Monmouthshire Houses facts for kids
Little Pitt Cottage, a very old type of house with a special roof frame, was studied by Fox and Raglan.
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| Author | Sir Cyril Fox & Lord Raglan |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | |
| Publisher | National Museum of Wales |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
Monmouthshire Houses: A Study of Building Techniques and Smaller House-Plans in the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries is a very important study about old buildings in Monmouthshire, a county in Wales. It was written by two experts, Sir Cyril Fox and Lord Raglan. The National Museum of Wales first published this work.
The study came out in three parts between 1951 and 1954. These parts were called Part I Medieval Houses, Part II Sub-Medieval Houses, c. 1550–1610, and Part III Renaissance Houses, c. 1590–1714. The whole series was printed again in 1994. Another historian of Welsh buildings, Peter Smith, said this work was as important in its field as Charles Darwin's famous book, On the Origin of Species.
History of the Study
Sir Cyril Fox (1882–1967) was in charge of the National Museum of Wales from 1926 to 1948. Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Raglan, lived in Monmouthshire. He was also a soldier and a writer. Both Fox and Raglan were key figures in studying vernacular architecture. This means they looked at traditional, local building styles. They helped start the Vernacular Architecture Group.
From the early 1940s until 1949, Fox and Raglan did a huge survey of smaller buildings in Monmouthshire. Lord Raglan explained how they worked in the first book, Medieval Houses. He would find interesting houses and get permission from the owners to visit them. Then, he would ask Sir Cyril Fox to come and do a detailed study.
In the 1994 reprint, historian Peter Smith shared how Raglan worked. He said that Raglan's name was well-known in Monmouthshire and helped them get into every house. His status and friendly manner made people happy to let them study their homes.
In the second book, Sub-Medieval Houses, Fox and Raglan explained how their project began. During World War II, in 1941, the Ministry of Works planned to knock down an important farmhouse called Upper Wern-hir. Fox and Raglan got permission to study the building before it was destroyed. Their research, and the threat to other similar buildings, convinced them they needed to study all such structures in Monmouthshire.
They mostly worked on weekends, with money from the National Museum. Fox and Raglan created "the first truly complete regional study of traditional architecture in Britain." Even seventy years later, experts still use their work. John Newman, an architectural historian, called their work "ground-breaking." He said it was the most important book about buildings in the county. Peter Smith also called Monmouthshire Houses "one of the most amazing studies of traditional architecture in the British Isles." He said it was "a landmark, as important as Darwin's Origin of Species."
What the Books Cover
This three-part series gives detailed information about over 400 houses and farmhouses. These buildings were constructed in Monmouthshire between the medieval period and 1714. The three volumes are:
