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Hygga House Dovecote, Trellech
The Dovecote, Hygga, Trellech, Monmouthshire is a late 16th-century dovecote, in an unusually complete state of preservation. Part of the service buildings for the, now demolished, Hygga House, the dovecote is a Grade II* listed building and a scheduled monument. History and descriptionThe origin of the name Hygga is Old Norse, meaning "to comfort".[1] In the 16th century, a substantial mansion, Hygga House,[2] stood on the site but it has since been demolished.[2][a] The dovecote, along with a large barn[4] and a shippon and stables,[5] comprised a range of service buildings for the house.[2] In a poor state of repair for over two centuries, the dovecote was fully restored in the 1980s and now forms a rare example of a complete 16th-century dovecote.[6][b] Sir Cyril Fox and Lord Raglan, in their three-volume guide Monmouthshire Houses, note the rarity of such dovecotes within the county, citing one at Llantellen, Skenfrith as the only other known example.[8] In his study, A Book of Dovecotes published in 1920, Arthur Owens Cooke in fact noted three; at Court Farm, Llanvair Discoed; at St Pierre; and at Llanthony Priory; but does not record Hygga.[c][10] The architectural historian John Newman gives a dating for the dovecote, and the associated barns, of c.1600.[11] The dovecote is constructed of lime-washed stone rubble, with a "stone-slated conical roof".[2] Unusually for a dovecote, it has windows with ovolo mullions.[6] Above the windows are six tiers of nesting boxes, set into the wall.[6] The dovecote is a Scheduled monument,[12][13] and a Grade II* listed building, its listing recording the dovecote as a "particularly fine and complete example".[6] Footnotes
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