Notable landmarks
[edit]
Listed buildings[edit]
Listed buildings in Llantwit Major and Boverton
The following are the listed buildings in Llantwit Major and Boverton. The listings are graded:
Parish Church of St. Illtud (I)
Churchyard cross, Church Street (II)
Churchyard walls and gates to St. Illtud's Church, Burial Lane (II)
Mid well, Bakers Lane (II)
Circular walls and steps at West End Pond (II)
Batslays Farmhouse (II)
Boverton Park House (previously Boverton Place Farmhouse) (II)
Boverton Place (II)*
'The Causeway' (previously No. 4. The Causeway and "Navron") (II)
'Navron' (previously No. 4. The Causeway and "Navron") (II)
Walls surrounding garden to west of Boverton House (previously doorway and walls of garden to west of Boverton House) (II)
Boverton House and attached stable block (II)
Garden walls and railings of Boverton House (II)
Wall and gateway opposite Boverton House (II)
Cherry Tree Cottage (previously Nos. 1 and 2, Boverton Court Farm or Boverton Court Cottage) (II)
Tudor cottage (previously Nos. 1 and 2, Boverton Court Farm or Boverton Court Cottage) (II)
Orchard House (II)
The Town Hall (previously the Old Town Hall) (II*)
Former chantry/priest's house, Burial Lane (II)
Chantry house, Hillhead (II)
Old Place or Llantwit Major Castle (II)
Forecourt wall of Old Place (II)
Old Plas Cottage, West Street (II)
Well opposite Downcross Farm, West Street (II)
Downcross Farmhouse, including front garden wall (previously Downcross Farm, West Street) (II)
Footbridge over stream, west entrance to St. Illtud's Churchyard, Church of St. Illtud (II)
The gatehouse, Church Lane, (former porter's room) (II*)
Dovecote, Church Lane (II*)
The Old Swan Inn public house (II*)
Tudor Tavern public house (II)
1 Church Street (previously Nos. 1 and 1A, Church Street) (II)
Quaintways with attached garden wall (previously Ty Ny and southern wing of Quaintways, Colhugh Street) (II)
Ty Ny with attached garden wall (previously Ty Ny and southern wing of Quaintways, Colhugh Street) (II)
To-Hesg (previously Ty Hesg) Colhugh Street (II)
Old Rosedew House (previously Rosedew, Colhugh Street) (II)
Rosedew, Colhugh St (II)
Bethel Baptist Church, Commercial Street (II)
The Old House, Court Close (previously House to north-east of Pear Tree Cottage, High Street) (II)
Plymouth House, Plymouth Street (previously Plymouth House (including mounting block)) (II)
Garden Wall, gate, mounting block, and stables at Plymouth House (II)
Lodge to Dimlands, Dimlands Road (II)
Tyle House (II)
Bethesda’r Fro Chapel with attached mounting block, Eglwys Brewis Road (II)
Forecourt and graveyard gates, gatepiers and walls of Bethesda’r Fro Chapel, Eglwys Brewis Road (II)
Malta House, 1 Flanders Road (II)
2 Flanders Road (II)
The Cottage with attached garden walls, 4 Flanders Road (previously Nos. 3 and 4, Flanders Road) (II)
Flanders Farmhouse, Flanders Road (II)
Garden wall and gate of Flanders Road (II)
Lower House (previously Lower House Farm) Flanders Road (II)
Great Frampton (II)
Barn and stable range at Great Frampton Farmhouse (II)
Court House, High Street (II)
Sunny Bank, with attached garden walls, High Street (II)
Outhouse at Sunnybank (II)
Ty Mawr or Great House, High Street (II*)
The Old Police Station, Hillhead (II)
Little Frampton Farmhouse (II)
Brooklands Cottage, Methodist Lane (II)
Summerhouse Fort, Summerhouse Camp (II)
Summerhouse Tower, Summerhouse Camp (II)
Fonmon Cottage (previously Fonmon House) Station Road (II)
War Memorial, (Formerly base of war memorial), The Square (II)
Telephone call-box, outside Old White Hart public house (II)
