PGW(Po)50(POW)

Glyn Celyn  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Felin-Fach  

308637  

232697  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Former Parsonage, lawns and pleasure grounds; Walled kitchen garden; Stream side walks and water garden.  

c. 1830.  

Glyn Celyn and its grounds lie near Felinfach, on the west side of the A470 between Brecon and Bronllys. It is registered as a good example of an intact medium-sized, former parsonage with wooded pleasure grounds with streamside walks, a walled kitchen garden and some ornamental planting in the surrounding fields, all dating to c.1830. The grounds have group value with the listed late Georgian house (LB: 17921), estate outbuildings and the entrance lodge. The only known reference to parkland outside the garden at Glyn Celyn is found on the tithe map of 1845 which included two meadows and one piece of pasture immediately to the north, north-west and south of the site within the small estate, all on land which gradually rises to the north. On the 1887 Ordnance Survey map two footpaths marked the boundary of this land. One lead north to Talachddu, the other east to enter the southern garden/pleasure grounds. These paths are now tracks and the northern one still links the farm with Talachddu. A belt of conifers was planted on the eastern side of this track, relics of which, mainly Scots pine, still stand. The field pattern recorded on the 1845 tithe is still retained in the modern fields and this land still makes an important contribution to the setting of the house. The general arrangement of wooded pleasure grounds in the south, bisected by the drive, the circular south lawn and the old pool are all recorded on a tithe map of 1845 and on the Ordnance Survey of 1887. The basis of the garden is contemporary with the house but certain features suggest that work was on-going. The 1887 OS map records a rough terrace along the boundary of the garden to the north east of the house. The garden had been slightly extended by the time of the 1904 OS map, which shows two terraces to the northeast of the house. Entrance to the site is on the south-east, to the north of a lodge, set back in a small wooded plot, on the west side of the old Pen-isa'r-waen to Felinfach road, the old A470. To the west of the drive there is a new ornamental kitchen garden and a tennis court. A shelter belt of mixed woodland separates this area from the farm land beyond. The house is set at the top of the garden and is reached from the south by a winding, undulating drive through wooded grounds. A formal lawn, beyond a gravel turning circle, lies to the south side of the house, a second large lawn sweeps down to the pond on the east. The drive crosses a stream and divides branching east and west around the lawn to meet on the south side of the house. To the east of the drive, at this point, there is a small area of tree planted lawn gently sloping east before rising steeply up a tree planted bank to the east boundary wall. Sparse woodland lies to the west of the drive while a few mature limes grow alongside it. To the west of the walled kitchen garden a strip of grass, between the west wall and the kitchen garden drive, has been laid out as a water garden in a series of at least three pools which are linked by a narrow serpentine channel, and fed by a small stream. Ornamental planting here includes bamboo, roses, daphnes, witch hazel and azaleas. This area is believed to have been established in the 1960s. On the north-west of the house a new enclosed herb garden has been created, set between intersecting walls, laid out in a geometric design with box-edged beds and gravel paths. On the east this garden opens on to a wide area of lawn which sweeps down to the east. The walled kitchen garden lies to the west of house on a gentle southern slope. Trapezoidal, it covers about 1 acre (0.4ha), faces south-west and is surrounded by stone capped rubble walls, mostly intact. Their lack of a brick skin suggest that this area of the site may predate the house of 1832. The east wall of the garden is the west wall of the stables. A cruciform layout of lined paths is shown on early OS mapping and by 1904 glasshouses are portrayed which survived till at least the 1960s. Setting: In a rural setting to the southwest of Felinfach, Glyn Celyn is situated on a level terrace part way up a gentle hillside which slopes to the north. Significant View: From the garden terraces on the northeast of the house across the lawn. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 72-6 (ref: PGW (Po)58(POW)).