St. Pierre Park is located south-west of Chepstow and lies mostly to the west of St Pierre House (now a hotel, nprn 20827). It is bounded on the north by the M48, on the west by the Newport - Chepstow road (A48) and on all but the east side by a stone wall.

The park has medieval origins and was originally the deer park of the Lewis family. It engulfed a small medieval community of which only the church remains (307427). It was still a deerpark at the start of the twentieth century, stocked with fallow deer. Along the eastern edge, on low-lying ground, is a series of silted-up and neglected linear ponds strung out in a curve, one below the other. They are possibly of medieval origin although their development as ornamental features came later.

The ground is highest on the west side of the park and drops steeply down to the main central part in which there is a large artificial lake with a massive curving dam at its south end. There are two entrances, one to the north-west of the house (at Haysgate Lodge, now gone), and one to the west (at Parkwall Lodge). The former was the more ornate and so perhaps was the original approach.

The main phase of landscaping was in the second half of the eighteenth century. The lake was probably made then, as was the west drive. A map of 1781 shows the upper part of the park, on the western edge, to be well wooded with circular clumps either side of the entrance and a warren to the south. The main area of the park was then mostly open but by the late nineteenth century it is shown dotted with trees, with the south boundary well wooded. The park is now largely rolling grassland, mown for use as a golf course, with isolated specimen trees. These are largely deciduous and some, in particular oaks, sweet chestnuts and planes, are very ancient, relics of pre-eighteenth century park planting.
The main changes in the park came with its conversion to a country club and golf club in the twentieth century.

Sources:
Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 134-6 (ref: PGW (Gt)29(MON)).
Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Monmouthshire XXX (1880).

RCAHMW, 10 June 2022

Site Record

St Pierre Park, Mathern