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

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

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

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Wonastow, about ½ mile (1 km) north-east of the village of

Dingestow Dingestow (pronounced , cy, Llanddingad) is a small village in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located south-west of Monmouth and approximately the same distance north-east of Raglan in rural Monmouthshire. The River Trothy passes through the v ...

, and south-west of Monmouth. 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 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 Irel ...

, and its gardens are designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

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 A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Monmouthshire in 1614, and was High Sheriff of Monmouthshire 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 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''. 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 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 ...

, with caramel-coloured ashlar blocks and green

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

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 Monmouthshire. This great, or banqueting, hall originally held "a handsomely-carved screen" but the Monmouthshire antiquarian Joseph Bradney, in his multi-volume ''

A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time'' is a study of the county of Monmouthshire written by Sir Joseph Bradney and published by Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke of London between 1904 and 193 ...

'', records that the screen was moved to Llanarth Court, 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 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 ...

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 Arthur Henry Mee (21 July 187527 May 1943) was an English writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for ''The Harmsworth Self-Educator'', '' The Children's Encyclopædia'', ''The Children's Newspaper'', and ''The King's England''. The ...

's multi-volume study '' The King's England'', describe it as "one of the finest houses in all Monmouthshire". Treowen is a

. The gardens, which contain remnants of the original Tudor terracing, are designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

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