PGW(Dy)39(PEM)

111 Main Street, Pembroke  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Pembroke  

198803  

201264  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Walled and terraced formal garden.  

About 1760.  

Registered as a rare survival of a late eighteenth-century formal town garden of some grandeur, attached to one of the most important Georgian houses in Pembroke. Its structure and main features, including terraces, fine brick piers flanking the central axis and an octagonal brick gazebo, remain. The registered garden has group value with the associated substantial town house (LB: 6395), garden gazebo (LB: 6342) and front garden wall, railings, gatepiers & gate (LB: 6396). 111 Main Street is a substantial Georgian house, of about 1760, situated on the south side of Main Street. Its garden lies to the south of the house on partly-terraced ground sloping southwards down to the valley bottom, now occupied by Upper Common Park. The garden is bounded by brick and stone walls, its lower wall, at the south end, being built on the remains of the medieval town wall. Fine brick piers define the central axis of the main part of the garden. They are a dominant and original feature. Between them are three dressed stone steps, about two metres wide. The square piers are flanked by brick walls about 2.1 m high and stand about 2.2 m high, topped with overhanging moulded sandstone cornices, the upper parts of which are stepped. Below the piers and upper terrace the garden widens out on both sides. The next terrace is a sloping lawn with borders along its side walls and lower side. On the south side the lawn is bounded by a terrace wall about 2.5 m high, built of rubble stone with brick facing. It has a low stone parapet, with a gap on the central north-south axis of the garden. The south boundary of the garden consists of a high rubble stone wall standing on the lower part of the medieval town wall. A ramp runs up the lower part of the wall, from east to west, leading to five stone steps up to a door into the garden near the west end of the wall. At the foot of the east end of the wall is the lower part of a circular medieval tower with two layers of arrow-slits and a door on the east side. On top of this stands an octagonal two-storey gazebo. The garden and its gazebo are almost undoubtedly contemporary with the building of the house in about 1760. Although the garden has a modern overlay of planting and some built elements, such as piers and trelliswork, its structure and main features are original. The formal layout of the garden, with its strong central axis, is not unusual for town gardens of the period. The 1885 25 in. Ordnance Survey map shows three terraces below the small one closest to the house, which then had a rectangular pool in its eastern half. By 1908 (2nd edition Ordnance Survey map) this had been replaced by a glasshouse. A central path ran down the garden, with steps at each drop in level and also near the foot of the garden. There was a rectangular pool in the western half of the bottom terrace and a flight of steps against the south boundary wall led up to the east side of the gazebo. Significant View: Along the central axis of the garden. Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 268-70 (ref: PGW(Dy)39(PEM)).  

PGW(Po)15(POW)

Abercynrig  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Llanfrynach  

306928  

227065  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal and informal garden;  

Late seventeenth century  

Abercynrig lies a short distance to the east of Brecon, on the south side of the Usk Valley. It is registered for its well-preserved formal walled garden enclosures, ponds and water channels around a fine late seventeenth-century house, situated in an outstandingly unspoilt valley. There is also group value with the Grade II* Listed house and the farm buildings. The garden is on level ground mainly to the north, south and east of the house. It is divided into several walled compartments, with a separate walled garden to the north and a more informal area of ponds, trees and shrubs at the south end. Although the first evidence for a garden dates from 1749 it probably has its origins in the late seventeenth century when the present house was built, possibly earlier. The garden enclosures to the south of the house probably had utilitarian origins and were later converted to gardens. Much of the planting and the layout of the rose garden probably occurred in the 1920s and 30s when Abercynrig was lived in by Captain D'Arcy Hall. The tithe and early Ordnance Survey maps show the long approach road, the watercourse and ponds, the walled enclosures, walled garden and the long, wide walk leading to the Afon Cynrig. The house is approached from the south via a half-kilometre private road lined with deciduous trees, running past, on the west, a field with alders and former watercourses, and the ponds, before branching to a small forecourt to the south-east of the house. A second branch leads to the east front, and another eastwards to the farm yard. The lawn on the east front is now a forecourt with a small turning circle off centre to the south, and is surrounded by grass with ornamental plantings. On the west side of the house is an enclosed rectangular lawn bounded by a low west wall, centrally bowed out. Beyond is a field (formerly an orchard) dotted with trees, some ornamental. Beyond the north boundary is an east-west walk to the Afon Cynrig. Opposite is a walled garden with rubble walls 0.8m-1.6m high, entrance on the south side. The ponds occupy the southern end of the garden, to the west of the drive. The smaller, on the south, is circular with a dam on the north side. The second pond, on the north, is much larger with a small, planted, island, dammed on the north. The pond is fringed by lawns planted with ornamental trees. The lawn continues westwards. Specimen trees include oak and sweet chestnuts. An iron gate in the north side leads into the rose garden. This is a rectangular compartment bounded by roughly-coursed rubble stone walls laid out to lawn with a central circle divided into eight segmental beds by radiating narrow flagstone paths and with a similar path around the perimeter; in the centre is a circular well. To the north of the rose beds is a sundial partly made of decorative stones possibly derived from a medieval religious building. In the south-west corner of the enclosure are the ruins of the malt house. The garden exit is in the north-east corner between yew hedges. These enclose, next to the rose garden, a small yew-hedged, cobbled area. To the south is a small, walled, enclosure, lawned and accessed from the north side. Setting - Abercynrig is located in the unspoilt Usk Valley, in surroundings which provide the setting for the house and its gardens. Significant views - From the west side of the house there are fine views across the grounds to the Afon Cynrig (a tributary of the Usk) and to the countryside beyond. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 2-4 (ref: PGW (Po)15(POW)). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton  