Pear Tree Cottage with attached wall and mounting block (previously Corner House and Pear Tree Cottage [including mounting block], Turkey Street) (II)
Corner House (previously Corner House and Pear Tree Cottage (including mounting block), Turkey Street) (II)
Rewley Court (previously Rawley Court), Turkey Street (II)
West Farm, West Street, (previously West Farmhouse and garden walls) (II)
Front Garden Wall to West Farm (II)
Walls to [detached] garden to West Farm on south-east side of West Street (II)
Hill Cottage, West Street (II)
Swimbridge Farmhouse, with attached garden walls, Westhill Street (II)
The Swine Bridge, Westhill Street (II)
Downs Farmhouse, Wick Road (II)
Circular pigsty, Downs Farm, Wick Road (II)
Windmill House (previously Frampton Windmill) Windmill Lane (II)
Old White Hart Inn public house, Wine Street (II)
The Old School, including attached walling, Wine Street (previously The Old Rectory, former presbytery and Llanilltud Fawr County Junior School)
Engraving ca. 1835
Boverton Place
The Tudor Tavern
Old White Hart Inn
Dovecote, Church Lane
War memorial
St Illtyd's Church and monastery[edit]
Main articles: Illtud and St Illtyd's Church, Llantwit Major
The Church of St Illtyd, Llantwit Major
Interior of the church
The foundation of St. Illtyd's Church dates back to the Age of the Saints in early Welsh Christianity and thus by its very existence provides evidence of continuity with sub-Roman Christianity. The town grew up around the Bangor Illtyd ("Illtyd's college"). Saint David, Saint Samson, Saint Paul Aurelian, Saint Gildas, Saint Tudwal, Saint Baglan and king Maelgwn Gwynedd are said to have studied at the divinity school. It was founded around AD 508 by St Illtyd as a centre of learning. The school is said to have stood on the north side of the churchyard; and the monastery was situated north of the tithe barn on Hill Head.
The elongated church (51°24′29″N 3°29′16″W / 51.4081°N 3.4878°W / 51.4081; -3.4878), a conglomeration of distinct buildings, is divided into two areas by a wall, a 13th-century monastery church, and the Norman parish church. The eastern section contains interesting medieval wall paintings with religious themes, and a fine reredos. The western section, a Lady chapel, 40.5 feet (12.3 m) in length, contains a small museum housing the Llanilltud Collection of Celtic Stones, including a pillar and two inscribed stones of major importance. One commemorates King Rhys ab Arthfael of Morgannwg who died in the mid-9th century. The church contains a curfew bell and medieval priest effigies. The older church is 64 feet (20 m) long; the newer church was built by Richard Neville. The grounds also include a 13th-century gatehouse, a monks' pigeon-house, ruined walls in a garden area, and mounds near the vicarage.
Town Hall[edit]
Main article: Llantwit Major Town Hall
Llantwit Major Town Hall
Manorial records indicate that the Town Hall (51°24′27″N 3°29′05″W / 51.4076°N 3.4848°W / 51.4076; -3.4848) dates to the 15th century but it is often attributed to Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan, who died much earlier in 1295. It then functioned as a manor and a meeting venue for the court to organise duties and collect rents and at weekends held fairs. It was renovated in the late 16th century and over the years the lower floor functioned as a school, a slaughterhouse and a jail and the top floor a venue for church meetings, leased to Oddfellows in the 1830s. Aside from fairs it also held plays, concerts and dances. It became a Grade: II* listed building on 22 February 1963. It features a bell with the inscription, Sancte Iltute, ora pro nobis ("Saint Illtyd, pray for us"). It is reached by a flight of steps.
