Foxhall Newydd was begun in 1592 by John Panton to outshine his neighbour Humphrey Lloyd. It was a 3 storey stone-building with attic and basement, now a ruinous shell, with walling to almost full height, but without roofs or floors. It has a long cruciform plan with a short central stair projection opposite a entrance projection. There are projecting lateral fireplaces to each side, stone mullion windows with internal voussoirs, two full height bay-windows and a gabled-dormer roof line.

It appears to be the only completed part of a much grander 'E' plan house which was never built. Subsequently the partly built plan was reduced so that north-east facade with its central entry projection became the main front, with the addition of a bay window at the south end to balance the facade. The intended north-west front facade has continuous string courses over the main. There are front windows and imitation ashlar render to these corners. The north-east elevation is devoid of string courses. The ground and first-floor once had transom-mullions.

The building is entered at basement level (only a rebated opening for a dressed stone doorway survives) and is lit by a three-light mullion window. There is evidence in the internal wall rendering for a stair rising to the ground-floor. The first-floor room in this projection has the remains of a dressed stone fireplace with ovolo moulded jambs. In this room are the only surviving plaster details, which consist of a moulded plaster cornice and strapwork detail frieze, said to have had a date of 1608. It is probable that other floors were reached from the ground-floor by a grand staircase in the south-west projection opposite, perhaps with secondary staircase to the basement.

The basement may have been divided into three rooms, consisting of a kitchen, a central room without heating and a heated servants parlour. The splay-sided fireplaces once had stone voussoirs, only the space for the springing stone being visible today. The bay-window in the north-east elevation is clearly an addition, as it blocks an existing window. The original window bay at the north-west and the two flanking lights provide good lighting to the kitchen and there is also a three-light mullioned opening opposite the fireplace. The fireplace has been reduced in width slightly perhaps because the adjacent oven with stone voussoir over has had its exterior stonework cut back and required strengthening.


GAW Visited 21/04/97, GA Ward 04/12/97.

Fopxhall Newydd was started in 1608 by Panton in 1592 to outshine his neighbour Humphrey Lloyd. Never finished, shell only.
Associated with:
Dovecote Nprn31725
Gardens Nprn266498