PGW(Gm)2(RCT)

Aberdare Park  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Rhondda Cynon Taff  

Aberdare West  

299371  

203223  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Mid-nineteenth-century municipal public park  

1869-70s  

Registered as a well-preserved example of a Victorian public park partly laid out by the eminent park and garden designer William Barron (1805-1891). As well as retaining most of its Victorian built features, including the bandstand and fountain, it has an attractive lake and many of the original trees are now fine mature specimens. The park was laid out on part of Hirwaun Common at the instigation of R.H. Rhys, chairman of the Local Board of Health, who in 1865 informed the local Board of Health that the 'pleasure ground' of nearly fifty acres would soon be made over to the Overseers of the Parish. Rhys intended it to be 'a pleasant place for the dust-begrimed inhabitants'. It was opened on 27 July 1869, and in 1877 the Local Board of Health borrowed £5000 to wall, drain and plant the parkland. Before the major landscaping of the park by Barron in the 1870s it was laid out with two entrances and lodges at the north-east and south-east corners, a circuit walk and two informal fish ponds, the larger near the south end of the park, the smaller at the north end. This layout is shown on the 1st edition 25" Ordnance Survey map (1867-75) and remains unchanged today, except that the northern pond has been filled in. Further ornamental features and planting were grafted on to the early layout by Barron in the late 1870s, but were confined to the outer fringes of the park, the centre being left open as an undulating area of grass. The park is bounded by stone walls varying in height and in places supporting iron railings. The main entrance is in the south-east corner where simple iron gates are flanked by tall square stone piers and pedestrian gates (LB: 10884). On the west side of the entrance is a former lodge. Opposite the lodge is a small formal garden with a path leading to a statue of Lord Merthyr (LB: 10885) by Thomas Brock of London. The statue is set in a T-shaped pool (added later) with a single jet fountain in the middle. A wide gently curving tarmacked walk runs north-west from the entrance up a gentle slope flanked by grass slopes planted with large mature specimen trees. These include pine, cypress, monkey puzzle, wellingtonia, beech, oak, and sycamore. The monkey puzzles, on the west side of the walk, are particularly large and handsome specimens. At the top of the slope the walk branches left and right on to the circuit walk. At the junction is a small statue (originally a fountain) named the Spirit of Industry. It was presented in 1905 by Mr Isaac George. The circuit walk leads to a boating lake to the west. To the south of the pond is a single-storey brick pavilion with a pitched roof and verandahs on both the north and south sides. This is now used as a cafe. To its south is an elaborate cast iron fountain, the Coronation Fountain (LB:10886) manufactured by Macfarlane & Co of Glasgow and presented to the inhabitants of Aberdare by Lord Merthyr to commemorate the coronation of George V and Mary in 1911. To the west of the lake and circular walk is an octagonal bandstand manufactured by the Phoenix Engineering Company in 1910 (LB: 10887). The south-west corner of the park is taken up with sporting facilities - tennis courts and a bowling green. To their north is an area of informal oak woodland flanked by a shallow landscaped ravine. This was landscaped as part of the William Barron scheme, and has been restored. The water enters at the north end, emerging from a wall of rough boulders. It then winds down the valley through a series of small stone-edged pools and over stone cascades. Winding paths follow the stream on both sides, which is spanned by two bridges. Setting: Aberdare Park is a Victorian public park in Trecynon, towards the north end of Aberdare. It lies on a south- and east-facing slope on the west flank of the Cynon valley, bounded on the east by the A4059 road, on the north and south by minor roads, and on the west by the track of a disused railway line. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)2(RCT) Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, XI.11 (1900)  

PGW(Gm)69(MER)

Aberfan: Cemetery, Garden of Remembrance and Former Tip and Slide Area  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Merthyr Tydfil  

Merthyr Vale  

306024  

200913  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Cemetery; formal garden; landscaped former tips and slide area  