Great House[edit]
The Great House
The Great House (51°24′44″N 3°29′17″W / 51.412361°N 3.488173°W / 51.412361; -3.488173), located along the road to Cowbridge, on the northern outskirts originally dated from the 14th century when it consisted of just a square central section, but significant additions have made it an excellent example of a Tudor "Ty mawr" (Great House). A northern wing with a stable and dovecot were amongst the added parts. The house was occupied by the Nicholl family for centuries but by the 1920s it had been abandoned and fell into a heavily dilapidated state. The building was bought and restored to its former glory in the 1950s.
Dove cote and gatehouse[edit]
Covered by a domical vault, the Dove Cote (51°24′23″N 3°29′21″W / 51.406414°N 3.48913°W / 51.406414; -3.48913) is a Grade II* listed tall 13th-century cylindrical column in a middle of the Hill Head field, which lies in close proximity to St Illtuds Church, next to the site of the old tithe barn, built for the monks at the St. Illtud's monastery. Another site on Hill Head is the (13th–14th century) gatehouse, now belonging to St Illtyd's Church, Llantwit Major. Today these are the only remaining buildings which at one time belonged to Tewkesbury Abbey. There is a plaque on the gatehouse, telling of its history.
The Old Place[edit]
"The Old Place"
The Old Place (51°24′28″N 3°29′23″W / 51.407665°N 3.489745°W / 51.407665; -3.489745) is a ruin of an Elizabethan manor house, built by Griffith Williams for his daughter and son-in-law Edmund Vann in 1596. It is often mistakenly called Llantwit Castle. The Williams family were successful lawyers and part of the rising minor gentry who were loathed by the Seys of Boverton and the Stradlings of St Donats. Vann was fined over £1,000 for being involved in a scuffle in central Llantwit on a Sunday which led him to take on the Sey family and seek his revenge.
Old Swan Inn[edit]
The Old Swan Inn
Records state that a building was located here from the 11th century and during medieval times it is believed to have been a monastic or manorial mint. but the current Grade II* listed inn (51°24′30″N 3°29′10″W / 51.408341°N 3.486029°W / 51.408341; -3.486029) is dated to the 16th century, aside from restoration work; it was once thatched roofed. It was run for many years in Tudor times by the Raglan family. In the mid 17th century there is evidence that its owner Edward Craddock was again using it as a mint to "mint his own tokens as there was a shortage of coin at this time." There are five other pubs and four restaurants in the town.
The Old White Hart Inn[edit]
The Old White Hart Inn is Grade II listed, and described as a late 16th-century building. It has been suspected that the building was previously used as a courthouse, but this has never been proved. Moreover, tokens were given out under the Old White Hart's name in the 18th century.
Plymouth House[edit]
According to the blue plaque on the wall outside Plymouth House (51°24′32″N 3°29′20″W / 51.408791°N 3.488876°W / 51.408791; -3.488876), the house is believed to have been formerly part of the monastery, perhaps functioning as a halled house for some time in the fifteenth century. After its closure in 1539, it became the manor house of West Llantwit owned by Edward Stradling. Later owners include Lewis of the Van, the Earl of Plymouth and then Dr. J. W. Nicholl Carne, who renamed it after its previous owner some time in the 19th century.
Court House[edit]
From the blue plaque on the Court House (51°24′34″N 3°29′07″W / 51.409519°N 3.485348°W / 51.409519; -3.485348), it was formerly known as Ivy house when it was a town house from the 16th century. In the 18th century it was extended by Christopher Bassett. For some time it was owned by the Throckmorton family of Coughton Court, Warwickshire, descendants of one of the perpetrators of the Gunpowder Plot. Later owners included Daniel Durrell, headmaster of Cowbridge Grammar School, and the benefactor of Tabernacle Chapel, Elias Bassett. It then fell to his niece and her husband William Thomas and became part of the Thomas family and at one time was owned by Illtyd Thomas, father of Mare Treveleyan, an antiquarian. The Thomases built the Town Hall clock to commemorate Queen Victoria.
