Mathern Palace

Mathern Palace
Location	Mathern, Monmouthshire, Wales
Coordinates	51°36′51″N 2°41′25″W / 51.61417°N 2.69028°W / 51.61417; -2.69028Coordinates: 51°36′51″N 2°41′25″W / 51.61417°N 2.69028°W / 51.61417; -2.69028
OS grid reference	ST 523 908
Built	14th – 17th centuries Restored 1894–99
Architect	Original: various Restoration: Henry Avray Tipping
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated	10 June 1953
Location of Mathern Palace in Monmouthshire

Mathern Palace is a Grade I listed building in the village of Mathern, Monmouthshire, Wales, located some 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Chepstow close to the Severn estuary. Between about 1408 and 1705 it was the main residence of the Bishops of Llandaff. After falling into ruination, it was restored and its gardens laid out between 1894 and 1899 by the architectural writer Henry Avray Tipping. In recent years it has been in private hands, and used as a residential centre.

According to the Liber Landavensis, lands at Mathern and for several miles around, as far east as the River Wye, were given to the Bishops of Llandaff by Meurig, in memory of his father Tewdrig, king of Gwent and Glywysing. Tewdrig had been wounded in a battle with the Saxons near Tintern, perhaps around the year 630, and died at Mathern; the parish church of St. Tewdric was built on the spot. The bishop's residence was built nearby. It is thought that the location – some 28 miles (45 km) east of Llandaff – was chosen partly because its proximity to a well-used crossing point of the Severn estuary, and after their construction the castles at Caldicot and Chepstow gave protection against attacks from the Welsh.

By 1333, Mathern was one of three medieval palaces belonging to Llandaff, the others being at Bishton and at Llandaff itself. The house was repaired after the death of bishop Rodger Cradock in 1382, and after Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion in the early 15th century, in which the other two palaces were destroyed, it was the only one kept habitable. The palace may have been rebuilt, at least in part, by John de la Zouch, bishop from 1408 to 1423. In 1882, local historian Octavius Morgan described three carved stones, showing symbols of the Holy Trinity, which once formed part of a grand gateway to the Palace dating from the time of de la Zouch; these had been deposited by Lord Tredegar at the museum at Caerleon. There is a datestone of 1419, and the range appears to date from that period.