Late nineteenth c (cemetery); 1968 - 73  

The registered site at Aberfan is of great national importance and meaning. The event that led to its existence was the disastrous collapse of a coal tip above Aberfan on 21st October 1966. Two parts of the site – the cemetery and Garden of Remembrance – are the haunting burial place of and memorial to those who lost their lives in this tragedy. A distinct part of the cemetery is devoted to graves of the victims, a memorial cross and a small pavilion and garden. The area is dominated visually by the two rows of linked arches of glistening white stone, each arch at the head of a grave. The Garden of Remembrance is simply laid out on the site of the school that was engulfed by the tip. The third part – the landscaped area of the tips and slide above Aberfan – was a pioneering work of earth-moving, draining and landscaping on a huge scale that resulted in a distinctive landscape geared to the need for stability and good drainage. The quality of design and success of the scheme can be judged by how well the area now blends into the hillside. At 9.15am on 21st October 1966 one of a series of five coal tips on the Mynydd Merthyr ridge above the town of Aberfan slid down the hillside, destroying a farmhouse, 20 houses and Pantglas School, which stood below the tip, on the western edge of the town, on Moy Road. It was a disaster of international proportions and one that deeply affected the nation and many beyond. One hundred and forty four people lost their lives, including 116 children (half the children of the school), five teachers, including the headmistress, and 23 other adults. The tip was one belonging to Merthyr Vale Colliery, which was closed in 1990. The remaining tips on the Mynydd Merthyr ridge were cleared in 1969 and the A470 road now runs above the town and across the path of the tip slide. A Community Centre was built in Hillside Close, on the site of the destroyed houses, in 1973 and a children’s playground placed between the community centre and the memorial garden. Two distinct sites stand as memorials to this catastrophic event. The first is the section of the town’s cemetery devoted to many of those who lost their lives. The second is the Garden of Remembrance, which stands on the site of the school. Aberfan cemetery Aberfan cemetery lies above the west side of the town, on the steep west flank of the Taff valley. Above it the ground continues to rise steeply to the Mynydd Merthyr ridge. The setting of the cemetery is a peaceful and attractive one. Immediately above is light, mixed deciduous woodland. Below, to the east, the flat valley floor is unbuilt on and beyond, above a few rows of houses, the ground rises to the moorland and forested slopes of the Cefn Merthyr ridge. The cemetery dates to the late nineteenth century but within it is a section where 106 of the 144 victims are buried. This is quite distinct from the rest, having been designed and laid out as a separate entity. It is situated near the top of the northern half of the cemetery. The graves form two long, parallel rows across the slope, marked at their heads by long rows of linked white granite arches in simple classical style. Beneath each arch is a memorial; most are simple inscribed granite stone slabs. The Garden of Remembrance The Garden of Remembrance is a small public garden in Moy Road, created in 1969 and dedicated to those who lost their lives in the disaster. It stands on the site of Pantglas School, which was built between 1901 and 1922 and mostly destroyed in the disaster. What remained standing was demolished. The layout of the school is delineated with low, mortared walls of water-worn stone to create a formal, compartmented garden. The garden is accessed from the north by a sloping, curving, path through a paved court, and past a rockwork shrub garden. On the south side of the court is a wall and entrance gate, with another wall on the west side with a memorial plaque. The garden is laid out either side of a central, north-south path of concrete paving with brick edging, flanked by narrow shrub borders. Side paths lead to compartments of planted trees and shrubs, enclosed by walls. The Former Tip and Slide Area The former tip and slide area occupies a section of the west side of the Taff valley, almost from the top of the ridge (about 380 m) down to the town (about 180 m), a fall of about 200m. The ground drops smoothly down to the valley and blends seamlessly with the valley slopes to either side. The area is now sliced in two by the A470 dual carriageway, which runs north-south across its lower end. Between the A470 and the town, above the Garden of Remembrance, the steep slope is grass and scrub covered, with a track running straight up the slope to the road. The disused railway line at the foot of the slope is now in use as a public footpath. Grading has formed two areas of slightly stepped contouring: one at the foot of the slope with substantial banks and ditches along the contours; the other more pronounced at the top, to the north-west, with five terraces contoured around the slope reinforced by lines of low concrete walling. Small areas on the lower grading have been planted with mixed deciduous trees, the upper end is now bounded by conifer plantations, and strips of deciduous woodland have been planted alongside the A470. Significant Views: Open views across the valley from Aberfan cemetery. Views towards the landscaped former tip and slide area from the opposite hillside. Open views from the playground to the opposite hillside. Sources: Cadw Historic Assets Database (PGW (Gm) 69(MER)). Additional Notes: D Leighton  

PGW(Gt)9(MON)

Abergavenny Castle  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Abergavenny  

329962  

213948  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Picturesque walk and landscaping at medieval castle ruins.  

c. 1800; late nineteenth century.  

