Llwyn Celyn is a Grade 1 listed, 15th century medieval ‘hall house’ which lies in the Black Mountains between Abergavenny and Hay-on-Wye. Once part of the monastic Llanthony Estate, the house has since the 1960s been falling gradually into disrepair. The property has recently been taken over by the Landmark Trust, with the help of Cadw and Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, with the intention of restoring the building and outbuildings, including the fabulously named ‘Beast House’.
Working in partnership with PEAK, Landmark have secured funding from Heritage Lottery to run several artists’ residencies during the restoration process. I’ve been lucky enough to be offered one of the residencies, and I’m looking forward to starting over the coming months and working alongside the other selected artists, Toril Brancher, Catherine Baker and Jamie Lake.
The house was only recently vacated by its most recent human inhabitants (there is a good article on the house’s recent history on the Telegraph site), but on visiting the site, I noticed that some of the ‘other occupants’ – bats, birds and mice as well as innumerable beetles, woodlice (and other invertebrates who are probably busily consuming the building), spiders, moths and butterflies – hadn’t yet moved out. My proposal is to work ‘with’ some of these other occupants and create a series of artworks, interventions and events which negotiate the spaces which humans and animals share.
Good to see Llwyn Celyn’s lesser horseshoe bat residents featuring on Channel 4’s ‘Restoring Britain’s Landmarks‘ tonight. Last time I was there, with Jamie Lake, filming in the Beast House with a thermal imaging camera, I spotted at least 8 lesser horseshoes, along with a sparrowhawk, buzzard, a treecreeper breaking hazelnuts open on a branch (I thought it was a woodpecker), the biggest hoverfly I’ve seen and a Pale Tussock moth caterpillar making its way slowly across the road. 