Knolles Place[edit]
The Old School
According to the blue plaque on the building (also known as "The Old School") (51°24′30″N 3°29′15″W / 51.408413°N 3.487469°W / 51.408413; -3.487469), it was built around 1450 by John Raglan (Herbert) and was then owned by Robert Raglan, from a family who had significant power in the area at the time and held many local administrative posts as stewards and priests. In the 17th century it became a vicarage for Stephen Slugg and functioned as a boarding school for primary school children between 1874 and 1975.
Old police station[edit]
The old police station (51°24′25″N 3°29′14″W / 51.4069°N 3.4872°W / 51.4069; -3.4872) was built in the mid-1840s after the place is Glamorgan Constabulary was established in 1841, and originally comprised a single-storey building, but was expanded in 1876 to include four bedrooms on the top floor.
It continued to function as a police station until 1928 when a new building opened nearer the town centre on Wesley Street.
War memorial[edit]
This is located in the centre of Llantwit War Memorial (51°24′30″N 3°29′13″W / 51.40842°N 3.486894°W / 51.40842; -3.486894), between the Old Swan and the White Hart and has a Celtic cross. The memorial commemorates residents who lost their lives or went missing in World War I and World War II. There are 32 names listed for World War I and 26 names for World War II.
Bethel Baptist Church[edit]
Bethel Baptist Church
Bethel Baptist Church (51°24′31″N 3°29′06″W / 51.408714°N 3.485035°W / 51.408714; -3.485035) was erected in 1830 to provide for local Baptists and its first minister was a local shopkeeper named Jabez Lawrence. Christmas Evans, a one-eyed Welsh preacher of considerable renown was reported to have held services here.
Boverton Place[edit]
Located in Boverton, Boverton Place (51°24′17″N 3°27′51″W / 51.404751°N 3.464059°W / 51.404751; -3.464059) is a former fortified manor house, now in ruins. It was built at the end of the 16th century and served as the seat of Roger Seys, Queen's Attorney to the Council of Wales and the Marches in the 1590s. It remained in Seys family until the last heiress Jane Seys married Robert Jones of Fonmon who sold it to owners who let it fall into ruin. Its last occupants were mentioned in the census of 1861.
Dimlands[edit]
Dimlands Lodge
Dimlands (or Dimland Castle or Dimland Lodge) (51°24′22″N 3°30′04″W / 51.406172°N 3.501055°W / 51.406172; -3.501055) is situated about a kilometre back from the clifftops of the Bristol Channel along the road to St. Donats. It was owned at one time by John Whitlock Nicholl Carne of the University of Oxford who moved there after his father's death. Dimlands was built by John Carne's father, Rev. Robert Carne, at the end of the 18th century, upon land left him by his father, Whitlock Nicholl of The Ham, sheriff for the county of Glamorgan in 1746. The property was held by the Nicholl family since the time of King Henry VII. The dwelling is of castellated Tudor architecture with blue lias limestone exterior, and Coombedown stone windows and cornices. The south-facing front is more than 130 feet (40 m) in length. The western coast of Cornwall and Lundy Island are visible from the turrets. The carved chimney in the dining room is made of Caen stone, and the chimney-piece in the drawing room is also. Other features are the Minton tile flooring, the large Tudor-style staircase, two sitting rooms, and the library, a newer addition. The Dimlands stables feature sharp-pointed gables, as well as a carved stone with the date of the original grant (1336).
Hillhead[edit]
On the hillside of the Colhugh Valley there are a row of houses situated at Hillhead in Llantwit Major. The houses were built in the early years of the 19th century for the poor of the parish. With the introduction of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, a workhouse was opened in Bridgend. The houses became surplus to requirements and were then sold as private residences. Llantwit Major came under the Bridgend and Cowbridge Poor Law Union. Each unit was originally divided into two separate upper and lower accommodation, the upstairs entrance was from the west and the entrance to the lower accommodation came from the east.