Abergavenny Castle is registered for the early nineteenth-century landscaping around the medieval castle ruins with Picturesque walks and gardens and affording extensive views over the Usk Valley. Further landscaping took place in the later nineteenth century when the castle grounds became a public park. The registered park and garden has important group value with the castle (scheduled monument MM056; LB: 2376), the early nineteenth-century shooting box (LB: 86811), late nineteenth-century lodge (LB: 86897) and the entrance gate, gatepiers and boundary wall (LB: 86805). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, c.1800, the grounds were landscaped with Picturesque walks created within the curtain walls. The walk around the south end of the castle was created at this time and possibly the winding walk ascending the motte. Mavor (1806) describes ‘a terrace walk, conducted round the site it occupied, commanding the charming vale through which the Uske meanders, shews much taste, and must be an agreeable promenade for the inhabitants.’ In 1818/19 a shooting box was built on the castle motte by Lord Abergavenny. It was later used to provide refreshments when the grounds became a public park and is now the home of Abergavenny museum. A formal garden was laid out in the later nineteenth-century when works were carried out by William Nevill, 5th earl and 19th Lord of Abergavenny, as a 'place of recreation' for the general public. The entrance lodge probably dates to this phase of development. The grounds were taken over by the Abergavenny Improvement Commissioners in 1881 and became a public garden. Early photographs show an elaborate layout of winding paths and beds outside the northwest curtain wall, also shown on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map (1920). The curtain wall and towers were embellished with rustic fence-work, lookouts and gazebos, including a walk lined with rustic fencing along the top of the curtain wall. This is all now lost. The OS map shows further walks through the outer ward. The bailey bank appears to have been modified and terraced as part of this layout with a walk along it giving views back across the town against the backdrop of the Sugarloaf. The castle grounds remain in use as a public park. Setting: Situated above the river Usk and to the southwest of the historic core of Abergavenny. The registered park and garden is located with Abergavenny Conservation Area. Significant Views: Views to the south and west across Castle Meadows and the River Usk, and towards the Blorenge. Views to the north across the town and towards the Sugarloaf. The castle and shooting lodge are also prominent landmarks in the local landscape. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, p.3 (ref: PGW (Gt) 9) Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Monmouthshire, sheet VI.15 (1901). RCAHMW air photos 945076/46-7; 965104/57-8.  

PGW(Gt)55(MON)

Abergavenny Priory Deer Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Abergavenny  

328443  

217784  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medieval monastic deer park.  

Twelfth to fifteenth century.  

Registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved example of a medieval deer park with almost complete boundary bank and internal ditch and some surviving boundary wall. The deer park is thought to have belonged to the Benedictine priory of Abergavenny. The priory was founded soon after the Norman Conquest by Hamelin de Balun but at what stage in the priory's history the deer park was formed is not known. The deer park covers an area of 5-600 acres situated on the south-east flank of the Sugar Loaf Mountain, between the Rholben and Deri ridges. It lies at the head of the steep-sided valley of the Afon Cibi. The park pale runs near the summit of the ridges, round the top of the valley at the north end, and across it at the south end. It encloses a roughly rectangular area consisting of open moorland on the highest parts, with open oak woodland, scattered trees, and pasture fields below. In places the bank is surmounted or revetted with a drystone wall. The southern side runs straight across the valley. In the valley bottom it has been reduced to a field boundary, visible only as a slight bank, topped by field hedges. Along the west, for most of its length, it is well-preserved, with a flat-topped bank revetted with an outer drystone wall and with a steep-sided inner ditch. Halfway along the west side, to the north of a more recent cross field wall, the boundary becomes a steep-sided bank, c. 1-2m high. A low bank runs parallel to it (approximately 3-4m inside it) as far as the wide gap where a track comes in from the west. It may be the remains of an earlier boundary. Just to the north of the wide track, inside the bank, is a short stretch of wide cross bank with a drystone revetment wall on its south side and a slight ditch to the north. This appears contemporary with the park boundary, but its relationship to it is unclear. The boundary continues as a steep-sided bank to the north end of the park, where there is a further gap through which a track runs into the park from the moorland. The bank continues along the east side, at the north end of which it runs through woodland, and is very overgrown. In the middle of this side the bank is topped by a later field wall. The park is traversed by a number of stony tracks, some of which are probably contemporary with the deer park. Two tracks enter the park from the south leading to Park Lodge, with branches leading to the park boundary at the gaps in the west and the north. The western track passes Porth-y-parc (gateway to the park) just south of the registered area boundary. The track continues north to Park Lodge Farmhouse (LB: 86798). It is set into the hillside, and has two stone barns (LB: 86812). Above the barns is a small wedge-shaped pond. Setting: Situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park and above the town of Abergavenny. The deer park covers a steeply sloping area situated on the south-east flank of the Sugarloaf Mountain between the Rholben and Deri ridges. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, p.7 (ref: PGW (Gt) 55)  

PGW(Dy)5(CAM)

Aberglasney  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Llangathen  

258102  

222115  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Pleasure grounds; formal gardens; woodland garden and associated features surrounding the house.  

Arcaded court and terrace walk, probably early seventeenth century;gatehouse, sixteenth or seventeenth century;other features extant 1840, although possibly earlier.  

