Plas Gunter Mansion

 

Plas Gunter Mansion

Plas Gunter Mansion Trust 39a Cross Street Abergavenny NP7 5ER

This house of great historical significance is currently undergoing renovation and it is hoped to open to the public in 2028.

It has been established that it was built as a detached house just outside the South Gate of Abergavenny around 1630. The present numbers 37, 38, 39 and 39A Cross Street show where it stood originally. One door would have been in Cross Street, with a cross passage leading to the grander garden entrance which was added from Priory (Beili) Lane, facing St Mary’s Priory. This was probably used for social events with the main Cross Street entrance being used for business purposes as the Thomas Gunters, father and son, were attorneys (as solicitors were called then). A fine ornate plaster ceiling in a first-floor room shows the wealth of the owners.

In the 1670s, the house was the home of the lawyer Thomas Gunter and his family. Thomas Gunter was a Catholic refusant at a time when the practice of Catholicism was outlawed. He supported Catholic priests and encouraged the practice of the Catholic religion when it was illegal and dangerous to do so. A chapel was in use in the attic and it seems that its existence was well known at that time. Two local priests, David Lewis and Philip Evans, who were thought to have said mass in the chapel were arrested, tried and executed in 1679.

In 1907 when work was being carried out on the building the chapel which had been boarded up for two hundred years was uncovered. The painted altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi and one of the original doors were taken to Abergavenny Museum. You can see the altarpiece and door in the lower level of the museum.

A number of Plas Gunter volunteers are also members of Abergavenny Local History Society and the Society supports the renovation project and the recruitment of volunteers for when Plas Gunter re-opens.

Find out more at plasguntermansion.org.uk