In 1912, after the death of his mother and last surviving brother, Tipping let Mathern Palace before selling it in 1914. During the First World War it was used to house refugees from Belgium following the German invasion. In 1923 it was bought by Col. D. J. C. McNabb, whose widow remained there until it was sold in 1957 to steel makers Richard Thomas and Baldwins, the owners of the Llanwern steelworks away, for use as a guest house. After nationalisation it passed into the hands of the British Steel Corporation and then the Corus Group, a subsidiary of Tata Steel Europe.