Porth Mawr Crickhowell (The Gatehouse Record)

Porth Mawr Crickhowell

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Porthmawr; Cwrt Carw; Cwrt y Carw; Stag Court

In the community of Crickhowell.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO21751858
Latitude 51.86037° Longitude -3.13759°

Porth Mawr Crickhowell has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Two-storey crenellated gate house, projecting forward of adjoining walls, with C19 restorations. Small turret to NE; octagonal chimney. Pointed arched entrance to ground floor, with moulding, hoods, and stops; doors with openwork tops. 2-bay vaulted interior. Chamfered inner arch leading to house (Source CADW listed buildings database). Gate-house to mansion built in late 15th Century by member of Herbert family. (Coflein)

Forward to the street and set into a long rubble crenellated wall now enclosing porth mawr house but formerly the castellated herbert family mansion called cwrt-y-carw. Gatehouse adjoins side of house.
C15, late medieval.
2-storey crenellated gateway set forward from the adjoining walls; early c19 picturesque alterations. Rubble masonry with dressed quoins, extensive creeper. Battlemented parapet, small turret to ne angle, octagonal stone chimney stacl. 4-light window to 1st floor under hood mould, small stair light to right. Pointed arched entrance to ground floor with weathered mouldings, hood and stops; later pointed doors with strapwork panelling and openwork tops. 2-bay interior with c19 sexpartite ribbed vault with bosses; low rubble seats to either side, 6-panel door to right. Chamfered inner arch leading to house with 2 light window, square head and hood mould. (Listed Building Report)

Turreted gateway in the Tudor style. Entrance to Cwrt Carw Mansion (Erected by the Herbert family in the reign of Henry VIII but since demolished and replaced by Regency house on site. (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

Comments

Missed by the usual authors on medieval fortification who seemingly did not consider this late medieval crenelated and turreted gatehouse as fortified although similar buildings, such as Tretower Court often are.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is BR114.
The CADW listed database record number is/are 7158.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 16106.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 686.

Books
- Gant, R., 1981, Crickhowell: Through the eyes of a tourist 1800-1850 (Brecon Museum) p. 9
  Haslam, R.., 1979, Buildings of Wales: Powys (Yale University Press) p. 314

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of the described site.

This record last updated 02/07/2016 09:02:47

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