Clyne Castle (also known as Neuadd Gilbertson)

Clyne Castle (also known as Neuadd Gilbertson) is a substantial house built in two main phases. The earlier work comprises a long two-storey south front of rubble stone, principally designed by Warde around 1820. Behind this stands a three-storey north block of snecked, rock-faced stone with Forest of Dean dressings and concrete tile roofs, added by Vivian in the 1860s. Mullioned and transomed windows are used throughout except in the service areas.

The south block's south front is convex and castellated, rising on a corbel table. It features higher round end turrets, two-storey bay windows to the end bays, then higher polygonal turrets with blind slits and narrower windows flanking the central bay. The centre has a projecting higher bay of coursed rubble with a three-light ground floor window, a string course between storeys, and a cross window above. The fenestration of the south block dates principally to the 1860s, when the entrance was repositioned.

The east front of the south block displays a wide four-window bay with splayed ends projecting in the centre. A former round-headed doorway here has been converted into a niche with aedicule, flanked by windows. The upper storey carries cross windows. Set back on the left side is a polygonal turret, then a segmental-headed sash to each storey. On the right of the central bay stands another polygonal turret set back, with a cross window above a ribbed door and overlight in a moulded surround. This is now the main entrance to the house.

To the right of the main entrance projects a one-bay, three-storey wing with castellated parapet and a round turret in the inner angle on the left side. This wing has mullioned and transomed windows in each storey and in the south return wall. Set back to the right are two further bays of the north block, lower in height, each with shaped gables and mullioned and transomed windows.

The north front continues in the castellated style with a bay set back to the left, featuring a shaped gable and a higher projecting tower to its right with a ribbed and boarded door under an overlight. Further right are cross windows, two-light casements, and pointed sash windows serving the service end of the house. Set back from the right end is an added rock-faced external stack. The three-window west elevation has stone steps up to a central doorway with a half-lit door and mullioned overlight. The windows are two-light except the lower right, which is three-light. To the south lies a courtyard with a mixture of mullioned and sash windows. At the south end stands the great hall with a large four-light mullioned and transomed west window. A doorway is inserted immediately to the right of the hall. Further right is the rounded end of the south block, retaining a single Gothic window from the 1820s fenestration. On the left (west) side of the south block is a Gothic screen wall with doorway flanked by windows, occupying the site of a former conservatory.

Interior

The entrance lobby features a ribbed plaster ceiling and classicising door architraves. To the right lies the dining room, which has an elaborate seventeenth-century-style plaster ceiling ribbed with pendants and said to be based on ceilings at Knole House, Sevenoaks. The west angles of the room contain oak niches. Wooden double-leaf doors from the lobby and their architrave display floral carvings, as does wooden dado panelling. The doors, niches, and dado are said to have come from the Palace of the Archbishop of Paris, Île Saint Louis.

To the left of the lobby, a corridor leads to the double-height great hall, entered through three Tudor arches. The elaborate plaster ceiling of the hall is also said to be based on Knole House, with polygonal ribs, pendant and floral bosses. Above the entrance arches are three Tudor arches opening to a gallery. The south wall is splayed to accommodate the staircase behind it; this was previously an external wall before Vivian built the great hall. At first-floor level are three glazed Tudor arches. The north wall contains an elaborate Italian fireplace, possibly sixteenth-century, in Rosso di Verona marble, approximately 2.5 metres high to the cornice and supported on volute brackets. The opening and surround are inset with Sevillian tiles in geometric designs. The hood and heraldic shield above are modern.

To the south of the hall is the main stair hall, featuring a wooden staircase with Gothic pierced balusters. Two doors to the drawing room (now the library) have elaborate Italian marble doorcases, possibly eighteenth-century, in polychrome marble, each with a scrolled pediment and urn above putti heads and drapery swags. The doors are panelled.

The drawing room, now the library, occupies the full width of the convex south front. It has a squarish central section with Tudor arches leading to long symmetrical flanking sections. The fine plaster ceiling, again modelled on Knole, features undulating ribs with floral decoration defining fields with naturalistic ferns and leaves. Each flanking section has an early nineteenth-century-style classical doorcase with fluted pilasters, cornice, and a frieze with swags, urns, and paterae. Classicising mouldings run to the skirtings, with panelled shutters to windows. Each flanking section has a marble fireplace; the west-side fireplace includes tiles with cast-iron firebacks.

The first floor of the south wing has doorcases with classicising architraves and panelled doors, with bedrooms retaining simple cornices. The first floor of the north wing displays simpler mid-nineteenth-century detailing, while many bedrooms retain simple cornices.