Glen Usk, Llanhennock


Glen Usk, Llanhennock, Monmouthshire is a country house dating from 1820. It was built for Sir Digby Mackworth, Bt. in the Neoclassical style. The house is Grade II* listed and the adjoining temple, and other associated structures, have their own Grade II listings.

History

The Mackworth family's place on the lowest rung of the aristocratic ladder was secured by Sir Digby's father, Sir Herbert Mackworth, 1st Baronet, a lawyer and landowner from Glamorganshire, who was created a baronet in 1776. Inheriting the title in 1795, on the death of his brother, Sir Digby began the building of Glen Usk circa. 1820. His architect is unknown. The house was remodelled in the 1840s, when the adjacent structure in the style of a Greek temple was added as a picture gallery. The architectural historian John Newman notes its "uncomfortably stout" fluted columns. The temple was converted to a billiard room and library in about 1900. Apart from some alterations to the surrounding landscape in the early 20th century, the house is largely unaltered since this time. It remains a private residence, and was recently restored.

Architecture and description

Newman describes Glen Usk as "an exquisite, white-rendered Neoclassical villa". Of three storeys, with three bays, the house is faced with rendered stucco and has replacement slate roofs. Writing of the house in the early 1950s, Tyerman and Warner described it as a "big, yellow stucco house, with a splendid terrace". It is a Grade II* listed building, its listing record noting the "high level of original or early detail, including good interiors". The surrounding landscape was remodelled in the 1920s. The temple, stable court, pergola, gate piers, and garden terraces all have their own Grade II listings.