The registered area at Aberglasney encompasses the survival of the structure and some trees of formal gardens and an informal woodland garden of a long established country mansion. The most important feature is an arcaded court with raised walk around it, probably dating to the early seventeenth century. There are also two walled gardens, a pond, a gatehouse, a yew tunnel walk, and remains of woodland walks. Most information about the site’s history has come from archaeological excavation, which has revealed a major phase of building work on the gardens in the early seventeenth century. Aberglasney has undergone a major programme of rebuilding and restoration work in the late 1990s. The registered area has group value with Aberglasney house (LB: 11153) and its associated outbuildings and structures. Aberglasney has historical associations with the painter and poet, John Dyer (1699-1757) whose family owned Aberglasney from 1710. Dyer wrote the poem ‘Grongar Hill’ (1726) inspired by the landscape around Aberglasney. Aberglasney house and grounds occupy an area of gently south-west facing land on the northern side of the Towy Valley, to the west of the small village of Llangathen, and some 5.5 km west of Llandeilo. The site nestles in the lee of Grongar hill, to the west, at about 40m ASL. The gardens form a series of five compartments, with each area being separated from the next by built features or walls. The arcaded court (LB: 11154) and raised walk to the west of the house forms the core of the gardens. To its north, and north of the house, is an area of cobbled court, lawn and informal planting. To its west is the pond garden, with woodland beyond. To its south is an area of informal woodland and two walled gardens. To the north of the pond is a substantial rubble-built stone wall that separates the garden associated with the pond area and the more utilitarian buildings, lodges stables and coach house to the north (LB: 11157; 11158; 11159; 11160; 11161; 80857). The configuration of walled gardens here changed between the Tithe survey of 1840 and the First Edition Ordnance Survey of 1887. In the 1840 survey there are four walled enclosures, but by 1887 there were only two. The area they occupy is extensive, and the specimen trees recorded within the gardens in 1887 suggest that their function was not solely utilitarian. Two completely enclosed gardens were formed out of three partially enclosed areas. The two eastern walled gardens were amalgamated into one, and a northern dividing wall had been erected to create the western walled garden which incorporates the pond. Today the walls of both, which lie to the south and south-west of the arcaded court, stand to an average height of about 2.5m, and are linked to the rest of the garden by steps through arched entrances. In the north-east corner of the upper, eastern garden is a substantial arch leading through to the outbuildings to the south of the house. In the early twentieth century the gardens were laid out internally with perimeter and cross paths. In the western garden the enclosed area to the west of the pond is shown with the addition of a perimeter path and glasshouse, with a substantial range of glass against the boundary wall to the north of the pond. As part of the general restoration scheme of the late 1990s, the two walled garden areas, by this time disused and much overgrown, were reconstructed as ornamental gardens. The upper garden, designed by Penelope Hobhouse, was laid out with a central oval surrounded by gravel paths and herbaceous borders. The lower garden, designed by Hal Moggridge, was given a formal, rectilinear layout of box-edged vegetable and herb beds and bordering gravel paths. Behind the upper garden is a disused aviary (LB: 80842) thought to date from 1882 - 85 and to have been built for ornamental pheasants. To the north-west of the house is an unusual yew tunnel, orientated north-south. This feature was created by the branches from the yews on one side being trained over the path so that they rooted where they touched the earth on the other side of the path. Dendrochronological analysis indicates that the yews are at most 250 years old. The most probable date for the tunnel is the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the gardens were undergoing radical transformation, including much planting. A copy of a watercolour in the National Monuments Record, Aberystwyth, clearly shows a neatly clipped yew tunnel with a path along its length; this painting is believed to date to about 1820. Also in the archives is one of a series of photographs taken by C S Allen in 1871, again the arch is clearly shown as being well maintained. Significant Views: There are fine views from the raised walk across the gardens and the surrounding Carmarthenshire landscape including southwest towards Grongar Hill. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 86, 89-90 (ref: PGW(Dy)5(CAM)). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map: sheet Carmarthenshire XXXIII.14 (1905  

PGW(Gd)32(GWY)

Abergwynant  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Arthog  

267750  

317741  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Woods, parkland, lawn and wilderness, walled kitchen garden and small orchard.  

Probably mid nineteenth century.  

