Comments by Nicholas
21:51 25 November 2009
Debbie:
Have a look in the Articles section and picture section , the piece titled "Summer 2008 Preservation work" that lists and shows what happened . I watched it progress through the year . They have removed loose stones from various parts and cemented and pointed the tops of the walls to prevent water getting in and frost causing more cracks . There is a huge wooden support inside at roof level to hold the centre interior wall , those amazing cast Iron balcony supports are at a crazy angle but prevented from collapse with a scaffold tower .They repaired the chimneys as best they could and shored up the door and window openings to prevent collapse in the future . The large opening on the ground floor on the left as you look at the front face has been repaired , the beam was badly sagging but they have repaired that and it is straight now .
As i see it they have improved the building structurally , It was far from secure before the work was carried out. Some big chunks of the interior and one of the chimney stacks fell in years ago now but I haven't seen any further major deterioration since I have been visiting from 1986 , I have seen FAR more deterioration in the stables ( Lost its roof and upper floor in a fire at the end of the 1980's ) , barn ( Lost it's roof in a fire around 2002 ) and cottage ( rotting away and stone crumbling due to weathering ) than the main building .
Regarding your decorative panels on the pavilions they are still there , protected by the wood panels .. ( picture NW037) In fact the pavilions had a LOT of useful work carried out , some lintels and walls partially reconstructed and the top of the walls made good. It is believed about £350000 was spent on all this work .
Val:
Its not so bad as you think although Its not good , it hasn't been for decades but its very resilient considering it hasn't had a roof for probably 70 years . I say that because the roof joists have been cleanly sawn off presumably when the house was stripped in the late 1920's? There is no roof debris at all in the building, just a few beams from the 1st floor joists .
The lodge at the main gates is the "Lions Lodge" , there is another lodge half way along the main road to St Arvans on the right inserted in the main wall , that's known as the "Middle Lodge" ( Picture NG133) and probably the one you mean . The cottage was left furnished , I remember seeing chairs and a piano in the front room and beds and a bath upstairs in the late 1980s but they have collapsed into the ground now .I also remember seeing smoke coming from the chimneys in the earlier 1980's so who lived there then I do not know .I didn't go too close to the Cottage in those days It would be fascinating to learn about the servants of which there were about 30 .
There could well be one or two gardening implements still left near the cottage by the way !
Just after your visit in 2004 the undergrowth was cleared from the buildings ,the trees growing close to the walls and inside were left , this clean up was done as the site was put up for sale in 2005 ..the trees were felled in mid 2008 when the preservation work started , they started growing in the war time from the number of rings i counted in their trunks.
There are a lot of pictures on this site which would take some hours to look at but hopefully they tell a lot of the story when you dig deep into them ... more to be added soon I feel ..
Throughout 2009 nothing has happened apart from the ruts being filled in early in the year which were made by the digger, the undergrowth had a good year, 5 feet tall around the cottage making it impossible to see much of it . The last of the roof of the Barn fell in .
The chestnuts , Blackberries , Elderberries and Apples were fantastic .
Some good news , the Wye Valley Walk is being restored along the woods at the bottom of the grounds , the Alcove Viewpoint is nearly finished which overlooks Chepstow castle, and the Platform , Grotto and Giants cave being made good , the Eagles Nest viewpoint at the North end of what used to be Piercefield Grounds is open again after restoration .
It was disappointing not to have the International Horse trials this year and also the British Firework Championships , I hope they return in 2010!