{{Infobox historic site | name = Wyndcliffe Court | image = Wyndcliffe Court.jpeg | caption = "a good and unaltered Jacobean style house" | type = House | locmapin = Wales Monmouthshire | map_relief = yes | coordinates = {{coord|51.6719|-2.6984|display=inline,title}} | location = St. Arvans, Monmouthshire | area = | built = 1922 | architect = Eric Francis | built_for = Charles Leigh Clay | architecture = Arts and Crafts | governing_body = Privately owned | designation1 = Grade II* listed building | designation1_offname = Wyndcliffe Court | designation1_date = 29 January 1998 | designation1_number = 1931 | designation2 = Grade II* listed building | designation2_offname = Garage cottages at Wyndcliffe Court | designation2_date = 14 February 2001 | designation2_number = 24773 & 24776 | designation3 = Grade II* listed building | designation3_offname = Garden terracing, steps, pool, pergola and summerhouse at Wyndcliffe Court | designation3_date = 14 February 2001 | designation3_number = 24764 | designation4 = Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales | designation4_free1name = Listing | designation4_free1value = Grade II | designation4_offname = Wyndcliffe Court | designation4_date = 1 February 2022 | designation4_number = PGW(Gt)4(Mon) }} '''Wyndcliffe Court''', {{convert|0.5|mi|1}} north of the village of St. Arvans, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a Grade II* listed country house and gardens in the Arts and Crafts style, completed in 1922. The client was Charles Leigh Clay and the architect Eric Francis. The gardens were designed by Henry Avray Tipping and are included on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

==History== Charles Leigh Clay (1866–1950) was the founder of the Claymore shipping company based in Cardiff, and the son of Henry Clay (1825–1921), who owned Piercefield House overlooking the Wye valley. In 1910, Charles Leigh Clay commissioned a house on the high ground to the north of St Arvans village, about {{convert|1|mi}} west of the Wyndcliff landscape feature.{{sfn|Attlee|2009|p=118}} He later became High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1926. His son, Henry Anthony Patrick Clay ERD, who continued to live at Wyndcliffe Court until his death in 2006, also became High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1965.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=43610 |supp=y|page=3049| date=28 March 1961 |nolink=y}}</ref>

The house was commissioned after the first world war and built in 1922.{{sfn|Attlee|2009|p=118}} The architect was Eric Carwardine Francis, a local architect who had previously worked on the design of Mounton House for its owner Henry Avray Tipping, the Architectural Editor of ''Country Life'' magazine.{{sfn|Newman|2000|p=520}}

In the early 21st century, the court was let, and the gardens were opened to the public on a regular basis during the summer to showcase exhibitions of garden sculpture.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gardenvisit.com/gardens/wyndcliffe_court_gardens|title=Wyndcliffe Court Gardens|website=www.gardenvisit.com|access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref> The shows have exhibited the work of many prominent British sculptors.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/wyndcliffe-court|title=Wyndcliffe Court|author=Parks and Gardens|website=www.parksandgardens.org|access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref> Regular events were also held throughout the summer, such as Shakespeare performances in the garden. The tenants announced in July 2016 that the gardens would close at the end of September.<ref>[http://www.monmouthshirebeacon.co.uk/article.cfm?id=105555&headline=Wyndcliffe%20Court%20Sculpture%20Gardens%20to%20close&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2016 "Wyndcliffe Court Sculpture Gardens to close", ''Monmouthshire Beacon'', 27 July 2016]. Retrieved 3 September 2016</ref> The Clays returned to the house and, in 2018, lost a case at the High Court regarding the re-roofing of the building.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2018/2104.html |title=Clay & Anor v The Welsh Ministers 2018|date=3 August 2018|publisher=British and Irish Legal Information Institute}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-45476537|title=Leaky roof row ends in High Court|date=10 September 2018|publisher=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stonespecialist.com/news/market-intelligence/victory-natural-slate-listed-building-owners-are-told-they-cannot-use-man|title=Victory for natural slate as listed building owners are told they cannot use man-made alternatives|date=11 September 2018|publisher=Stone Specialist}}</ref> In January 2019, Wyndcliffe featured in a BBC Two series, ''The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts'', in which a group of craftspeople collaborate on refurbishing parts of the house.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0by3gcj|title=The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref>

