| White Hart Inn | |
|---|---|
 "Conspicuous at the centre of the village" | |
| Type | House |
| Location | Llangybi,Monmouthshire |
| Coordinates | 51°39′56″N2°54′26″W / 51.6655°N 2.9073°W /51.6655; -2.9073 |
| Built | c.1600-1650 |
| Architectural style(s) | Vernacular |
| Governing body | Privately owned |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | The White Hart Public House |
| Designated | 4 March 1952 |
| Reference no. | 2688 |
  Location of White Hart Inn in Monmouthshire | |
The White Hart Inn,Llangybi,Monmouthshire is apublic house dating from the early 17th century. Located at a crossroads in the centre of the village, it is aGrade II* listed building.
The building was begun in the very late 16th century or early 17th centuries.[1]Cadw suggests a building date as early as 1590, but the architectural writerJohn Newman, recording the inn in theGwent/Monmouthshire volume of theBuildings of Wales series, favours an early 17th century date.[2] In the mid-17th century it became the property ofHenry VIII as part ofJane Seymour's weddingdowry.[3] The inn is often said to have a priest hole, and to have been the headquarters ofOliver Cromwell during his campaigning in Monmouthshire in theEnglish Civil War,[4] but the main sources do not support these suggestions.[1][2]
In 2003 Philip Edwards, former King Alfred professor of English literature atLiverpool University suggested thatT. S. Eliot made cryptic reference to this pub and the village well in his 1935 poem "Usk".[5] The relevant lines read:
Coflein describes the building as a double-house,[6] although sources agree that it appears to have been a single dwelling from its earliest construction.[1] The building iswhite-washed and of two storeys with a roof ofWelsh slate.[1] It is constructed to an L-plan.[1] Newman notes the "fine array" ofmullioned windows and the plaster ceiling in the upstairs parlour, decorated with "sunflowers andfleurs-de-lys".[2]