PGW(Dy)28(CER)

Llanllyr  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Ceredigion  

Llanfihangel Ystrad  

254348  

255773  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; formal and informal gardens; walled kitchen garden.  

c. 1830-40; 1980's, 1990's.  

Llanllyr is registered for its small park with unusual planting, a rare cob-walled kitchen garden of the early nineteenth-century and interesting formal and informal gardens of the 1980s and 1990s laid out and planted within an early nineteenth-century framework. Llanllyr is an ancient site, with a history dating back to 1180 with the foundation of a nunnery and with several phases of history reflected in the layout of the grounds. Llanllyr is a substantial mid to late nineteenth-century house (NPRN: 5654) situated on low-lying ground in the Aeron valley, about half a kilometre south of Talsarn. Its small park lies to the north, east and south of the house and gardens. The park, with its lodge (LB: 17446) and drives, was probably made soon after the new house was built, in about 1830. It occupies a rectilinear area of level ground, which drains from south to north and east to west towards a small stream, the Afon Llan-Llyr, which runs north and then north-west along the west side of the park and gardens. The park is bounded on the east by the B4337 road, on the south by a field boundary, on the west by a belt of deciduous woodland and by the gardens, and on the north by a green lane lined with old oak trees. This was the original access to the medieval nunnery. The park is divided into a few large pasture fields, dotted with some parkland trees including some conifers, oaks, Japanese elm, and Huntingdon elms. There are two drives, both off the B4337. The present-day back drive is from an entrance flanked by a curved stone wall and a lodge, at the north end of the park. It runs southwards to the farm buildings and then eastwards to the stable yard and house. The main front drive runs eastwards across the park from a small forecourt on the north side of the house. To its south is a narrow area of trees planted towards the end of the twentieth century and a large, mature pine tree. Near the boundary it turns south-eastwards, a modern stretch, to an entrance on the road in a small area of woodland. Originally it continued straight to the road, to an entrance flanked by splayed stone walls. Just outside the south-west corner of the garden, on the edge of the strip of woodland which bounds the west side of the park, is a small, ruined, cob building, probably utilitarian rather than ornamental. The woodland belt to the south is mostly of oak and ash; further north the belt widens and includes some beech and a few conifers. The gardens lie around the house, to its east and south. The history of garden-making at Llanllyr falls into three phases: the first was a garden attached to the Tudor house on the site of the nunnery, shown in an estate map of 1768, but now gone; the second came with the building of the new house in about 1830, at the same time as the park and kitchen garden were created; the third began in 1986, the work of the owners, superimposed on the Georgian structure much of which remains. The ground drops slightly to the south, allowing for some shallow terracing. A lawn east of the house is bounded by a curving shrub border, and continues around the south side of the house in a sweeping curve. This area has various features: a flagstone terrace next to the south side of the house, in front of which is a semi-circular lawn; a circular box parterre with cross and perimeter gravel paths next to the Victorian block; and at the western end of this part of the garden is the ‘shrubbery’, a densely-planted, roughly triangular area between the lower lawn, the house and the east wall of the kitchen garden, planted with ornamental trees and various shrubs and herbaceous plants, and with original paths. Alongside the south wall of the kitchen garden is a long gravel walk, flanked by wide rose borders, leading to a summer house at the west end, and with a sundial at its centre on a cross path. The south border is backed by a yew hedge on a serpentine revetment wall. The latter form the north side of the sunken water garden to the south. The sunken garden, about 0.8m deep, was made in 1989 and consists of a linear lawn with serpentine sides and curved ends, bounded by low concrete walls and yew hedges. Down the centre of the lawn is a narrow canal lined with concrete, and a gently humped bridge over it. Water enters the garden from a stone lion’s mouth into three small stone-lined pools, one above the other, and then drops into the canal. In the centre of each half of the canal is an octagonal pool with a single jet fountain. The lower lawn is bounded on its south and upper sides by stone revetment walls. Towards its east end a flight of steps leads down to an informally planted area of shrubs, a small bog garden and a linear fish pond aligned east-west and lies in a slight dip, and with steps down to the water. To the south is a large rectangular area bounded by a hedge, the old orchard. Now under grass, there are some fine mature trees, including Huntingdon elms, an Irish yew, a laburnum, and walnut trees. A labyrinth was laid out on the north side of the area, towards its west end, in 1998/99. The kitchen garden lies to the immediate west of the house, adjacent to the stable block. It was probably built in about 1830 when the present house was built, and the gardens and park laid out. The garden is five-sided and orientated north-north-east/south-south-west. Unusually, the garden is mostly enclosed within well-preserved mud, or cob, walls, lime rendered. The walls stand to their full height of about 3.5m and are topped with pitched, overhanging roofs to maintain dryness. These walls are built on low stone footings. The south wall has stone facing around the central door. The west wall was partly removed in the 1960s to make way for a modern farm building. The north wall is of mortared rubble stone but with a similar tiled top to the other walls. At its east end is a door into the coach house and stables, the south end of which forms the short fifth side of the garden. The western half has been redeveloped with buildings and hardstanding. Early maps show cross and perimeter paths and another north-south path in the east half; part of this path system remains. There were no glasshouses. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 130-4 (ref: PGW(Dy)28(CER). Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map: sheet Cardiganshire XXV.SE (1887); second edition 25-inch map XXV.12.