PGW(Po)12(POW)

Llangoed Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Bronllys  

311941  

239925  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

House with large, formal Edwardian garden; paved terraces and sunk lawn; wild garden; incorporated nineteenth-century tree planting and ha-ha; recently remodeled walled kitchen.  

House c. 1633, Williams-Ellis's work c. 1913-1919.  

Registered for the surviving structure of its Edwardian garden by Clough Williams-Ellis being the grounds of Llangoed Hall, the first major architectural commission in the career of Williams-Ellis, worked around the core of an earlier house, and one of the last Edwardian country houses to be built. The grounds, incorporating nineteenth-century tree planting and ha-ha, include paved terraces and a sunken lawn, a wild garden, and walled kitchen garden. Clough Williams-Ellis work dates to 1913-1919. The registered area has group value with Llangoed Hall (LB: 7484) and its associated estate outbuildings. The estate was bought by Mr Archibald Christy, the London hatter, in about 1860. The house was remodelled by Clough Williams-Ellis for Christy by 1914, his brief had been to remodel the existing south-facing house in the contemporary Edwardian style. Williams-Ellis created a new entrance front and forecourt on the west, remodelled the previous entrance front on the south and created a new east front and formal garden. Llangoed Hall (LB: 7484) is an imposing Arts and Crafts style country house built around the shell of an earlier house believed to date from about 1633. The Hall lies on the west side of open farmland, below the A470. The River Wye, flows around the east boundary of the old park/pasture area to the east. The original drive enters the grounds from the west, at an entrance lodge, off the present A 470. A new (later twentieth-century) drive approaches the hall from the southwest and arrives at the forecourt, flanked by gate piers (LB: 16641), on the west front of the house. There are some mature trees in the pasture to the east of the present drive and some mature conifers amongst the shelter belt adjacent to the A470. This area is recorded as park on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1888). The gardens surround Llangoed Hall on all sides. The formal garden created by Clough Williams-Ellis lies immediately to the east of the Hall, a paved terrace connecting it to the house. A wild garden, also attributed to Williams-Ellis, created around a stream descending from the north-west lies approximately 250m to the west of the Hall. On the north of the Hall a walled enclosure has been laid out as a formal garden (since 1990) and lawns lie to the south. The south garden is reached by six stone steps from the forecourt above. On the south the lawn is enclosed by a stone ha-ha. The east formal terrace garden runs along the length of the back of the Hall. The stone paved terrace stands on the west side of the east garden. The east garden is rectangular and comprises of a continuation of the terrace, as a raised walk, which surrounds a sunken croquet lawn. The Croquet Lawn is reached on all four sides by three central, stone steps from the surrounding walk. The earliest clear record of an ornamental garden occurs on a tithe map of 1842, which records wooded grounds around the house, a clear boundary on the south and east, possibly the ha-ha, and a circulatory drive to the south of the house. Interestingly, a formal 'canal' feature is recorded to the east of the house. By 1888 the form of the present garden had been established; the south and east boundaries were similar, if not identical to those of 1842 and the circular drive lay to the south of the house on a lawn. The ‘canal’ feature has gone by this date. The south and west grounds still appear to have been heavily planted at this date, the conifers, 'arboretum' to the west of the house probably having been established. The 1903 Ordnance Survey map records an almost identical arrangement in the grounds to that of 1888. However, some of the planting had been depleted and a footbridge is recorded in the area of the arboretum suggesting that an ornamental woodland/water garden may have been begun. The form of the present garden is, however, attributed to the architect, Clough Williams-Ellis, who developed an existing lay out of lawns, which may have already included a croquet lawn on the east of the house, with stone terraces and new planting in addition to re-siting the entrance of the house from the south to the west front. The wide terrace steps and north doorway are recorded on the 'East Elevation' of his proposed plans of 1913. Mature trees, which appear to date from the early nineteenth century were retained by Williams-Ellis. In the arboretum it also appears that Williams-Ellis probably augmented an existing layout but one that he extended. Photographs dating from about 1920 record a pool and plantings on the south edge of the east lawn, not recorded on the 1903 Ordnance Survey, suggest that the wild garden was extended. Lying immediately to the north of the Hall is the old walled kitchen garden which covers approximately 1 acre. It is walled on the north, west and east, the south side opening on to the Hall. The walls are of rubble stone. The central area of this garden has been developed (since the 1990s) as a series of four interconnecting themed gardens. The walled enclosure of the kitchen garden is shown in its present position on the early Ordnance Survey maps and on the tithe map. The Arts and Crafts stonework incorporated into the north and south walls of the walled garden suggest that this area was partly, or wholly, redesigned by Williams-Ellis in about 1913. The fruit trees along the central path could date from that time. Significant Views: Wide views from the south and east garden terraces looking out towards the River Wye and across the surrounding rural landscape. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys (ref: PGW (Po)59(POW)). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map, Brecknockshire sheet XVI.SE (1888) Ordnance Survey, six-inch map, Brecknockshire sheet XVI.SE (1905)