Perth-hir House

The Herbert family is an Anglo-Welsh noble family that rose to prominence under William Herbert, the son of William ap Thomas, the builder of Raglan Castle.[1][lower-alpha 1] The family traditionally claimed descent from the Jenkins of Wern-ddu, a farmhouse in the north of the county. The American journalist and diplomat Wirt Sikes, United States consul at Cardiff in the 1870s and 1880s, recorded an encounter between Wern-ddu's last hereditary owner, Roger ap Probert, and a stranger, in his Rambles and Studies in Old South Wales, published in 1881. Questioned as to the history of the house, Probert replied; "Werndu (is) a very ancient house. Out of it came the Earls of Pembroke, the Lords Herbert of Cherbury, the Herberts of Coldbrook, the Joneses of Treowen and Llanarth and all the Powells; also, by the female line, came the Dukes of Beaufort".[3] Sir Joseph Bradney, in his multi-volume work on the county, A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time, suggests that Perth-hir was bought from the de Clares in the 14th century by Thomas ap Thomas, fourth son of Gwilym ap Jenkin.[4][lower-alpha 2]

Following the English Reformation, Monmouthshire, particularly the northern part of the county, was an area noted for recusancy.[6][7] Its relative remoteness, and the patronage of a number of powerful Catholic families, led by the Marquesses of Worcester (later Dukes of Beaufort) of Raglan Castle, enabled Catholic priests to operate with a degree of safety.[8] The later owners of Perth-hir, the Powells and the Lorimers,[9] were strongly Catholic in their sympathies.[10] Their home became a refuge for Catholic priests and services were held in a small chapel, dedicated to St Catherine,[11] which existed until the mid-18th century.[12] The most notable priest in residence was Matthew Pritchard (or Prichard) (1669-1750), Catholic bishop and Vicar Apostolic of the Western District for much of the first half of the 18th century.[13] The local church at Rockfield, St Cenedlon's became a place of burial, in contravention of the prevailing ecclesiastical laws, and a number of priests were laid to rest in the churchyard, while Pritchard is interned within the church itself.[14][lower-alpha 3]

At the beginning of the 19th century, Perth-hir became a popular attraction, as an extension of the Wye Tour. Both William Coxe and John Thomas Barber Beaumont described their visits in volumes published in 1801 and 1803.[15][16][lower-alpha 4] By this time, the house was already in decline, Coxe recording that the owner during his visit, Mr John Powell Lorimer, had "took down a part of the house, containing 13 bed chambers and other offices".[19] Barber Beaumont describes the remains as a "diminished and patched-up building; … but a sorry remnant of past opulence."[16] Within 30 years the house was almost entirely demolished.

South of the house, towards the B4347 Skenfrith-Monmouth road, are the ruins of Perthir Mill, the first paper mill established in Wales.[20] D. G. Tucker gives a date for the mill of c. 1700.[21]

The site of Perth-hir stands in a bend of the River Monnow, to the north-west of Rockfield village. Perth-hir appears to have been rectangular in plan, covering an area of roughly 50M square.[22] Evidence of the moat, referenced by both Coxe and Barker Beaumont, remains.[23] Cadw dates the mansion to the 16th century,[22] while the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) favours a slightly earlier date in the 15th.[23] The extant remains comprise a section of wall, with an inset window, some 6M in length, and between 2 and 3M high.[22][lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6] Fox and Raglan note the window's "ogee arch", a popular style in Monmouthshire at that date.[26] The house was obviously of some grandeur; Coxe referenced the "long and lofty" great hall,[19] and Peter Smith, in his study, Houses of the Welsh Countryside, records both an "ornate roof",[27] and evidence of decorative heraldry.[28]

The garden surrounding the site of the house is also recorded by the RCAHMW. It dates the gardens to the 15th century and notes their considerable extent, 68m by 88m.[29] Part of a tower, or turret, stands at the eastern edge of the garden. RCAHMW is clear that it was not a dovecote but is uncertain as to its purpose.[23] The remains of the house, and its site, are a scheduled monument.[22]

• Barber Beaumont, John Thomas (1803). A tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire. London: T. Cadell. OCLC 1051488179.
• Bradney, Joseph (1991) [1907]. The Hundred of Skenfrith. A History of Monmouthshire. Vol. 1 (Part 1). London: Academy Books. ISBN 978-1-873-36109-2. OCLC 896118881.
• Coxe, William (1995) [1801]. An Historical Tour of Monmouthshire: Volume 1. Cardiff: Merton Priory Press. ISBN 978-1-8989-3709-8. OCLC 34476778.
• Fox, Cyril; Raglan, Lord (1994) [1951]. Medieval Houses. Monmouthshire Houses. Vol. 1. Cardiff: Merton Priory Press Ltd & The National Museum of Wales. ISBN 9780720003963. OCLC 916186124.
• Hando, Fred (1987). Chris Barber (ed.). Hando's Gwent. Vol. 1. Abergavenny, Wales: Blorenge Books. ISBN 9780951044452. OCLC 18745431.
• Kissack, Keith (1975). Monmouth: The Making of a County Town. London: Phillimore and Co., Ltd. ISBN 0-85033-209-5. OCLC 2597663.
• — (1996). The Lordship, Parish and Borough of Monmouth. Hereford: Lapridge Publications. ISBN 978-1-899-29003-1. OCLC 59587626.
• Morgan-Guy, John (2009). "Religion and Belief, 1660-1780". In Gray, Madeleine; Morgan, Prys; Griffiths, Ralph A. (eds.). The Making of Monmouthshire, c.1536–1780. The Gwent County History. Vol. 3. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2198-0. OCLC 552064875.
• Newman, John (2000). Gwent/Monmouthshire. The Buildings of Wales. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-140-71053-3.
• Smith, Peter (1975). Houses of the Welsh Countryside. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-700475-8.
• Sikes, Wirt (1992). Alan Roderick (ed.). Travels in Gwent. Newport, Wales: Handpost Books. ISBN 9780951521328. OCLC 26549951.
• Tucker, D. G. (1972). "The first Paper Mill in Wales? Perthir Mill on the Monnow, 1700" (PDF). Monmouthshire Antiquary. 3: 155–158.

• RCAHMW map of the site