Wyastone Leys

View of the house, showing the Forestry Commission planting on Little Doward Hill in the shape of the letters ER

Aerial view, also showing the River Wye and the A40 dual carriageway

The original house, The Leys, was built in 1795 by S. O. Attley of London.

It was purchased around 1820 by Richard Blakemore. The turnpiking of the road between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye in 1821, creating a new road higher up the hillside than the old road, allowed Blakemore to extend the estate. Blakemore also bought the Hadnock estate on the other side of the River Wye, demolished Hadnock House, and used the materials to rebuild and extend the Leys, between 1821 and 1838.[1][2] He also demolished cottages on the estate, to improve the views; converted the old Ross road into a private driveway; planted woodland to screen the house from the new road; and added walls, railings and an entrance lodge. A 320 acres (130 ha) deer park was created on Little Doward Hill, stocked with deer brought in from Llantrithyd in Glamorgan, and an observatory was built on the hilltop.[1][2]

The house was rebuilt in 1861 for John Bannerman of Manchester, by William Burn.[3] The 1861 sale catalogue mentions extensive pleasure grounds, gardens, conservatories, vineries and an additional house for the gardener.[2][4] Bannerman added new lodges, stables, kennels, and a belvedere,[1] and renamed the estate Wyastone Leys.[5][6] The deer park was abandoned, and the observatory removed, in the early 20th century.[1]

The house now is a three-storey building with a 2-storey service wing. A small shaped gable above the entrance bay bears the Bannerman family coat of arms. Features include a block tower and turrets, slate roofs and a four-storey clock tower with a clock face on three sides. The interior has been largely altered to accommodate business and domestic uses; a long drawing room at rear of the ground floor retains some fine restored stucco ceiling ornament.[5]

Despite being in Herefordshire, the house and grounds often hosted Monmouthshire hunt meetings, as parts of the original estate are in Monmouthshire.[7]

In 1953, the Forestry Commission decided to commemorate the Coronation of Elizabeth II by planting trees with contrasting foliage in the shape of a crown and the letters ER (for Elizabeth Regina) in the woodland above the house. The pattern can still be seen.[8]

The original estate was built by S. O. Attley, from London, on virgin ground in 1795.[2] The estate was bought in 1820 by Richard Blakemore, a local industrialist.[2][4] At that time, the house and grounds were known as The Leys. Blakemore was defeated when he stood for Parliament in 1826 for the Hereford constituency.[9] He later became High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1830,[9] and Member of Parliament for Wells.[10][11] He was living in the house and listed as a Member of Parliament in the 1851 census.[12]

John Murray Bannerman (died 24 February 1870), acquired and rebuilt the house in 1861.[4] The Bannermans made their money from the cotton trade, the family firm being Henry Bannerman and Sons Limited.[13] John was the son of Henry Bannerman (died 1823), who was a successful farmer in Perthshire who moved into the thriving cotton trade in Manchester in about 1808. The business traded in cotton, calicoes, muslins and plain fabrics. The firm owned several large mills in the Manchester area.[13] The mills were acquired by Courtaulds in 1964 and all production ceased in 1967.[14] Following the death of John Bannerman, James Murray Bannerman (1846–1914), John's son, became the head of the household. He had a B.A. degree from Christ Church, Oxford, and had been a Captain in the Monmouth Engineer Militia. A Justice of the Peace, he became a barrister on 26 January 1874. In 1879 he became the High Sheriff of Monmouthshire. He married Louise Mary Wheeley in 1880.[15] In 1894 the house came up for sale.[16] An impressive monument to the Bannerman family may be seen in the graveyard of the church at Ganarew.

Sir Alfred and Lady Hickman were the next occupants of the house, living there from at least 1940[17] until 1946 when they moved to Charrington Court, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.[18] The next owner of the estate was Brigadier Robert Peel Waller DSO (1941), MC (1918)[19] (1895 – 1978). He was Artillery Commander 1941 - 1945 in Persia and the Middle East during World War Two.[20] He married Olave Harriet Fock, daughter of Baron de Robeck, in 1921 and was living in the house in 1946 on his silver wedding anniversary.[21] He became High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1958.[22] Robert Waller was living at the house when he remarried in 1970, after Olave's death in 1966.[23] In 1973 the site came up for sale once again, advertised as also having three cottages, wooded gardens and water meadows.[24]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wyastone Leys.

• Wyastone Estate web site