PGW(C)43(FLT)

Gwysaney  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Flintshire  

Mold  

322952  

366371  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park (part former deer park); arboretum; formal garden.  

c. 1664; 1821-1950s  

Gwysaney is located on the edge of a plateau to the north of Mold. It is registered for the historical interest of its park which has origins as a seventeenth-century deer park with some contemporary walling and trees; also for its fine nineteenth-century arboretum containing many unusual mature specimens, and for the Victorian/Edwardian layout of its garden. There is also important group value with the Grade II* Listed Gwysaney Hall (LB 14885), the Grade II Listed Gwysaney Lodge and gate piers (LBs 26173-4), and several other Grade II Listed buildings and garden features around the Hall and estate. The park, first mentioned in 1664, lies between the Mold-Rhydymwyn road on the south (A541) and the house to the north, on rolling ground sloping up from south to north. It is rectangular, aligned north by south, but was formerly more extensive on the east, west and north; about two thirds of the historic park is now farmland. The remainder is pasture with isolated mature trees, mainly oak, but with some lime and very ancient sweet chestnut. The drive, formerly flanked by sweet chestnuts, approaches from the main entrance and lodge on the A541 to the higher, more level ground to the south of the house. Just east of the drive, in the middle of the park, is an evergreen oak. The gardens lie to the south, east, and north of the house, on the level plateau, the ground falling away steeply on the east side. The drive enters from the south, through simple iron gates, passes the west end of the house, and opens out into a forecourt on the north front, in the middle and around which are specimen trees. West of the drive is an area of informally planted mixed woodland. To its east is a wide gravel walk in front of the house around which are planted Irish yews, and beyond it a lawn, once partly used for croquet or tennis, and bounded by a ha-ha. Between the south garden and the east terrace are a Grade II Listed wrought iron screen and gate, made by the Davies brothers of Bersham (LB 26166). East of the house is a wide gravel walk flanked by a level lawn bounded on the edge of the plateau by a low, decorated stone wall the slope below it planted with rhododendrons. To the north of the house the garden comprises several small compartments enclosed by stone walls and hedging. East of the forecourt is the small chapel garden, its north side consisting of two Grade II Listed three-light Jacobean Perpendicular-style windows from the demolished east wing of the house (LB 26268); a sundial is set into the wall between them. To the east are the remains of an old cottage. North of the forecourt is a small enclosed formal garden with a rectangular parterre in clipped box bounded by a gravel path. In the centre is a low circular plinth on which stands a small bell under a stone arch, and to the west is a lawn. To the north a smaller area is laid out with geometric island beds around a central stone baluster sundial. The east side of this entire area is bounded by a yew hedge, the west side of a narrow compartment bounded on the other side by a beech hedge. Alongside this is a long grass walk to a Grade II Listed wrought iron gate into the arboretum, again by the Davies brothers of Bersham (LB 26167). The arboretum lies to the north of the formal garden, at the south end of a Ram Wood. It dates from the 1820s and has both deciduous and coniferous trees including some notable rarities, laid out within an elongated triangle formed by paths. There are many pines, spruces, firs and cedars. At the southern end, next to the stable courtyard wall, is an underground ice-house beneath a low grass mound, the entrance is now blocked. The kitchen garden is to the north-west of the house and its surrounding buildings. It is trapezoidal but now partial with only one wall standing, yew hedges bounding the north and east, open on the south. All traces of the original internal layout have gone. The grassy interior is now dominated by a hard tennis court. Towards the east side are modern free-standing greenhouses on brick bases, and cold-frames. Setting - Gwysaney lies a short distance to the north of Mold, on ground rising to a plateau on the north side of the Alyn valley. Although not close to any modern industrial or urban expansion, the parkland has been diminished by agricultural activity. Significant views - From the house there are fine views north-eastwards to the Dee estuary, while the ha-ha bounding the front lawn would have afforded fine views southwards from the house. From the east side of the garden there are also fine views over the tributary valley below the plateau as well as to the Dee estuary in the distance. The hall would also have once been visible from the approaching drive, its avenue equally visible from the south front of the house. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 108-11 (ref: PGW(C)43). Google Maps (Infoterra) imagery (accessed 20.09.2021).