The Court House CF47 8DU

Heritage Plaques

- Structures

The Court House

CF47 8DU

This was the earliest large house in Merthyr Tydfil. It was built in 1717, probably on the site of an ancient 12th century court. It is a two storey building with gables at either end and a porch containing a pointed arch. Very little of the original structure remains.

Grade II Listed

History
The stone core of the main part of the house is attributed by RCAHMW to periods of construction in C16 and in the later C17, perhaps as late as1717 after it was sold by Thomas Lewis of the Van, near Bedwas. In C19 a crosswing was built on to the S of the house, the old building was refurbished with new windows inserted and the porch added to the main front in Tudor Revival style. It is believed to be the earliest surviving structure in the town and thought to take its name from an ancient courthouse on this site. Much of the house was completely reshaped and extended to E and S after it became the Merthyr Tudful Labour Club. Arthur Trystan Edwards (1884-1973), the eminent pioneer of town planning and notable writer on architecture, was born at the Court House in 1884 [plaque on building].

Description
Exterior
The main 5-bay range comprises a rectangular a two-storey and attic block with flush-set gable over entrance bay and offset gabled, solid porch. Forward to right (SE) end is a second two-storey and attic range with the ground floor largely masked by modern extensions. Plastered and colour-washed masonry walls with exposed stone dressings to gable cappings with kneelers, plinth course linked to chamfered surround of porch entrance and pointed hood-moulding to secondary door on left.

Slate roofs with a pair of pitched roof dormers to centre bays and twin rubble stacks set diagonally over rectangular chimney at junction of roof pitches to right of gable over entrance bay. Single-light sashes to attic windows, double-hung 12-pane sashes to first-floor windows and canted bay with small-pane sashes to centre of ground floor; narrow small-pane sash to right.

Wide single-light gable to road with small-pane sash windows and modern door opening to ground floor. Fullheight cross-gable to rear of far (SE) end, plus various lower extensions including masonry evidence (?) of a possible lateral chimney in the angle of the original block and the narrow hipped range to running parallel to rear.

Interior
The interior was not inspected. The RCAHMW Inventory records, within the original C16 block, a possible cross-passage to S, under an open roof of four bays. Three plain collar-beam roof trusses survive although mainly boxed in. These trusses have cambered collars that are morticed into the principal rafters which carry three purlins each side and a ridge beam. The RCAHMW's recording suggests that much of this timberwork is reused. In the roof, the evidence is that the whole building was floored to provide accommodation on two main levels with attics over. Apart from the thick outer walls and the four-bay roof, no visible features survive from the early building. At the same time as this roof was constructed, a gabled front was added to the N part of the house.

The plaque reads:

Court House The old Court House dates back as far as 1150, the house being an ancient family seat (including a court) for a local Welsh Prince named Ifor Bach. From 1880 there was a ladies school in the house.