Registered Historic Park & Garden


Details


Reference Number
PGW(Gt)55(MON)
Name
Abergavenny Priory Deer Park  
Grade
II  
Date of Designation
01/02/2022  
Status
Designated  

Location


Unitary Authority
Monmouthshire  
Community
Abergavenny  
Easting
328443  
Northing
217784  

Broad Class
Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  
Site Type
Medieval monastic deer park.  
Main phases of construction
Twelfth to fifteenth century.  

Description


Summary Description and Reason for Designation
Registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved example of a medieval deer park with almost complete boundary bank and internal ditch and some surviving boundary wall. The deer park is thought to have belonged to the Benedictine priory of Abergavenny. The priory was founded soon after the Norman Conquest by Hamelin de Balun but at what stage in the priory's history the deer park was formed is not known. The deer park covers an area of 5-600 acres situated on the south-east flank of the Sugar Loaf Mountain, between the Rholben and Deri ridges. It lies at the head of the steep-sided valley of the Afon Cibi. The park pale runs near the summit of the ridges, round the top of the valley at the north end, and across it at the south end. It encloses a roughly rectangular area consisting of open moorland on the highest parts, with open oak woodland, scattered trees, and pasture fields below. In places the bank is surmounted or revetted with a drystone wall. The southern side runs straight across the valley. In the valley bottom it has been reduced to a field boundary, visible only as a slight bank, topped by field hedges. Along the west, for most of its length, it is well-preserved, with a flat-topped bank revetted with an outer drystone wall and with a steep-sided inner ditch. Halfway along the west side, to the north of a more recent cross field wall, the boundary becomes a steep-sided bank, c. 1-2m high. A low bank runs parallel to it (approximately 3-4m inside it) as far as the wide gap where a track comes in from the west. It may be the remains of an earlier boundary. Just to the north of the wide track, inside the bank, is a short stretch of wide cross bank with a drystone revetment wall on its south side and a slight ditch to the north. This appears contemporary with the park boundary, but its relationship to it is unclear. The boundary continues as a steep-sided bank to the north end of the park, where there is a further gap through which a track runs into the park from the moorland. The bank continues along the east side, at the north end of which it runs through woodland, and is very overgrown. In the middle of this side the bank is topped by a later field wall. The park is traversed by a number of stony tracks, some of which are probably contemporary with the deer park. Two tracks enter the park from the south leading to Park Lodge, with branches leading to the park boundary at the gaps in the west and the north. The western track passes Porth-y-parc (gateway to the park) just south of the registered area boundary. The track continues north to Park Lodge Farmhouse (LB: 86798). It is set into the hillside, and has two stone barns (LB: 86812). Above the barns is a small wedge-shaped pond. Setting: Situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park and above the town of Abergavenny. The deer park covers a steeply sloping area situated on the south-east flank of the Sugarloaf Mountain between the Rholben and Deri ridges. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, p.7 (ref: PGW (Gt) 55)  

Cadw : Registered Historic Park & Garden [ Records 1 of 1 ]




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