History 2 ...
The full history of the building, the owners and occupiers, and the uses
has not been researched. Some details of owners and occupiers from
the late 18
th
Century onwards are known from leases.
The building has been known as ‘Church House’, ‘Monckley House’, and
as the ‘Hospice’. There is a local tradition that the building was
connected with the Knight’s Hospitallers, but there is no evidence for
the Medieval Order of St John of Jerusalem owning property in the
parish of Newcastle.
It is possible that the hearth passage house as described and recorded
by Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of
Wales was adapted from an earlier smaller building, and the core of
that building is represented by the thicker walls which each have an
inter-mural stair with small cut-through stone lights. These surround
the smaller of the service rooms, which with its apsidal end hints at an
ecclesiastical use. If so, then it is possible that building was originally a
small wayside chapel caring for
the spiritual and temporal needs
of pilgrims on their way to St
David’s. There are strong
traditions for Bridgend having a
number of stopping places for
pilgrims, in part reflected by the
names of several public houses
(eg The Angel, the Lamb and Flag
both now gone) in the vicinity of
Newcastle Hill.
If correct, then the re-building of
the structure into the hearth
passage house would represent a
change of use and possibly
owner. A locus for this might be
the acquisition of the Parish of
Newcastle by the Cistercian
monks at Margam Abbey, who
acquired the rights to the parish
from Tewkesbury, but were required to provide a suitable dwelling for
the priest. Alternatively, the building may have been used as a small
hospital, or more likely was taken over by a secular agency, perhaps a
local merchant. What can be reasonably certain is that whoever built
the core of the structure that we see today had both status and means.
The enlargement of the hearth-passage house (widening of the porch
and room above together with possible cellar below) in the late
sixteenth/early seventeenth century may reflect a further change of
ownership.
We know (from transcriptions on a later lease) that by the end of the
eighteenth century that the building was owned by Walter Coffin. The
Coffins were a major landowner in Bridgend, their wealth derived from
a productive tannery. They were also connected by marriage to the
Price family of Llangeinnor, who included the famous humanist Richard
Price and his nephew William Morgan one of the founding fathers of
actuarial practice.
In the nineteenth century the house was leased to various parties and
the property was subdivided with two extended families living in either
half each with an extension built to the rear of which only the
northernmost now survives.
In 1919, the then owner Abraham Lewis sold the building to the Order
of St John of Jerusalem. Owen Phillips, Baron Kylsant, a colourful
character, claimed to have purchased the freehold for the Priory. He
had connections with Slebech, Pembrokeshire, a former Commandery of
the Knight’s Hospitaller. In the late twentieth century the building was
acquired by the present owners.
St John’s House, Newcastle Hill, Bridgend, CF31 4EY - M: 07510 248315
There are
strong traditions
for Bridgend
having a number
of stopping places
for pilgrims
“
St John’s House Trust (Bridgend) Charity Reg. No. 1147340