Property Drop Issue 20

22 THROUGH THE KEY HOLE
A Right Royal Restoration
Sharon Chilcott
Sharon Chilcott tours a true historic gem…
A
Welsh monastic building, established in the reign of Henry I and once
owned by Henry VIII, has been royally transformed from near-ruin into an
imposing home.
Once scheduled for demolition, the property has been rescued and restored
thanks to the visionary intervention and dedication of two women captivated by
its ambience.
Llanthony Secunda Manor, possibly one of the oldest, inhabited house in
Wales, boasts a grand baronial banqueting hall, atmospheric Tudor bedrooms with
carved four-poster
beds, and a host of
ancient and time-worn
features including
studded oak doors,
open fireplaces and
stone spiral staircases.
Reputedly
established in the
12th Century by the
Augustinian monks
from Llanthony
Prima in the Black
Mountains, the
property, in Church
Road, Caldicot, may
originally have been a monastic grange and an outpost of Llanthony Secunda
in Gloucestershire. It appears to have been extended in the 15th Century to
provide monks’ cells and then, during the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry
VIII took possession of it, appointing a bailiff to look after the building and
farm the surrounding land. By 1557 it had
been sold and in the 17th Century it was
altered to provide more comfortable living
accommodation, with the addition of stone
spiral stairs and many of the fireplaces which
remain to this day. In Victorian times, the
property was the farmhouse to Church Farm
but by 1972, with the farmland sold to
developers, the now sadly dilapidated house,
much of its historic origins hidden by external
render, was due to be knocked down. Only
a hurried listing (Grade 2*) and recognition
of its status as “an exceptionally rare and
interesting monastic building from the late Middle Ages” saved it from its fate.
Still so neglected that it was in danger of collapse, the building was rescued
in 1978 when it was bought by Mrs. S.M. McLeod. She started the long and
exhaustive process of restoration which has recently been completed by its present
owner, Becky Adorjan.
Thanks to Becky’s visionary and painstaking improvements, Llanthony Secunda
Manor (so-named in the 1980’s) now combines ancient charm with 21st Century
comforts. Its cleverly-designed kitchen and luxurious bathrooms have all been
incorporated with the utmost sensitivity to the history of the building, and without
detracting from its immense character. “I have spent a fortune to make it look as if
I haven’t done anything,” she says wryly.
When she took possession of the property in 2005, there was still a lot to do
to transform it into the authentically restored yet updated home that it is today.
“Some work had been done in the 1980s when they didn’t know quite as much
about property conservations as we do now.”