The Old Vicarage is a house dating from the medieval period in the
community of
Glasbury,
Powys, Wales. Now a private house, it is a
Grade I listed building.
History and description
The origins of the building are of the 15th century. Both
Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...
and Robert Scourfield and Richard Haslam, in their ''Powys'' volume in the
Buildings of Wales series, suggest that it was established as a form of
grange
Grange may refer to:
Buildings
* Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906
* Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682
* Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery
Geography Australia
* Grange, South Austral ...
by
St Peter's Abbey,
Gloucester.
This interpretation is supported by the large
tithe barn which stands adjacent to the vicarage.
In the 17th century, the resident vicar was
Alexander Griffith
Alexander Griffith (died 21 April 1676) was a Welsh divine, a royalist and author.
Life
Griffith was educated at Hart Hall, Oxford, matriculating 27 January 1614–15. After proceeding B.A. on 12 June 1618 he returned to Wales, keeping a school ...
, (died 21 April 1676), a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
divine and author.
The vicarage was sold in the 20th century, and is now a private house.
The vicarage was built to a
Hall-house plan, and was subsequently altered in around 1611. Single-storyed, it is constructed of
sandstone rubble with
dormer windows under a
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
roof.
There is a large amount of original, and elaborate,
wood carving, centred on three
cruck trusses with decorated wall and
king posts. Those in the hall are "fine and unmutilated". The
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales describes them as "exceptionally ornate". The vicarage is a
Grade I listed building and the adjacent tithe barn is listed at Grade II*.
The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust considers the vicarage to be, "one of the best preserved of the smaller medieval houses in the region".
Notes
References
Sources
* {{Cite book
, last1 = Scourfield, first1 = Robert
, last2 = Haslam, first2 = Richard
, series=The Buildings of Wales
, title=Powys: Montgomeryshire,Radnorshire and Breconshire
, url=http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300185089&nat=false&sort=%24rank&sf1=keyword&st1=Powys&m=1&dc=1
, year=2013
, location = New Haven, US and London
, publisher=
Yale University Press
, isbn=978-0-300-18508-9
External links
Illustrated Coflein entry
Country houses in Powys
Grade I listed buildings in Powys
Grade II* listed buildings in Powys