Garth was an important early gothic revival house in the township of Garth in Guilsfield in Montgomeryshire. In the 18th century it became the home of the Mytton family who had originally been Shrewsbury drapers, who derived their wealth from the Montgomeryshire woollen industry. They had settled at Pontysgawrhyd in Meifod and at Halston in Shropshire. The most famous members of the family were General Mytton, the Parliamentary Commander in the Civil War in the Marches and “Mad Jack Mytton”, the eccentric 19th-century squire of Halston. In 1809 a grandiose rebuilding scheme was started by Richard Mytton. However, this together with extravagant furnishing of the new house and reckless purchasing of surrounding farms, which culminated in the purchase of the Trefnannau estate in 1812 for £33,625, led to financial problems. The Myttons struggled to afford to live in style in this house, and it is likely that Richard Mytton's outlay on lands, the building of Garth and its furnishing cost nearly £100,000 The family continued to live in the house until it was damaged by fire in 1922. Thereafter, there was a gradual decline, leading to the sale of the remainder of the estate in August 1945 and the demolition of the house for salvage during the winter of 1946–7. The remnants of the garden and park are listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Earlier history
Garth is a historic site of considerable antiquity. It may have been the home of Sir Griffith Vychan who had fought at Agincourt in 1415, and was descended from Brochwel Ysgithrog, Prince of Powys. Humphrey Wynn of Garth who was buried in September 1579 was fourth in descent from Gruffydd Fychan. His descendant was Brochwel Wynn who died in April 1717 leaving a 14-year-old heiress, Dorothy. She was quickly drawn into marriage with the 33-year-old squire of Pontysgawrhyd, Richard Mytton, in July 1717. With this marriage, Garth passed to the Mytton family. Richard Mytton extended the estates by purchases in the decades leading to his death at the age of 90 in 1773, and this process of expansion was continued by his son Devereux Mytton in the years leading to his death at the age of 84 in May 1809. His son Richard died before him in 1802, and his heir was therefore his young grandson, Richard, born in 1783. Shortly after he came of age, the young Richard Mytton entered into an unpleasant case in the Chancery Court, where he accused his grandfather of committing waste on the estate in the felling of timber worth £3,200. The case is interesting in that it sheds light on Devereux Mytton's purchasing of lands and his building of a new house at Garth about 1775.
In July 1816, Richard Mytton's reckless expenditure finally caught up with him. He had funded his building and land purchasing schemes in part by a series of loans and the sales of life annuities, and in part by using funds that he held in hand as a receiver general of taxes for the counties of Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire. He found himself in debt to the Treasury to the tune of £24,618 and on 5 July 1816 the Treasury issued a writ seizing his entire estate. The Mytton family hastily left for France. However, by the skilful use of Trusts, the family managed to retain Garth and most of its estate. Particularly important to this was a trust deed of February 1827 which gave full control of the estates to Mytton's former college friend, Viscount Clive, later Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis. After the death of Richard Mytton in 1828, his widow Charlotte - the daughter of John Herbert of Dolforgan Hall. - finally returned to live at Garth in 1840, and in July 1854 the trust came to an end with the overall burden of debt reduced to £54,000. Her son, Richard Herbert Mytton now took up the estates following a distinguished career in the Bengal Civil Service, which he relinquished a year earlier. In 1856 he became High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire. His son Devereux Herbert Mytton succeeded him on his death in 1869.
