Clytha House, an early nineteenth century neo-classical mansion built for William Jones the younger (nprn 36684), is located about 5km west of Raglan, south of the village of Llanarth. It is noteworthy for its fine late eighteenth-century landscape park with well-preserved castellated eye-catcher folly (700396), as well as for the structural remains of its ornamental garden and walled kitchen garden. It has historical associations with the eighteenth century architect and garden designer, John Davenport from Shropshire. John Nash did some work at Clytha in about 1790. Jones's work included changes and additions to the park. 

The gardens lie immediately around and to the north-east of the house. To the south and west are lawns sloping gently down to the ha-ha. To the north-west is an area of mostly informal tree and shrub planting around a roughly rectangular small lake (421178). To the east of the house a ridge of higher ground is planted with deciduous trees and evergreen shrub understorey (the 'shrubbery').
The gardens were laid out in several stages. William Jones the elder, with the help of Davenport in the early 1790s, is known to have laid out gardens which went with the previous house, but there are no discernible traces of them, except possibly one or two trees. A lake is known to have been in existence in the eighteenth century (and probably earlier) on the site of the present one, but it was dug out further and given a more picturesque outline in the 1820s, when material from it was used to build up the mound that the house was built on. The area between the house and the lake, and around the lake, was planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers, and some of the trees remain. In a map of l862 the lake was described as the 'pond in flower garden', and on its south-west side is a cast-iron boat shelter probably of nineteenth-century date. 

Paths are mostly informal and grassed, with a few gravel paths, including one that leads to a stone-arched gateway topped by a medieval stone cross (found on Perthir Farm) known as the Perthir Gate, on the north boundary of the garden. 

Various alterations were made to the gardens under the direction of H. Avray Tipping in the 1930s. The basic structure remained unchanged, but some more formal elements were added near the lake.

Sources:
Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 25-26 (ref: PGW (Gt)15).
Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map, sheet: Monmouthshire XIII.10 (1882). 
RCAHMW air photos: 94-CS 1455-6; 945159/47.

RCAHMW, 26 July 2022