==Architecture and description== The house is built of local stone in the "Cotswold Tudor" style, with mullion and transom windows. The architectural historian John Newman describes it as "relaxed and sophisticated".{{sfn|Newman|2000|p=520}} The oak-lined ballroom, called the Oak Room, has Jacobethan-style paneling and one of the most extravagant plasterwork ceilings of its period anywhere in the country, depicting hops and roses, combining the early brewery roots of the Clay family with the Yorkshire rose of Mrs Clay. The plaster work was undertaken by Kebles.<ref name="auto">{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=24763|desc=Wyndcliffe Court|grade=II*|access-date=25 December 2020}}</ref> The gardens were designed by Tipping in the Italianate Arts and Crafts Style.{{sfn|Whittle|1992|p=77}} A paved terrace has steps down to a small pool and a summerhouse, linking the different levels on the steeply sloping site. The gardens also feature sculpted topiary, a sunken garden, walled gardens, fountains, an archery lawn and wooded walks, and remain substantially unaltered since Tipping created them.{{sfn|Gerrish|2011|pp=150–152}} Tipping was influenced in the design of the garden at Wyndcliffe by the work of his friend Gertrude Jekyll, who was designing gardens of hardy plants contained within sequences of outdoor "rooms". All are planted with flowers in bedding schemes. The yew hedge topiary with the stone walls and terraces give structure to the garden.<ref>{{Coflein|num=266098 |desc=Wyndcliffe Court, Garden, St Arvans |access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref>

The house was given Grade II* listed building status on 14 February 2001,<ref name="auto"/> its listing describing it as "a good and unaltered Jacobean style house (with) an unaltered contemporary garden".<ref name="auto"/> The two sets of garages, with accompanying cottages,<ref>{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=24766|desc=Garage cottages at Wyndcliffe Court|grade=II*|access-date=25 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=24773|desc=Garage cottages at Wyndcliffe Court|grade=II*|access-date=25 December 2020}}</ref> and the garden terraces, the steps, the pool, pergola and summerhouse all have their own Grade II* listings.<ref>{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=24764|desc=Garden terracing, steps, pool, pergola and summerhouse at Wyndcliffe Court|grade=II*|access-date=25 December 2020}}</ref> The gardens themselves are listed at Grade II* on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.<ref>{{NHAW|uid=259|num=PGW(Gt)4(MON) |class=HPG|desc=Wyndcliffe Court|access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Wyndcliffe Court 2018.jpg|The house from the lawn File:Sunken Pond.jpg|Sunken pond File:Topiary garden and archery lawn.jpg|Topiary garden and archery lawn File:Topiary October 2018.jpg|Topiary File:Lily pond with dolphin below the terrace.jpg|Lily pond with dolphin below the terrace File:Garden restoration Spring 2018.jpg|Restoration work in Spring 2018 </gallery>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== * {{Cite book |last=Attlee|first=Helena |title=The Gardens of Wales |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-JFvgAACAAJ&q=the+gardens+of+wales |year=2009 |publisher=Frances Lincoln |location=London |isbn=978-0-7112-2882-5 }} * {{Cite book |last=Gerrish|first=Helena |title=Edwardian Country Life: The Story of H. Avray Tipping |year=2011 |location=London |publisher=Frances Lincoln |isbn=978-0-7112-3223-5 |oclc=800585122 }} * {{Cite book |last=Newman|first=John |author-link=John Newman (architectural historian) |series=The Buildings of Wales |title=Gwent/Monmouthshire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knRf4U60QjcC&q=The+Buildings+of+Wales%3A+Gwent%2FMonmouthshire&pg=PA2 |year=2000 |location=London |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-071053-1 }} * {{Cite book |last=Whittle |first=Elisabeth |title=The Historic Gardens of Wales |year=1992 |url=https://archive.org/details/historicgardenso0000whit |location=Cardiff |publisher=CADW |isbn=9780117015784 |url-access=registration }}

== External links == {{Commons category|Wyndcliffe Court }} * [http://www.wyndcliffecourt.com Wyndcliffe Court]

Category:History of Monmouthshire Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Monmouthshire Category:Country houses in Monmouthshire Category:Houses completed in 1922 Category:Arts and Crafts architecture in Wales Category:Registered historic parks and gardens in Monmouthshire Category:Gardens by Henry Avray Tipping Category:Arts and Crafts gardens