Abergwynant, located to the west of Dolgellau, is registered for its historic interest as a small, well-preserved nineteenth-century park and garden with kitchen garden and outbuildings which seem to have been laid out all at one time and to have been little altered since. Added significance is the presence of an area of ancient oak woodland, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The park lies on the south side of the Mawddach valley. It is roughly rectangular, bounded by the former Cambrian Railway on the north-west, estuarine salt marshes on the north-east, the A493 road on the south-east, and the Gwynant river on the south-west. The house lies to the south-west, above the river. The main drive approaches the house from the north-east where there is a lodge. A second, disused, drive approached the house from the home farm to the south-west. Most of the parkland area lies north of the house and comprises mixed woodland, with ancient oak woodland occupying the slope above the estuary. The woodland features an extensive network of paths and rides. The house is surrounded by a small area of open parkland which slopes gently towards the river. The rocky open park south-east of the house retains a number of specimen trees. Further east, now encroached upon by woodland, is a large fishpond retained by a dam across its small valley. The garden area is fairly small, and consists largely of a walled shrubbery or 'wilderness', with a sloping lawn along one side and a terrace around the house. The wilderness, of a complex and detailed design, is thickly planted with trees and shrubs and has some ancient oaks which predate the garden. There is an intricate path layout and an equally intricate layout of water channels supplied from the fish-pond in the park which feeds various water features - ponds, streams, culverts, waterfall and fountain. Plantings prevented inter-visibility between garden features allowing for surprising features. The main lawn is directly in front of the house, sloping to the south-east, with an uninterrupted view across it framed by trees. A smaller area of lawn lies below the house on the west and south-west. The kitchen garden is to the north-west of the house. It is a rectangular area, long axis north-east by south-west, with a similar-sized (slightly later) sub-rectangular extension along the south-east side. Both are enclosed by walls averaging 2m high. Terraces run the full length of the garden along both sides of the dividing wall. When sold in 1951 the garden had fruit trees and bushes, two large heated greenhouses, one containing vines, a mushroom house, potting sheds and a boiler house. Most of the walls are wired for fruit trees, and some of these survive. There are also several free-standing fruit trees in both parts of the garden, and these include apples and cherries. The triangular space between the kitchen garden and the wilderness was occupied by a small orchard, thus walled on two sides, and enclosed on the third by the fence along the drive. It is now used as a paddock. Setting - Abergwynant occupies a broad, undulating, ridge on ground rising above the south-east shore of the Mawddach estuary. Significant view - The house lies near the bottom of the landward slope of the ridge, facing south-east, and has an uninterrupted view over its garden and up to the hills, south of the valley-side, towards Cadair Idris. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 144-7 (ref: PGW(Gd)32(GWY)). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map: sheet Merionethshire XXXVII.1 (1900).  

PGW(Gm)37(GLA)

Alexandra Park  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

Penarth  

318765  

171474  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1902  

Registered for its historic interest as a good example of a well preserved Edwardian urban public park retaining much of its layout, planting, terracing and many of its original features. The park is in an attractive location overlooking the Bristol Channel. Alexandra Park, in the heart of Penarth is a well-preserved Edwardian public park set out between 1901 and 1902 on land provided by the Windsor Estate. It occupies a roughly rectangular area sloping to the east and south, and is laid out in several distinct areas through which runs a network of paths. It is bounded by simple iron railings, with a hawthorn hedge along the east side. Two wooded valleys, running down from west to east, occupy the north and south sides of the park. The southern valley, The Dingle, is a relic of the pre-park landscape with a deciduous tree canopy, mainly of oak, and with a natural flora beneath. The valley on the north side is planted mainly with deciduous trees but also contains some tall pines. Two paths wind down the valley. The north-west section of the park is marked by sloping lawns with island flower beds and plantings which include cypresses, topiary yew bushes, and pines. Near the entrance here is a garden of remembrance to the dead of the First World War laid out in the 1920s. The central part of the park, between the valleys, is elaborately laid out with winding paths. Features include a prominent war memorial cenotaph designed by Goscombe John (Cadw LB:13340) and, nearby, a pond, and a small circular garden, surrounded by a low yew hedge topped with yew topiary; in the centre of this is a modern octagonal 'bandstand', its original site now occupied by a modern aviary. To the west of the central section is a raised bed (the ‘Tank Bed’) which formerly supported a First World War tank. Source: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)37(GLA)).  

PGW(Dy)46(CER)

Alltyrodyn  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Ceredigion  

Llandysul  

244935  

244273  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Pleasure grounds; walled kitchen garden.  

About 1830-40.  

