Clytha Castle
Encyclopedia
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
near Clytha between Llanarth
Llanarth
Llanarth may refer to:* Llanarth, Ceredigion* Llanarth, Monmouthshire...
and Raglan
Raglan, Monmouthshire
Raglan is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. It is located some 9 miles south-west of Monmouth, midway between Monmouth and Abergavenny on the A40 road very near to the junction with the A449 road...
in Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, south east Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. One of the two "outstanding examples of late eighteenth century fanciful Gothic in the county","this stupendous folly enjoys magnificent(.) views to the mountains of the North West, Skirrd and Sugar Loaf."
Location
Clytha Castle folly http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/70264 is set close to the A40A40 road
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road in all legal documents and Acts...
Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...
to Raglan road, originally within the parkland that formed part of the estate of nearby Clytha House, some four miles west of Raglan at the Betws newydd turnoff. There is a car park nearby and the Usk Valley Walk
Usk Valley Walk
The Usk Valley Walk is a waymarked long distance footpath in south east Wales, from Caerleon to Brecon.- Distance :The route runs some . The entire route can be walked in three to five days.- The route :...
passes close by.
The Folly
Clytha Castle is a crenellated stone follyFolly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
with gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
windows set on a rounded hill, amid chestnut groves, overlooking Clytha Park and the River Usk
River Usk
The River Usk rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain of mid-Wales, in the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially it flows north into Usk Reservoir, then east by Sennybridge to Brecon before turning southeast to flow by Talybont-on-Usk, Crickhowell and...
. It was built in 1790 by William Jones of Clytha House in memory of his wife who had recently died. William Jones engaged John Davenport as the architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
to realise his ardent wish for a folly built "for the purpose of relieving a mind sincerely afflicted by the loss of a most excellent wife". A tablet set into the walls of the folly records this dedication. A, perhaps more cynical, contemporary observer noted that Jones's wife was "the female heir of the House of Tredegar, who bestowed on the proprietor a splendid fortune."
William Jones in his bereavement wanted a beautiful monument, a sanctuary and a retreat. Built of rendered rubble stone with Bath stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
dressing it is one of the finest 18th century Welsh follies. The plan is "L" shaped, with a square, two-storyed central block, with screen walls and drum towers to either side. It is exquisitely proportioned with picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
asymmetry
Asymmetry
Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry.-In organisms:Due to how cells divide in organisms, asymmetry in organisms is fairly usual in at least one dimension, with biological symmetry also being common in at least one dimension....
and located in a landscape that balances the building and complements it. "Everything is big and simple, to (be) read from a distance." The round tower is roofless and was designed as a shell in order to add symmetry to the facade.
Clytha Castle Today
Clytha Castle is in the care of the Landmark TrustLandmark Trust
The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then gives them a new life by making them available for holiday rental...
who for the last 20 years or so have maintained the building and enabled many visitors to the area to fully appreciate it through letting it as holiday accommodation.
The accommodation consists of a substantial sitting room in the central tower, a dining room and kitchen, and a ground floor double bedroom. A spiral stone staircase leads to an upper floor with a main double bedroom in the central tower, and a smaller twin room and bathroom over a landing. One of the circular towers is now open to the sky, and is used only for storage.
Pronunciation
Most English people and other visitors (including the Landmark Trust Head Office) use the apparent spelling-pronunciation "Cly-ther" to rhyme with "neither". However, the local and Welsh pronunciation is "Clither" to rhyme with "hither".Nearby
Nearby is NeoclassicalNeoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
Clytha House, hidden from the old A40 road, but its gothic gates, designed by John Nash (architect)
John Nash (architect)
John Nash was a British architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London.-Biography:Born in Lambeth, London, the son of a Welsh millwright, Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor. He established his own practice in 1777, but his career was initially unsuccessful and...
are visible right on the road at the long drive http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/206883 and http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/490415. Clytha House itself was largely rebuilt in 1824–28 by the architect Edward Haycock.
Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th-centuries, when the successive ruling families of the Herberts and the Somersets created a luxurious,...
is easily seen from the A40 dual carriageway at Raglan.