PGW(Dy)15(CAM)

Stradey Castle  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Llanelli Rural  

249071  

201396  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden overlooking parkland, water features & woodland walks. Walled kitchen garden.  

Mid-ninetheenth century, about 1850; 1874; although the park & other features are earlier.  

The registered area at Stradey Castle encompasses parkland, probably enclosed in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century, but altered when the new mansion was built in the mid nineteenth century; a fine terraced garden associated with the mid nineteenth-century mansion; and a fine walled garden and nursery area associated with the seventeenth-century house and turned into a garden in the mid nineteenth century. The registered park and garden has group value with Stradey Castle (LB: 11884) for which it provides the setting. Stradey Park is located on the north side of the Lougher estuary, between Llanelli and Burryport. The earliest mention of Stradey is from the second half of the sixteenth century, in references to `Straddy', `Parke Estrade' and `Park Ystradey'. It is possible that the park had been enclosed by the beginning of the seventeenth century and that the `Parke Estrade' became part of the demesne lands that surrounded the site of the old house. The main phase of development seems to have been contemporary with the new mansion, about 1850; the site of the old mansion lies some 350m to the south-west (NPRN: 407324). The land that forms the park rises gently from the coastal plain, being mostly a south-facing slope that rises from about 5m to about 10m ASL. To the west is Stradey Wood and the small valley cut by the Afon Dulais, whilst to the north, behind the house, the wooded slope rises to about 40m ASL. The present house is located in the north-east of the park giving fine views across the landscape. The park stretches south towards the sea from below the formal terrace of the house. Although reduced, it retains a park-like feel though there are few obvious signs of landscaping. The park and gardens now occupy only about 40 acres, former parkland to the south and west having been developed for housing, schools and recreation grounds. The castle and the woodland that surrounds it to the north occupy another 96 acres. The main elements within this landscape are the park on the level coastal lands still dotted with trees; the wooded hillside and river to the north and west; the formal gardens that surround the house; the kitchen garden; and ‘The Wilderness’, a woodland garden or arboretum that has recently been created on the site of a previous formal garden of the old house. The grounds of Stradey Castle are accessed from the B4308 Trimsaran road, which runs to the north of the castle. Of the six lodges in 1900, most have either gone or been modified but both northern lodges remain. The main drive is through woodland from the north-east, from an entrance at North Lodge, with a secondary approach from the south-west passing the site of the old mansion. Stradey Wood still contains water features linked to the Afon Dulais: weirs, ponds, and cascades. The southern drive curves around the west side of the park towards the castle forecourt. To the west of the drive are mature plantings including a Wellingtonia, probably one of the first introductions. The woodland area to the west of the castle was associated with both the aesthetic and the industrial – featuring old quarries and coal mines. Behind and to the north of the castle an area of informal walks and plantings is reached either by rustic steps to the side of the spring (‘fountain’ on the OS map) north of the house or from a path off the drive to the east. During the late twentieth century this area was subject to some tree clearance and new under-plantings of rhododendron. Mapped early surveys are mostly still evident. The new mansion, c.1850, was built on a revetted terrace at the base of, and slightly into, a south-facing slope. Substantial stone walls to the east, south and west retain the house platform and the small terraced garden. This terrace was probably designed by Bucklar of Oxford who also designed an extension to the house. The south-west terrace wall stands to a maximum of 3m, being slightly buttressed at the base. Set into the bank immediately to the north of the forecourt (on the opposite side of the house) is a small dipping well, the scalloped bowl being half enclosed by a stone vault. The small but constant fountain of water trickles into the bowl through the mouth of a carved lion's head. This feature dates from about 1850 and is supplied with water from a circular brick lined well some 200m to the north-east. The area called the Wilderness, now a new woodland garden, is located about 350m to the south-west of the castle, on the east bank of the Afon Dulais, and is formerly the site of the old house which was demolished before 1850 (NPRN: 407324). From the 1880 survey onwards this oval area of some 2.5 acres is shown as a woodland garden with an internal perimeter path and two cross paths. The ha-ha, sketched in about 1847 before the mansion was destroyed, still remains, standing to 0.75-1m. Early photographs show slightly formal paths of red ash, to the side of which climbing roses are grown up posts and along chains, with stretches of neatly cut box hedging. Vestiges of an iron pergola or arbour were removed for safe keeping in the mid-1980s along with decorative railings from the top of the ha-ha wall. Camellias and many mature conifers are also survivors from this first phase of the garden. The Afon Dulais runs alongside the west of the garden separating it from the walled garden. The walled kitchen garden is located about 350m to the south-west of the castle, on the west bank of the Afon Dulais, and is associated with the old house which was demolished before 1850. Mapped evidence suggests that this garden evolved from a pleasure garden into a utilitarian one; perimeter paths shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map, with irregular divisions and informal plantings, had gone by the Second Edition when a cold frame has been erected, between 1880 and 1916. The enclosed area, of about an acre, is sub-triangular in shape, widest on the north, narrowest on the south. The north, south-facing, wall stands to a maximum height of 4m and curves down at its east and west ends to about 3m. The central, higher section is brick faced, conventionally laid; to either end the wall is also brick lined but with the bricks set on end. At the top of the central section are cast-iron brackets perhaps used to support a narrow roof that would have provided shelter for peach trees. The discontinuous west wall is also partially-faced with bricks set on end. There are two doorways here which lead to the adjoining nursery area which may originally have been the kitchen garden. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map shows an extensive range of glass against the stable and cottage wall, which forms the north wall of the garden area and there are further areas of glass to the east. There were perimeter and internal paths laid out symmetrically. To the south a row of quick growing conifers have been planted to decrease the rate of erosion from the river. Recent aerial images show both kitchen garden and nursery in intensive use. Significant Views: There are fine views from the terrace of the park and sea beyond. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 86, 89-90 (ref: PGW(Dy)47(CER)). Ordnance Survey first-edition 25-inch map: Carmarthenshire LVIII.2 (1878). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch maps: Carmarthenshire LVIII.2 & 6 (1906). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton