Hilston House (nprn 37087) stands on the top of a ridge to the west of the Monnow valley, about a mile South-west of Skenfrith. There has been a house on the site since at least the seventeenth century. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was owned by the Needham family. The house was severely damaged by fire in 1836 and was sold to a Mr. Cave in 1838 who carried out the main phase of rebuilding, at the same time that the park was made.

The landscape park is situated on rolling ground, to the west of the Monnow valley. It is rectangular, bounded on all sides by public roads and tracks. The chief ornamental features of the park are the plantations. It was formerly dotted with individual trees and clumps but these have now mostly gone and the park is now largely in agricultural use for pasture and orchards. The house stands on high ground in the western half of the park and from it and the garden much of the park can be seen across the ha-ha. The house was approached via a drive and another along a short drive from the north-west. Early maps show the tree-lined south drive passing through the parkland skirting around the north side of the lake before arriving at the north-west (main front) of the house. At both entrances there are gates, gate piers and a two-storey entrance lodge (610 – North Lodge). The north drive is currently used to access the house and the south drive is now a farm track.

In the north-east corner of the park the ground rises to a small hill overlooking the Monnow valley. On the top of this hill, in the middle of a wood is a circular stone folly tower, Hilston Tower, which may date to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century. It is three storeys high, with an open top, and windows and an entrance on the ground floor. Holes for floor joists and stair treads are visible, and a down-pipe is exposed in the wall, suggesting that there was originally a roof.

Around the house are gardens and pleasure grounds (265922).

Sources:
Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 53-54 (ref: PGW (Gt)22).
RCAHMW air photos: 94-CS 0374-5, 1362-3; 945053/41-3; 945155/48-9; 965071/47.

RCAHMW, 19 July 2022

Site Record

Hilston Park, Skenfrith