Buckland Hall, an eighteenth-century house modified in the nineteenth century (nprn 25183) but located on a more ancient site, is situated to the east of Talybont-on-Usk, on the west side of Buckland Hill overlooking the Usk valley. It is noted for the structure of its grand Edwardian formal garden in a fine position in the valley (301173). Both house and garden lie in parkland. The estate is identified with the Games family, conveyed to the Gwynne family in 1756, passing to the Holfords of Cilgwyn, Carmarthenshire in the nineteenth century.

The park lies mostly to the north and west of Buckland Hall, on ground falling away to the Usk. It curves down from the north-west end, following a bend in the river, in the shape of an inverted comma. It is bounded on the east by the forestry plantations of Buckland Hill. The park covers about 200 acres though it was once more extensive. The main, north, drive to the house forms the north-east boundary, and descends the steep hillside from an entrance off the A40, opposite the site of Talybryn Lodge (now gone). The south drive ran on from the house, through farmland, to exit about 1 km to the south on the Llangynidr road. Traces of an earlier drive from the north-east are still visible. The park is now managed as permanent pasture. Hedge and dry-stone wall boundaries survive along with some limited open parkland planting of oak, chestnut and ornamental conifers, particularly in the field to the west of the old tennis courts. There is a fishpond north of the house. Behind the coach house, cut into the rising slope, is a well-preserved ice-house and, nearby, a possible fernery.
The home farm, Buckland Farm,  and its outbuildings lie to the north of the Hall.

The native woodland was gradually replaced by conifers from the mid nineteenth-century. Major Gwynne Holford, nineteenth-century owner and a veteran of Waterloo, planted blocks of conifers on the western hillside imitating ranks of British infantry and cavalry; this survived in form until about 1940. There is an area of wild planting along a small stream to the west of Buckland Farm, below Sunnybank smallholding.

Garden areas are located around the house but also in areas to its north and north-west (301173).

Source:
Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 36-9 (ref: PGW (Po)6(POW)).

RCAHMW, 14 April 2022