Courtfield, Welsh Bicknor

The medieval manor of Grayfield, or Greenfield, was a possession of the Montagu(e) family. According to tradition, the young Henry V, born at Monmouth Castle in 1386, was raised at Courtfield between 1387 and 1394.[lower-alpha 1][1][2][3] The cradle of Henry V was long thought to have come from Courtfield, although modern furniture historians consider that the crib, now in the Royal Collection, post-dates his birth by at least a century.[4] In the 16th century, the estate was bought by the Vaughans, a cadet branch of the Herbert family.[lower-alpha 2][6] The Vaughans were, and remain, Roman Catholic and suffered considerable persecution in the 17th and 18th centuries.[5]

In his The Excursion down the Wye, published in 1808, the Monmouth antiquarian Charles Heath writes that William Vaughan pulled down the original house and “erected a very handsome mansion, compatible with the comforts of modern life.” Heath states that the architect for the building was Mr Maddox of Monmouth, although modern sources disagree (see Architecture and description).[7][lower-alpha 3] In the later 19th century John Francis Vaughan married Louisa Elizabeth (Eliza) Rolls of the Rolls family of The Hendre, Monmouthshire.[lower-alpha 4] A convert to Catholicism, Eliza became extremely devout, and five of her six daughters became nuns while, of her eight sons who survived childhood, six became priests, including three bishops.[9] The most notable was Herbert Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster. Vaughan founded the Mill Hill Missionaries and the Catholic Truth Society, bought the Catholic newspaper, The Tablet to increase the influence of the church, and oversaw the early construction of Westminster Cathedral.[10][lower-alpha 5]

In 1950 the Vaughans sold the house to the Mill Hill Missionaries, while retaining possession of the wider estate.[12] The missionaries remained at the house until 2010, when it was sold back to the Vaughan family.[9] The house is again a private residence and is not open to the public.[13]

The house is approached along a drive though a former deer park.[14] The building is of seven bays and two storeys, the construction material being stuccoed stone.[15] The style is Regency, executed in a not particularly adept way. Alan Brooks, in his 2012 revised Herefordshire Pevsner Buildings of England, notes the "unconvincing" arrangement of pilasters and pediment.[15] Both Pevsner and Historic England attribute the design to William Miles, a surveyor from Stroud.[15][16] Brooks further notes the Soanean influences in the interior of the house including vaulted ceilings, domed skylights and curved bay windows. A curved wall to the left of the house is pierced by an archway into the stable yard. This is now mostly filled with extensions dating from the 1960s, put up by the Mission fathers.[15]

Courtfield is a Grade II listed building.[16] The chapel built by the Vaughans in the 1880s, and subsequently used by the Mission,[17] a hermitage in the grounds,[18] and a dower house, Glenwye, also have Grade II listings.[19]

• Brooks, Alan; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2012). Herefordshire. The Buildings of England. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12575-7.
• Oldnall, Nick (2012). Courtfield (PDF). Forest of Dean Local History Society.