The White Swan Inn, White Swan Court, Church Street,

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, south-east

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, is an eighteenth-century former

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

. The building is Grade II* listed as of 27 June 1952. It is one of 24 buildings on the

Monmouth Heritage Trail The Monmouth Heritage Trail is a walking route which connects various sights in the town of Monmouth, Wales. History In 2009 Monmouth Civic Society identified 24 historic and interesting buildings in the town, and organised the production and fix ...

History

The building is of three storeys, with a prominent bay window on the ground floor, and faced with white

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

which dates from the early nineteenth century. 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.Records relating to the White Swan, Monmouth
, archiveWales, accessed January 2012 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 A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fir ...

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, 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".

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:White Swan Inn Monmouth Coaching inns Grade II* listed buildings in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Hotels in Monmouth Pubs in Monmouth Grade II* listed pubs in Wales