PGW(C)72(WRE)

Rosehill  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Wrexham  

Erbistock  

335146  

342931  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; formal garden; walled kitchen garden.  

Late eighteenth to early nineteenth century; early twentieth century.  

Rosehill is situated in a picturesque location on elevated ground overlooking the river Dee. It is registered for the survival in its entirety of a late eighteenth to early nineteenth-century landscape park, for its formal gardens including the unusual survival of a box-edged Edwardian parterre and a well-preserved walled kitchen garden. The registered area has group value with the late Georgian house (LB: 15175) and other estate buildings (LB: 15173; 15176; 15177) to which it provides a fine setting. Rosehill also has historical associations with the Kenyon family and was the home of the renowned archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon (1906-1978). Rosehill has a small landscape park situated on a rolling slope on the west flank of the Dee valley. The house stands on the western edge of the park, at its highest point, with fine views out over the park to the river Dee and the countryside beyond. The park was probably made at the same time as the house was built, in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Many of the trees in the park are mature and could date from this period. The park is square in shape, bordered by roads on the north, east and west sides, and by a belt of deciduous woodland, Palla Wood, in a small valley on the south. It is bounded by a mix of rubble stone walls and iron railings on its east and north sides, with narrow belts of mixed woodland along the west boundary and part of the north boundary. The rest of the park is open unfenced grassland dotted with single mature trees which include large cedars, sweet chestnuts, oaks, and pines. The entrance to the estate is on the west, through simple wooden gates, with a winding gravel drive leading to a small forecourt on the north side of the house. The drive divides near the entrance, the west fork leading to the service area. A grander entrance on the A539 on the east side of the park is now disused. This drive entered the park through curving walls of dressed stone, square stone piers, and simple iron gates. Originally, it wound its way across the park to the forecourt, but is now grassed over, although still visible on aerial photographs. Near the entrance the drive is flanked by deciduous trees and just inside the entrance is a small pond. The gardens lie mainly to the east and south of the house, on gently sloping ground that has been levelled into shallow terraces. In its present form the garden appears to be of Edwardian character, although the terracing may be earlier. The garden and park are separated by a simple iron fence. The garden east of the house is bounded on the north and east by a yew hedge. An iron gate in an archway cut into the north hedge leads to a gravel terrace around the house. The terrace is bounded by a grass bank with flights of steps down to lawned terraces below on the east and south. The garden south of the house is divided into several small areas of different character linked by a central north-south gravel path. A level rectangular lawn is planted with topiary yews clipped into domes. A small area of specimen trees and a bank of rhododendrons lie to the west, flanked by a gravel boundary path which leads to the kitchen garden. The central gravel path leads to the next compartment, a formal parterre. This is a rectangular area laid out in formal box-edged beds with narrow paths between them, divided into two parts by the north-south gravel path. At the east end of the parterre stone steps lead down to a small iron gate into the park. The central path descends to a lower sloping area, under yew arches, into an informal area of lawn and shrubs bordered by rhododendrons on the east and the kitchen garden on the west, before winding into woodland on the south boundary of the park. Rosehill has a well preserved walled garden, situated on sloping ground to the south of the house and garden. It is probably contemporary with the house, dating to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The garden is square and is surrounded by brick walls standing to about 3.5m high (4m at the lower, south end), topped with stone coping. There are two doors in the north wall, the east one leading to the garden, the central one to brick lean-to outhouses standing against the outer side of the wall. A door at the south end of the east wall leads to a former path to the park and woodland at its southern boundary. The interior is laid out with perimeter earth and gravel paths and a central north-south path, all with box edging. Near the north end of the central path is a stone baluster sundial on a circular plinth. Against the north wall is a brick-based glasshouse. Significant Views: From the east front of the house there are panoramic views over the park to the river Dee and beyond. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 224-6 (ref: PGW(C)72). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheet Denbighshire XXXV.12 (second edition 1899).