PGW(Po)53(POW)

Maesfron  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Trewern  

328043  

311427  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medium sized Georgian house and small formal garden.  

c. 1800, c. 1830.  

Maesfron is registered for its historic interest as a good example of the compact and largely intact gardens associated with an early nineteenth century Regency villa. The gardens have group value with the listed house, gazebo and grotto. Maesfron is situated part way down a steep, south-facing slope, perched above the A458 road through Trewern. The house, built in the early nineteenth century (LB: 7911) for local solicitor, Francis Allen, is surrounded by gardens believed to be contemporary with the house. The gardens lie to the west, south and east of the house on a south-facing slope, and are bordered on the north by a lane and on the south by the A458 road. The gardens cover about 3 acres (1.2 ha). The drive, partly hedged/tree lined, approaches the house from a formal gateway in the south-west, off the main road. It climbs north before turning east to run along a narrow terrace for about 150m to enter a narrow oval turning circle on the west front of the house. The turning circle surrounds a conifer and heather rockery, beyond which is an area of open lawn and a planted rock face. Below the south side of the house is a series of descending, grassy terraces linked by flights of stone steps. On the upper terrace is a round stone castellated gazebo (LB: 15640) entered from the west up a set of steps. To the south-east of the house, built into the steep bank south of the gazebo, is a rare example of an early nineteenth-century shell and quartz grotto (LB: 15641) and on the slope beneath it traces of a former rock garden. The small grotto has a decorative pebble floor and the walls are decorated with shells and quartz. There appear to have been two areas of kitchen garden though it is unclear if both of these areas were originally designed to function as productive gardens. The first lies immediately to the east of the house on a raised level, rectangular, terrace between the rear service drive and the south garden. The terrace covers an area of about 15m x 8m and is partly enclosed, on the north and east, by a 2m-3m high brick wall; the east wall was once heated. In the south-east corner is the gazebo. Lean-to greenhouses lie against the south face of the north wall. The second garden area is also rectangular, slightly larger, and bounded by stone-capped walls up to 2m high, lined with brick skins, on the west and north sides. On the east the stone garden wall creates the boundary. On the south the wall has been partly replaced by a holly hedge. In the south-west corner of the garden there is a small building, a stone bothy or boiler house, which was once used as an air raid shelter. The southern area of the garden is gravelled and surrounded by new brick paths. Setting: Situated on the lower slopes of Moel y Golfa and set on a high bank on the north side of the A458 in Trewern. The gardens have a fine south facing situation. Significant view: Panoramic views from the south facing gardens across the valley and towards The Long Mountain. Source: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 166-69 (ref: PGW (Po)53(POW)).