The original house on the site, Clytha House, was built by the Berkeley family of Spetchley Park in Worcestershire. It was subsequently purchased by William Jones the Elder, who constructed the gates and Clytha Castle. His son, William Jones the Younger, from 1862 Herbert, razed the Georgian mansion to the ground and replaced it with the Neoclassical Clytha Park. The Monmouthshire antiquarian Sir Joseph Bradney, in his multi-volume A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time, records that Jones's attempts to change his name to Herbert occasioned a long feud with his near neighbour, Lord Llanover, the Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire, who sought to block the change; "A long and acrimonious, and at times highly humorous, correspondence ensued in the newspapers and a debate on the subject took place in the house of commons". Beginning work on his inheritance in 1820, Jones used the Shrewsbury architect, Edward Haycock Snr. In the later 19th century, the house contained the painting, The Deluge by Francis Danby. A service wing at the rear of the house was demolished in 1957. Although owned by the National Trust, the house remains the private residence of the Hanbury-Tenison family and is accessible only by prior written appointment. The wider estate encompasses Monmouthshire's "two outstanding examples of late eighteenth century Gothic", the gates to the park and Clytha Castle. Overlooking the house, on a prominent hill, stands the folly of Clytha Castle, constructed by William Jones the Elder in memory of his wife. Long attributed to John Nash, recent documentary discovery has shown that it was designed by John Davenport, who also laid out the grounds, a "well-preserved a late eighteenth century landscape park". The original canal in the grounds by Davenport was extended in the early 19th century to create the present lake, the spoil from the excavations being used to create a raised platform for the new house. The park was further developed by Henry Avray Tipping in the early 20th century. On the old Abergavenny-to-Raglan road stand the entrance gates, again reputedly by John Nash, who did undertake work in South Wales. A lodge is set to one side. They are earlier than the house, of 1797. The entry in Mee'sThe King's England suggests that the gateway came from the ruined mansion of Perth-hir, near Rockfield. The gates have their own Grade II* listing.
Architecture and description
The architectural historian John Newman considers Clytha, "the finest early nineteenth century Greek Revival house in the county." The building is a square in the Greek Doric style, of ashlar with sandstone dressings. It is of two storeys and has a "fine centr sandstone Ionictetrastyle portico". The interior is pure Doric, with a circular vestibule leading to a spacious, top-lit, staircase hall. Peter Smith, in his 1975 study, Houses of the Welsh Countryside, describes Clytha as "represent the best of the Greek revival". The court was designated a Grade I listed building on 1 September 1956. Cadw's listing describes Clytha Park as "one of the best neo-classical houses in Wales".
