The house sits within Piercefield Park, a Grade I listed historic landscape, that was created in the 18th century as a notable Picturesque estate.

The house is now a shell, along with its extensive stable block, but its status as a Grade II* listed building reflects its importance.

Records since the 14th century refer variously to Peerfield, Peersfield, Persfield and Piersfield, the area taking its name, according to some sources, from the nearby manor of St Pierre.

[10] Morris laid out walks through the woodland, and included a grotto, druid's temple, bathing house and giant's cave.

[16] He also commissioned a young architect, John Soane to design a new mansion in the neo-classical style, which would incorporate Morris's house.

[16] Work began in 1792, and the new three-storey stone building had reached roof level when the Monmouthshire Bank, which Smith had helped found, failed and he became bankrupt.

[17] His creditors sold Piercefield in 1794 to Colonel Mark Wood, Member of Parliament for Newark-on-Trent, who continued and modified the work with architect Joseph Bonomi,[16] incorporating a Doric portico and wings, and commissioning the long stone wall which runs along the western edge of the estate.

In 1798, the Chepstow Volunteer Cavalry was raised as part of the war effort against Napoleon, and received their standard at Piercefield from Mrs Wood.

[23] The number of tourists in the area increased considerably after the opening of the new Wye valley turnpike road in the mid-1820s, and thereafter Wells only lived at Piercefield intermittently, at times letting it out to tenants.

It is possible that he stayed in the summer of 1802 with her and her elderly husband Sir William Hamilton, on a journey to a friend's Pembrokeshire estate via Monmouth and Kymin Hill.

A splendid seat, the views are remarkably magnificent, and embrace numerous reaches of the Wye, the Severn, and a great range of the surrounding country.

The mansion, situated on an eminence, in the midst of fine plantations, is a superb elevation of freestone, consisting of a centre and two wings, and much admired for its tasteful architecture.

In 1863, Piercefield was the site of a parade and mock battle between volunteers from Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire recruited in the patriotic fervour after the Crimean War; the exercise involved some 1,500 troops and was watched by a crowd of at least 12,000.

[30] The house, already in a poor state of repair, was abandoned and stripped, gradually decaying to its current ruinous condition, with just the main walls still standing.

During World War II the area was used by US forces training before the Normandy landings and the house was damaged during live fire exercises.

[b][31] The woods overlooking the river became established as a nature reserve, and footpaths which now form part of the Wye Valley Walk were reopened in the 1970s.

Plans to develop the site as a hotel or outdoor pursuits centre have so far been unfulfilled, with emergency repairs to the house carried out in 2008–09.

[30] There is agreement that the West and East pavilions, which flank the main mansion, were undertaken to the designs of Joseph Bonomi the Elder for the new owner, Colonel Wood, in 1795 to 1799.

[39] The main house was of two full storeys, with an attic tier above, five bays, and a porch with Doric columns added by Bonomi.

[41] William Coxe, in the second of his two-volume journal, An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire, published in 1801, gave a detailed description of the interior layout.

[52] The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales describe the park at Piercefield as "the par excellence outstanding example of an early sublime landscape".