Tal-y-coed Court


Tal-y-coed Court,, Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a Victorian country house. Constructed in 1881–1883, it was built for the Monmouthshire antiquarian Joseph Bradney, author of A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time. A Grade II* listed building, the house is a "fine historicist essay in the Queen Anne Style, one of the earliest examples in Wales."

History

Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, FSA, BA, JP, DL was a soldier who acquired the estate at Tal-y-Coed through purchase and inheritance. In 1881, aged 22, he commissioned F. R. Kempson to build the house on the site of Llanvihangel Hall, which had been part of the estate of Crawshay Bailey. The house cost £10,000, reflecting Bradney's status as High Sheriff of Monmouthshire.
The court, and its stables, are now sub-divided into a number of private residences. The stables and clock tower are designated Grade II, as is the lodge at the entrance to the court. A project is underway to restore an elaborate horse trough constructed for Bradney on the road from Llantilio Crossenny to Monmouth. The trough also has a Grade II listing. The court's parkland is recorded as a "small late 19th century park and terraced garden".

Description

The house is in a Queen Anne style, which John Newman describes as "not at all what one would expect in South Wales at that date." It is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings and a brick plinth. Of five bays, it has a large, hipped roof with "lofty dormer windows and high chimneystacks." The interior is "virtually intact and of exceptionally high quality".