate and a wooden Doric doorcase. During the late nineteenth century, the hotel was the headquarters of the Monmouth Branch of the Cyclists Touring Club. It is now a furniture shop, and one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
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".
Church Street is a pedestrianised street in the centre of Monmouth, Wales. It contains a variety of independent shops, restaurants, commercial art galleries, and the Savoy Theatre. Until the 1830s, when Priory Street was built to bypass it, it was the main thoroughfare into the centre of Monmouth from the north-east, linking the market and the parish church. It was at one time the centre of the town's butchery trade and was known as Butcher's Row.
The Vine Tree is a public house situated in Monnow Street in the town of Monmouth, Wales. The building has been a Grade II Listed building since 18 November 1970.
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.
Monk Street is an historic street in the town of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. A portion of it was in existence by the 14th century, and appears on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed. It runs in a north-south direction, extending northward from its intersection with Whitecross Street. The name of the street relates to the nearby Priory, as well as the gate which was originally on this road and provided part of the town's defences, Monk's Gate. Monk Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.
Kingsley House and Hendre House are a pair of 19th-century, semi-detached houses on the North Parade section of Monk Street in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The grade II listed houses were designed by noted Monmouth architect and builder George Vaughan Maddox, who also designed at least two of the twenty-four blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, including the Market Hall and the Monmouth Methodist Church. Hendre House should be distinguished from The Hendre, the estate of the Rolls family.
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.
Monmouthshire is a county and principal area of Wales. It borders Torfaen and Newport to the west; Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the east; and Powys to the north. The largest town is Abergavenny, with the other major towns being Chepstow, Monmouth, and Usk. The county is 850 km2 in extent, with a population of 95,200 as of 2020. The present county was formed under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, and comprises some sixty percent of the historic county. Between 1974 and 1996, the county was known by the ancient title of Gwent, recalling the medieval Welsh kingdom. In his essay on local government in the fifth and final volume of the Gwent County History, Robert McCloy suggests that the governance of "no county in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century was so transformed as that of Monmouthshire".
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."
12–16 Church Street in Monmouth, Wales, is a row of three 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 on Church Street, to the rear of Maddox's Priory Street. The architectural historian John Newman has written that Maddox's work "gives Monmouth its particular architectural flavour" and Cadw describes the grouping of 12–16 Church Street as "the best preserved early 19th century shopfront in Monmouth."