Registered for the survival of an early nineteenth-century ornamental pleasure ground on a grand scale, contemporary with the house, complete with a rare bath house and large, well preserved kitchen garden, which includes a flower garden compartment and an orangery. The wooded grounds contain fine mature trees and look out over an attractive, unspoilt rural valley. The registered grounds have strong group value with the house, associated estate buildings and ornamental garden structures and the estate farm complex. Alltyrodyn (LB: 10643) is a substantial early nineteenth century house located to the north-east of Llandysul in Ceredigion, on the east flank of the Clettwr valley. Its designed landscape comprises pleasure grounds, gardens and walled gardens. These are all contemporary with the present house, dating to the 1830s and 40s. The date stones of 1830 (kitchen garden) and 1840 (stables) indicate that it was John Lloyd (died 1841) who was their builder and therefore likely to have been creating the pleasure grounds at the same time. The pleasure grounds occupy a narrow band of south-west sloping wooded land on the east flank of the Clettwr valley, about one kilometre long, below the B4459 road. The house lies in the centre and is reached by two drives, one from the north and one from the south. The main entrance is at the south-east end of the grounds and lies just north of a bridge on the B4459 over a small stream, the Afon Geyron. A small entrance lodge (LB: 10653) adjoins the drive. The lodge does not appear on the 1840 tithe map and was therefore probably built for John Lloyd Davies, owner from 1841-1860. The pleasure grounds are bounded along the road on the north-east side by a rubble stone wall and between the kitchen garden and the dam of the pond at the south-east end by a substantial ha-ha. Just inside the drive, on the south side, is an opening, flanked by quartz stones, leading to a sloping lawn down to a small pond. This is D-shaped, with a straight-sided earthen dam along its west side. The Afon Geyron flows into the pond over a series of cascades under the road bridge, the outlet flowing into an ornamental cascade, a curving, sunken and steeply dropping stone-lined channel (LB: 10654) and across the valley to the Clettwr. On the north side of the drive, a walk leads through the wooded grounds. This layout is shown on the first-edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed 1886. The north drive enters the grounds off the B4459 road through tall, stone gate piers (LB: 10652). The former lodge (now Haulfryn) lies on the opposite side of the road. The drive runs through woodland and passes over a substantial single-arched rubble stone bridge (LB: 10651). To the east of the drive and north of the bridge is an early nineteenth-century bath house in Gothic style (LB: 10650) with a rectilinear pool fed by a hillside spring. South of the bridge the drive runs through wooded grounds past the Home Farm buildings (LB: 10645; 10646; 10647), stables and coach house (LB: 10644) to the forecourt in front of the house. Around the forecourt are mature plantings including lime, beech and wellingtonia. The garden occupies ground to the south-east of the house. At the south-east end is a gently sloping, irregular-shaped lawn in a woodland glade. There are some fine mature trees around it, particularly beech, oak, ash, sycamore and copper beech. Towards the south-east end is a small pool and modern fountain. A grass walk at this end curves up to join the woodland walk, which can also be reached by log steps up the steep bank on the north-east side of the lawn. At the north-west end the lawn tapers into a path leading to a zig-zag gravel path, edged with stone, which climbs up the steep slope to meet the woodland walk. It continues above the woodland walk and leads to a small wooden summerhouse, a modern building that stands on the site of an original summerhouse. Next to the house is a level lawn backed on the north-east by a rhododendron bank, behind which are yews and a large sweet chestnut tree. Beyond the lawn, to the south-east, is a small rectangular garden enclosed by low stone walls. This is the memorial garden to Alick Stewart, killed at Ypres in 1915 and created in about 1920. The Stewart family owned Alltyrodyn in the early twentieth-century. In front of the house is an oval gravel forecourt with a central circular flowerbed which was formerly a fountain. Below the flowerbed, on the central axis with the front door, is a flight of three shallow steps, leading down to a steeper flight of stone steps down to the ha-ha to the field beyond. Originally these steps led to a path across the field to a bridge over the river, leading to another path up to a gazebo, now gone, on the west side of the valley (as shown on the first-edition Ordnance Survey). The two walled gardens - the flower garden and kitchen garden - lie next to each other below the north drive, the flower garden at the south end of the kitchen garden. The flower garden is an irregular five-sided enclosure with rubble stone walls rising to 3m-3.5m high, except for the north-west wall (also the south-east wall of the kitchen garden) and about 3.8m high. The interior slopes gently to the south-west and is laid out with borders next to the walls, lawns between the paths, a single cypress tree towards the east end and a central, circular, pool. A small five-sided compartment against the outside of the west wall is a former orangery. The walled kitchen garden (LB: 10648) is a large rectangular area, long axis north-west by south-east, enclosed by walls of roughly coursed stone blocks, 2.5m high on the south-west but 4.5m high on the north-east, each with chamfered corners at both ends. The interior is grassed over but the original cross and perimeter gravel paths can still be made out beneath the turf. The main entrance is in the centre of the south-east wall. The doorway has a dressed stone arch with a panel on the flower garden side inscribed ‘J.Ll. Esq. AD 1830’. Towards the north end of the north-east wall are the footings of a former glasshouse. Stone steps at its south end, with a small, brick former boiler house next to them, lead up to two brick-walled compartments, which retain their interior fittings of tile flooring, raised and heated beds and heating pipes. The former head gardener’s house, Garden Cottage (LB: 10649) is built against the north wall of the kitchen garden. Significant View: From the house front across the grounds and towards the Afon Clettwr valley.  Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 94-8 (ref: PGW(Dy)46(CER)). Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map: sheet Cardiganshire XL.SE (1886).  

