PGW(C)58(DEN)

Gwaynynog  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Denbigh  

303312  

365269  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Small landscape park; informal garden with formal elements; part walled kitchen garden  

Late eighteenth century; 1870s  

Gwaynynog is an eighteenth-century house on an ancient site, situated on a rolling plateau on the north side of the Ystrad valley, just west of Denbigh. It is registered for the historical interest of its garden and small park, positioned to give distant views to the Clwydian Range, and for its historical associations with Samuel Johnson, who visited Gwaynynog, and with Beatrix Potter who used the kitchen garden as the setting in some of her children's books. There is also group value with the Grade II* Listed house (LB 1058), the Grade II Listed kitchen garden walls and potting shed (LB 23643) and Dr Johnson’s Monument, also grade II listed (LB 1059). The house lies roughly central to its former park which was roughly oval in shape, bounded on the north by the A543 and on the south by the river Ystrad. The main approach is from an entrance and lodge on the A543, along an oak tree-lined drive to a small forecourt on the east front of the house. Most of the landscaping was done by Colonel John Myddleton in the late eighteenth century. Although now mostly in agricultural use some remnants of historic landscaping survive to the south and south-west of the house where the ground slopes down towards the river and a tributary. Three small areas of mixed woodland project from the garden, one downslope from the south-east corner (Nut Walk) and two from the west side, which together frame the near views from the house and garden. One view is pictured in Potter’s ‘The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies’. The tributary valley west of the house has been dammed at its southern end to form a sinuous lake - originally a boating lake - with a small wooded island. In the two fields either side of the lake are several clumps, the only other traces of landscaping. Along the north bank of the river is Henfaes Covert and, on its riverside edge, Dr Johnson’s Cottage (nprn 27113), formerly with a plaque dated 1768 (now in the kitchen garden), and further west Dr Johnson’s Monument at a spot by the river he frequented during his visit in 1774. Opposite, on the other side of the river, is Johnson's Wood. The garden, probably of late eighteenth-century date, is on level ground to the east and south of the house, sub-circular on plan and bounded by a well-preserved stone ha-ha. It is mostly laid out to lawn with an area of widely-spaced old oak trees along the east side, and two large sycamores on the west. A small scarp south-east of the house is the location of former tennis courts. At the west end of the house, in the angle between the south and north wings, is a small formal courtyard garden laid out with stone-paved paths, rose beds and low yew hedges, and bounded by a rockwork bank on the south side and a retaining wall topped by a yew hedge on the west side. In the centre of the north end is a sundial on a square pillar. This area was laid out in the early twentieth century. A path flanked by a cypress hedge along the west side of the house and outbuildings leads to a small rockwork garden within a rough stone wall. It is laid out with narrow gravel paths, a central lily pool and much rockwork, with a stone arch at its north end leading into the kitchen garden. Just to the west of this garden a stone, barrel-vaulted chamber, is thought to have been an ice-house. The kitchen garden of Gwaynynog is well-known for being the background for some of Potter's most famous stories. It dates from the late eighteenth century and is situated on a gentle north-west facing slope to the north of the house and outbuildings. On plan, it is an irregular four-sided shape, surrounded on all but the west side by brick walls ranging in height from 3.5m on the north side to about 2.8m on the east side. A wide-arched entrance with wooden doors was much sketched by Potter. The west side of the garden is defined by a fence. In the south corner of the garden is a stone potting shed with a pitched slate roof, abutting a stone outbuilding against the garden wall. The gable end facing the garden has a rectangular ground-floor window, and an arched Gothic window above. This appears in Potter's story The Flopsy Bunnies. The internal layout of the garden was restored in 1990 and appears now to include a formal layout of geometric plant beds. A circular, stone-lined former pool (now disused) and espalier fruit trees survive. A lean-to glasshouse stands against the east end of the north wall. Beyond the fence on the west is an area of woodland forming an oval shape, enclosed on its parkland side (according to cartographic evidence) by a ha-ha. The garden side of the woodland had once been an orchard. Setting - Gwaynynog is situated on a south-facing slope above the river Ystrad, in a rural area surrounded by farmland. Most of the interior of the former park is now also given over to farming. Significant views - From the house and garden there are magnificent views southwards across the valley to the Clwydian Range in the distance, views which are framed, in the near distance, by three small areas of mixed woodland projecting from the garden. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 100-103 (ref: PGW(C)58(DEN)). Ordnance Survey third-edition 25-inch map: sheet Denbighshire XIII.7 (1910) Google Maps (Infoterra) imagery (accessed 16.09.2021).