As well as his work in the city, Clayton was an antiquarian. Four years after his birth in 1792, his father purchased the Chesters Estate, through which Hadrian's Wall runs, and which contained the site of Chesters fort. Landscaping a parkland setting for his home, The Chesters, Nathaniel Clayton levelled out and grassed over much of the Roman fort. While doing so he collected antiquities. From an early age John Clayton took a serious interest not only in the fort of Chesters and its immediate surroundings, but also in Roman remains in the nearby countryside.