PGW(C)21(FLT)

Hartsheath  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Flintshire  

Leeswood and Pontblyddyn  

328367  

360441  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; formal and informal garden  

Nineteenth and twentieth century  

Hartsheath is located in the Alun valley near Leeswood, to the south-west of Mold. It is registered for its historic interest as a small nineteenth-century park together with a terraced and informal garden which survive in their entirety, with the unusual feature of a sunken servants' walk doubling as a ha-ha. It is also important for its group value with the Grade II* listed Harstheath Hall (LB 537), the walls flanking the servants’ walk and the bridge over it (Grade II, LBs 19106-7), a bridge carrying the drive over the Alun (Grade II, LB 538), and for three ice tunnels close to the hall (Grade II, LB 19105). There is also, north-east of the house, Park Cottage (Grade II, LB 540), and the coach house and stables (Grade II, LB 539) The park lies to the north and north-west of the house, an undulating area with a belt of trees concentrated on a low ridge to the north-west of the house. A small lake, now silted up, forms part of the north-eastern boundary. The river Alyn forms the south-west boundary. The western part of the park was disparked in c.1938, and some parts of this area were planted with deciduous trees in 1990. There have been several drives. The present one, built in 1825, runs east from a lodge on the A541 road to the gravel sweep on the north-west side of the house. It is the main drive though several earlier and later drives and branches were constructed. The ridge in the north-west part of the park is covered with mixed deciduous woodland, mainly replanted after clear-felling in the Second World War. Small clumps of lime and oak are situated within the central area of the park. Close to the ha-ha is a large, multi-stemmed sycamore from the early nineteenth century. The land to the south along the river Alyn and the present driveway is densely planted, with recent planting of exotic trees along the drive. A conifer plantation lies just south of the river. An unusual feature of the grounds is a curving sunken passageway revetted in stone in front of the house. This was a servants' walk, sunken so that they could not be seen from the house but, as a ha-ha, allowed uninterrupted views across the park from the front of the house. A bridge of 1916 crosses the walk to the park. The garden lies immediately south of the house, sloping down to the river Alyn. Most of the garden is thought to date from the nineteenth century, with twentieth-century overlays, particularly of planting. It falls into roughly three areas. The first, immediately next to the house is a lawn with perimeter shrub planting and a 1920s double herbaceous border centred off the main axis of the house, the borders aligned on the middle window of the dining-room. These replace the Victorian parterres visible as parch-marks in the lawn. This area also includes a small rectangular pre-war formal garden with paved perimeter and cross paths on the south side of the house. The area is bounded by a stone wall on the north side. The north-west extension of this wall, which bounds the north-east side of the forecourt, has two ice-tunnels built into its base. In the second area, the land drops sharply away from the lawn south-westwards to an informal woodland garden which slopes down to a level area of wild garden. The steep slope is scarped into a series of narrow terraces, and paths run across the slope from the upper to the lower parts. The wild garden, in the valley bottom, is planted with mixed trees, shrubs, and bamboos, and features two elongated rectangular former ponds, now silted up, parallel with the river which bounds the garden. The third area is the nineteenth-century kitchen garden, to the south-east of the pleasure garden on ground sloping slightly to the south-east. It is roughly circular and unwalled on all but the north side. A grass perimeter path and cross walk are planted with old fruit trees, the quadrants edged in box. At the centre is a late nineteenth-century stone Japanese lantern removed from the woodland. The north side is bounded by a brick-lined stone wall, with a ruinous lean-to glass house against it. Another glass house was demolished. In the north-east corner, outside the garden, is the former gardener's house. In the northern part of the kitchen garden a Dutch garden consisting of box hedges and a simple cross path made of slabbing, though it was preceded by a small garden of some kind. North of the kitchen garden is a small triangular grass area, probably a frame yard, bounded by a revetment wall on the east and the garden wall on the west, and possibly once heated. Setting - Hartsheath occupies undulating ground on the north side of the Alun valley. Significant view - From the house there are views across the park to the north-west Source: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 124-6 (ref: PGW(C)52).