The Gatehouse and Columbarium (dovecot)

These are the only surviving buildings from the Grange belonging to Tewkesbury Abbey. The abbey had been given the land, shortly before he died, by Robert Fitzhamon, Earl of Gloucester and first Norman Lord of Glamorgan. The grange was run by lay brethren and the revenues remitted to Tewkesbury. The Gatehouse, which dates from the fourteenth century, was the main entrance into the farm complex and may have served as the Bailiff’s dwelling or guest house. The archway, though blocked up, is clearly visible and the height of the gable walls suggest that the building was once thatched.

The dovecot dates from the same period. Doves and pigeons were not only a source of food during winter time, their feathers were also used in pillows etc, and their droppings were spread on the land as manure. The circular form of the building enabled the maximum number of nesting places to be constructed in the walls and internal wooden platforms were usually included to give easy access to collect eggs.

The Old Police Station

When the Glamorgan Constabulary was established in 1841, a constable was allocated to Llantwit Major, reporting to the sergeant in  Cowbridge. The police station was built a few years later and originally comprised a single storey with a living room and kitchen in the front with cells at the rear. In 1876 a second floor with four bedrooms was added with zinc foul air flues in the walls of the back bedrooms from the cells. The building remained in use until 1928 when the new station was built in Wesley Street, closer to the centre of the town.

Hillhead

This row of houses was built in the early years of the nineteenth century as housing for the poor of the parish. When the workhouse in Bridgend was opened they became surplus to requirements and were sold as private residences. Originally each unit was divided into two with separate upper and lower accommodation.

Plymouth House

It used to be claimed that Plymouth House was one of the surviving halls of residence from Illtud’s monastery. Its history does not go that far back but there is evidence that it may incorporate the remnants of a halled house of the fifteenth century. It was often referred to as the Great House and belonged to a branch of the Stradling family who purchased it along with the estate known as Abbot’s or West Llantwit at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. When their line died out the property reverted to the maternal line. They were created Earls of Plymouth and it was only in the nineteenth century that the present name came into use.

The Old Place

This building has mistakenly been called Llantwit Castle. It is in fact the ruin of an Elizabethan manor house with two wings enclosing a paved courtyard. It was built in 1596 by Griffith Williams for his daughter and her husband Edmund Vann. They represented the rising class of minor gentry who had acquired their money from practising law and were loathed by other families in the area such as the Seys of Boverton and the Stradlings of St Donats. Vann was fined over£1,000 at the Court of Star Chamber for his part in an affray in the centre of Llantwit on a Sunday after church when he lead an attack on the Seys family. John Stradling claimed in 1596 that the house would collapse around Vann’s ears so badly had it been built. However it took slightly longer for this to happen - just over a hundred years.

The Great House

Sometimes called Ty Mawr or Upper House, its association with the Nicholl family goes back to their first arrival in the parish in the Elizabethan period. The building originally consisted of a square central section to which a southern wing was added providing further accommodation, and a northern wing made up of a stable and dovecot. At the end of the nineteenth century the building fell into disrepair. After several half-hearted attempts at restoration the house became habitable again in the 1950’s.

The Court House

The house was built in the early eighteenth century and substantially altered a century or so later. There is evidence that it was leased to a member of the Throckmorton family from Coughton Court, Warwickshire whose ancestor had been involved in the Gunpowder Plot. It is said that he was known as The Judge and he acquired a reputation for unpleasantness. In the nineteenth century the house was occupied by Elias Bassett, who was involved in the establishment of the Tabernacle Chapel and he passed it on to his niece and her husband William Thomas.

The Old Swan



This was probably a substantial local dwelling built in the sixteenth century. When it became an inn however is open to speculation.

In the mid seventeenth century it belonged to Edward Maddock, who was permitted to mint his own tokens as there was a shortage of coin at this time. This implies that he was operating either a shop or inn. Various celebrities have availed themselves of its hospitality, including Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies and their Hollywood friends who stayed with them at St Donats Castle.

The Old White Hart Inn

This is described as an end-entry house built in the late sixteenth century. As with The Old Swan it is unclear when exactly it became an inn, though again tokens were issued under its name in the eighteenth century. There are claims that it was once a court house with a room reserved for the judge, but these cannot be substantiated.

The Old School

One of the oldest surviving secular buildings if the town, belonging to the Raglan family. It then became the rectory for the parish before being converted in the early 1870’s into the Board School.

Bethel Baptist Church

In 1830 Bethel was “ erected for the use of the Particular Baptists”. Its first minister Jabez Lawrence was a shopkeeper in the town. It is said that the opening services were conducted by Christmas Evans, the famous one-eyed Welsh preacher.

Bethesda’r Fro

This simple whitewashed building on the road to Eglwys nestles between the hangars and the housing. It was established in 1807 when Thomas William brought his congregation here from Burton, Aberthaw. The land had been purchased from Thomas Redwood for five shillings. William was a Welsh hymn writer of some repute. The chapel still holds regular services. The interior is modelled on the original and there is no electricity. The chapel is heated by a log or coal fire and lit by candles.

Boverton Place

These substantial ruins are what remains of a late Elizabethan mansion, built by Roger Seys who was Queen’s Attorney to the Council of Wales and the Marches in the 1590’s. It remained in the hands of the family until the last heiress Jane Seys married Robert Jones of Fonmon at which time its fixtures and fittings were stripped out. Jones sold the estate but subsequent owners had no need for such a house and so it went to rack and ruin. Its last occupants were noted in the 1861 census as having  “altogether no bed”.