The Old Cottage, in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Treadam, some 2km north-west of

Llantilio Crossenny Llantilio Crossenny ( cy, Llandeilo Gresynni) is a small village and much larger former community, now in the community of Whitecastle, in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, in the United Kingdom. It is situated between the two towns of Aberga ...

, Monmouthshire, is a country house dating from c.1600. The house is Grade II* listed.

History

The Monmouthshire writer and artist

Fred Hando Frederick James Hando MBE (23 March 1888 – 17 February 1970) was a Welsh writer, artist and schoolteacher from Newport. He chronicled the history, character and folklore of Monmouthshire, which he also called Gwent, in a series of nearly ...

, recording a visit to the Old Cottage made in the 1960s, notes a plaque above the door giving a construction date of "C 1600". The architectural historian John Newman gives tentative support to this date. The settlement of Treadam was "a sizeable medieval hamlet" and Hando suggests that it was the domain of one Adam, Tre-Adam meaning "the homestead of Adam", recorded as reeve to the Lordship of White Castle in 1256-57. The small group of buildings of which the Old Cottage is a part are all that remains of this medieval settlement. In the 19th century, when it formed part of the estate of Llantilio Court, the cottage was extended and converted to two dwellings. In the 20th century, it was converted back into a single home and an extension added to the rear. It remains a private house.

Architecture and description

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and Raglan produced a sketch plan of the cottage in the second volume of their three-volume series ''

Monmouthshire Houses ''Monmouthshire Houses: A Study of Building Techniques and Smaller House-Plans in the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries'' is a study of buildings within the county of Monmouthshire written by Sir Cyril Fox and Lord Raglan and published by the Na ...

''. This shows the original two-room lay-out of the cottage. The cottage is constructed of

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

slabs, with a slate roof. The large, centrally-placed, gable dates from the 17th century. The left-hand of the two doors in the main facade dates from the 19th century conversion into two dwellings. Internally, Hando records the "imposing oaken screen of studs and panels" which separate the ground floor into two apartments. Cadw records the Elizabethan

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

windows. Newman notes that the original house did not have an upper storey, "only a habitable roof space". The cottage is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

, its designation recording it as a "rare and remarkably unaltered 16th century cottage".

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Cottage Treadam Llantilio Crossenny Grade II* listed buildings in Monmouthshire Country houses in Wales