THE great Wye Valley mansion, Troy House, faces possible restoration after many years lying empty. The Beaufort family's local seat since Elizabethan times, the present house was rebuilt by the 3rd Marquess of Worcester, Henry Somerset (1629-1700), after the Civil War.

At the same time he was building Castle House in the grounds of Monmouth Castle as the family's town house. When created Duke of Beaufort in 1682, he located himself at the rebuilt Badminton House.

Troy House, taking its name from the River Trothy which runs through the grounds, became seat of his eldest son, the Marquess of Worcester. In following centuries it was base of the family's land agent, managing thousands of acres of land-holdings.

"Since its sale by the 8th Duke of Beaufort in 1902, and the degradations inflicted upon it in the very worst of post Second World War taste, it is one of the grandest houses in Gwent," says John Harris, the present Duke of Beaufort's historian in a planning application lodged with Monmouthshire county council in Christmas week.

Submitted by Timbershore Ltd, a London-based development company, the planning application and listed building application is for the conversion of the main building into 23 apartments, and the demolition of post-1900 structures and building of 31 new apartments.

The local Mitchel Troy Community Council, which has the right of comment on the plans, held an extraordinary meeting at Mitchel Troy Village Hall this Tuesday evening at which members of the public were able to express their views.

"It appears to be a sensitive development but the access road could be a problem," says Community Council clerk Mike Woods. "Hopefully the open forum will be a good measure of public opinion."

In postwar years it became a convent and then remand school and home. "It was the home of a Catholic order of nuns who for income built up a steam laundry for the town," Monmouth Civic Society's Derek Jones tells the Review.

"When the laundry became uneconomic the nuns turned to looking after young women with behaviour problems. When the nuns gave up and moved away, they were succeeded by a commercial firm who looked after young men who had been referred to them by the courts. When this arrangement closed down, the building has been empty ever since."

When Troy House was offered for sale a decade or more ago, the estate agent's particulars stated that gardens and grounds cover six acres alongside the River Trothy, and the house included 29 bedrooms and four dormitories. "Additional is a modern hostel with 10 bedrooms and staff accommodation, and a chapel and cloisters."

Full report on our centre spread.