PGW(Gt)51(MON)

Wyelands  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Mathern  

352389  

192177  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; terraced and informal woodland gardens.  

c. 1820.  

Registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved early nineteenth century terrace garden and informal woodland gardens set in contemporary parkland. The park and garden provide the setting for the house and associated estate buildings with which they have important group value. Wyelands is situated in rolling lowland to the south-west of Chepstow, between the town and the village of Mathern. The house (LB: 24100; NPRN: 21161) was designed in the early nineteenth century by Robert Lugar for George Buckle, sheriff of the county. The park is contemporary (c.1820) with the house and survives in its entirety having been little altered. It is of an irregular shape, elongated north-south, and is bounded on the north-west and south-east, where its boundaries are along roads, with stone walling, elsewhere by iron fencing. There are two entrances at the north and south ends of the park, each with a lodge (to the north Wyelands Lodge LB: 24082; and to the south Mathern Lodge LB: 24108). The north drive is the main drive and winds through the park to the north side of the house. The south drive runs up through woodland, joining the main drive on the north side of the kitchen garden. Most of the park is permanent pasture with scattered isolated ornamental trees, both deciduous and coniferous, including some fine cedars of Lebanon, and some clumps of mixed trees, some possibly contemporary with the creation of the park. To the north, south-east and east of the house are areas of woodland. That to the north is ornamental, with some fine specimen trees. To the south-east and east the woodland is semi-natural deciduous. To the east of the house, east of the Mathern-St Tewdic lane, is a small wood (East Wood) with a lodge at its entrance (LB: 24091). This semi-natural deciduous woodland is also part of the park and has a winding path through it. The gardens at Wyelands are contemporary with, or slightly later than, the house. They are situated all around the house and can be divided into three main areas: the woodland approach to the north; the terraced garden to the west and south; and the woodland garden to the east. To the north of the house the main drive to the house winds through an area of open, mixed ornamental woodland, with large, mature beech and also some cedars and sweet chestnuts. Along its north boundary is a screen of evergreens (yews, Portugal laurel and holly). The house is flanked by evergreen hedging, with clipped yew arches over iron gateways into the the garden on the west and service area on the east. Further open woodland and a modern tennis court lie to the east of the forecourt. To the west and south of the house is a narrow terrace with a stone-flagged path, bounded by a grass scarp down to a wider lower terrace bounded by a stone revetment wall and stone balustrading. The terrace is grassed, with a geometric layout of island beds on the south side of the house. At the north end of the west side wide stone steps lead up to a small platform backed by a stone wall. Below the lower terrace is a smooth grass slope down to the garden boundary of iron fencing, beyond which is the park. Two further terraces lie to the south-east of the house built out over the western side of the small valley to the east. The upper terrace, grassy and partly hedged, supports a sundial and a corner pavilion, linked to the lower terrace, also grassed, by stone steps (LB: 24103). To the east of the house, in a small valley, is a semi-natural woodland area, ornamented with winding, rockwork-edged paths. The path passes through a ruined arch and down rustic stone steps to the bottom of the valley and a small stream crossed by small rustic stone bridges. A similar path leads from a rustic stone archway to the north of the terraces (north of the wall to the east of the house) down rustic stone steps into the valley bottom, and up the other side. The walled kitchen garden at Wyelands Park (LB: 24102) lies to the north of the house, east of the drive. It is rectangular with stone walls curved at the corners. It is divided into three sections; a large central one, with higher walls, and two narrower outer ones at the north and south ends. The doorways have pointed arches. The interior of the main part is laid out with central crossing and perimeter paths of gravel. The inner sides of the paths are lined with iron fencing and old espalier fruit trees. In the middle of the north end is a restored lean-to greenhouse of brick and glass construction, with iron piers and a central hollow wall (for heating). In front of it is a semi-circular flowerbed bounded by the perimeter path. A cast iron vase on a cast iron plinth stands on the central axis on the edge of the bed. Setting: Wyelands is situated in rolling lowlands to the west of Chepstow. Significant Views: from the garden terraces across the park to the west and to the south. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, 158-60 (ref: PGW(Gt)51.