Treowen (or Tre-owen) is an early 17th-century house in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, Wales, regarded as "the most important gentry house (of its date) in the county". It is located in open countryside within the parish of

Wonastow Wonastow ( cy, Llanwarw) is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located south west of Monmouth. History and amenities Wonastow has a twelfth-century church dedicated to St. Wonnow or Saint Winwaloe, believed to have been bu ...

, about ½ mile (1 km) north-east of the village of Dingestow, and south-west of

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

. After being used as a farmhouse for three centuries, Treowen now operates as a conference and functions venue and holds the annual Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. It is a Grade I listed building, and its gardens are designated Grade II on the

Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government. Th ...

History

The house was built in about 1623–27 for William Jones, on the site of a 15th-century building. Tre-Owen at British Listed Buildings
Accessed 2 February 2012 Jones was briefly Member of Parliament for

in 1614, and was

High Sheriff of Monmouthshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, an office which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the shrievalty of Monmouthshire was abolished, and replac ...

in 1615. He later inherited a fortune from his uncle, a trader in London. History, at Treowen website
. Accessed 2 February 2012 The Jones family moved out of the house in the 1670s, and let it out as a farmhouse. The building itself remained largely unchanged except for the removal of the top storey of the front half of the building in the 18th century. The house was sold to the sitting tenants in 1945, and continued to be used as a farmhouse until 1993. In 1960, the architectural historian

Mark Girouard Mark Girouard (7 October 1931 – 16 August 2022) was a British architectural historian. He was an authority on the country house, and Elizabethan and Victorian architecture. Life and career Girouard was born on 7 October 1931. He was educ ...

described the house in an article in '' Country Life'' (see quote box). The grounds of the house contain the remains of what is said to be a Tudor garden, including a rectangular earthwork on the north side of the house, a walkway and ornamental fishponds. The house is now used as a centre for conferences and holidays, and as a venue for weddings and other functions. It has also been used in the filming of TV programmes, including ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. Treowen website
Accessed 2 February 2012 Treowen is home to the annual Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival, held annually in January and July.

Architecture and description

The architectural historian John Newman considers Treowen the "most important 17th century gentry house" in Monmouthshire. It is constructed to a double-pile plan and built of Old Red Sandstone, with caramel-coloured

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

blocks and green Bridgend sandstone dressings. The house was very large by local standards of the time, and commanded extensive views. Newman wrote that "as originally built, the height of the house must have been as daunting as the sheer repetitiveness of its design". The originally austere façade was altered early in its history by the addition of a porch, with a "classical frontispiece of distressing crudity", and the Jones shield. Inside the house, the ground floor rooms rise to a height of . There is an oak panelled room with plaster ceiling and Jacobean fireplace, and a great staircase of 72 stairs, the earliest datable open-well staircase in

. This great, or banqueting, hall originally held "a handsomely-carved screen" but the Monmouthshire antiquarian

Joseph Bradney Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, (11 January 1859 – 21 July 1933) was a British soldier, historian and archaeologist, best known for his multivolume ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present T ...

, in his multi-volume '' A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time'', records that the screen was moved to

Llanarth Court Llanarth Court is a late-18th-century country house with substantial 19th-century alterations in Llanarth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The court was built for the Jones family of Treowen and was subsequently the home of Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen ...

, another Herbert property, in 1898. Newman, writing in 2000, stated that the screen "is likely to be returned", a view which echoed that of Fred Hando who, writing 30 years earlier, stated; "the oak screen dated 1627 was transferred from Treowen where, in my opinion, it would be more happily housed". In his study, ''Houses of the Welsh Countryside'', (published 1975, second edition 1988), Peter Smith concludes Treowen "is indeed a very magnificent building". Tyerman and Warner, in Arthur Mee's multi-volume study ''

The King's England ''The King's England'' is a topographical and historical book series written and edited by Arthur Mee in 43 volumes. The first, introductory, volume was published in 1936; in 1989, The King's England Press was established to reprint the series. ...

'', describe it as "one of the finest houses in all Monmouthshire". Treowen is a Grade I listed building. The gardens, which contain remnants of the original Tudor terracing, are designated Grade II on the

References

Sources

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External links

{{Commons category, Treowen
Treowen House at Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of WalesTreowen Garden at Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Grade I listed buildings in Monmouthshire Registered historic parks and gardens in Monmouthshire Houses in Monmouthshire Country houses in Wales