PGW(C)42(WRE)

Argoed Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Wrexham  

Llangollen Rural  

326782  

341424  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden; informal woodland grounds  

c. 1840-1900  

Registered for its historic interest as the remains of a Victorian garden and extensive woodland grounds laid out with walks on a steep slope above the River Dee and with a lake on the flood plain. The landscaped grounds provide the setting for Argoed Hall and have group value with the listed hall (LB:1348) and stables (LB:1349). The site is also significant for its historical associations with the locally important Graesser family. The entrance to Argoed Hall is off the Froncysyllte-Trevor road, to the east of the house. It is flanked by low stone walling and simple square gate piers. The gently curving drive runs westwards to a roughly oval forecourt on the south side of the house. The Victorian gardens at Argoed Hall can be divided into two main parts: the formal terraced garden on gently sloping ground immediately around the house, and the extensive woodland grounds on the slopes above and below it. The whole occupies a roughly triangular area, elongated to the north and west, with the house in the centre. Aside from a small lawn to the south-west of the house, the main formal gardens lie to the east of the house. Immediately in front of the house is a low terrace of crazy-paving stone paths and flowerbeds. Below is a roughly square lawn around which are, variously, a rockwork slope, a cedar, a row of false cypresses, and a wellingtonia. Below this is a hedge-and-wall enclosed rectangular terrace, now grassy, but which once supported raised beds, and is separated from the upper terrace by a wide terraced walkway. Flights of steps link the terraces. At the north end of the walk is a brick summerhouse. To the north, a roughly rectangular level grassy area contains a small pool. The woodland area to the south is largely of deciduous trees with ornamental conifers and some laurel and box under-planting, with paths south-westwards taking in the river bank. A series of steep, narrow flights of steps lead straight down from the west side of the house to the site of a summer house on the river bank. Footpaths through woodland to the north, on steep slopes above the flood plain, lead to a long, irregular, narrow lake which runs northwards towards Argoed Farm. The lake is now is overgrown and partly silted up. A kitchen garden was once situated to the north of the garden terraces, near the stables, but is now the site of the local Community Centre. Setting: Argoed Hall is situated on the northern edge of the village of Froncysyllte, between the canal and the river Dee. The ground drops steeply to the west down to the river. Significant Views: To the west across the River Dee and the Vale of Llangollen. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 2-4 (ref: PGW(C) 42). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheet Denbighshire XXXV.13 (third edition 1912).  

PGW(C)27(DEN)

Bachymbyd  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Llanynys  

309337  

361123  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Walled garden, with bee boles  

Seventeenth and twentieth centuries  

Registered for its historic interest as the remains of a seventeeth-century walled garden and for group value with the listed house, agricultural range, garden walls and well house at Bachymbyd Fawr. Bachymbyd is a seventeenth-century house (Cadw LB: 719; NPRN 26772) on an ancient site located on the western edge of the Vale of Clwyd, on the west side of the A525 Ruthin to Denbigh road. Much of the structure of the garden and its perimeter walls are thought to be seventeenth-century in origin and contemporary with the rebuilding of the house in 1666 (Cadw LB: 22146) by Charles Salesbury. The garden, on ground falling away to the north-east, is linear with long axis north-east by south-west, the house at the south-west end. The house is accessed via a drive alongside the south-east boundary of the garden. The garden surrounds the house and is built up with a drop to a small pond on the north-east side. The ground is retained here by a stone wall which incorporates a well house, with the wall also used as a bee garth. The remains of an orchard lie at the rear. Immediately in front of the house is a long lawn, partly enclosed by Leylandii hedges and shrub border, with a swimming pool at the far end. Part way down the lawn, on its north-west side, is a steep bank (possibly a former garden boundary) on the far side of which is a tennis court and twentieth-century summerhouse. There are shallow terraces on the south-east side, and below is a piece of informal ground flanking the drive. It contains the pond and, to the north-east, a much larger rectangular one, probably a fish pond in origin but now largely overgrown. The land beyond this pond was alienated from the estate in the 1930s, and is partly built on, but it still contains a group of late seventeenth-century sweet chestnuts known locally as The Three Sisters and said to have been planted by the three daughters of Sir William Salusbury. Setting: Bachymbyd is situated in rural Denbighshire on the western edge of the Vale of Clwyd, on ground rising to the west. Just to its east are the A525 Ruthin to Denbigh road and the river Clywedog. Significant views: From the house along the main axis of the garden and views from the house and gardens towards the Vale of Clwyd and Clwydian Range in the distance. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 6-8 (ref: PGW(C)27). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheet Denbighshire XIV.14 (second edition 1900). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.  

PGW(Gt)60(MON)

Bailey Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Abergavenny  

330089  

214638  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban Public Park  

1884  

Registered as a good example of a late Victorian public park, surviving in its entirety, which makes an important contribution to the townscape of Abergavenny. Bailey Park was laid out for the town by the prominent local ironmaster, Crawshay Bailey in 1884 and was intended for public access from the outset. From 1890 the park passed out of the Crawshay Bailey Estate and into local authority ownership and management. The park has both ornamental and sporting components. The imposing main entrance, through wrought-iron gates (LB:80881) lies towards the south end of the east side, set back from the B4521 Hereford Road. The park is rectangular and lies on ground sloping gently to the south. The central part is largely open, taken up by sports pitches and a bowling green. Around the perimeter are trees (both deciduous and conifers), paths and small areas of garden. To the north a small area of the park extends westwards and is laid out as a formal garden, with island beds and a few specimen trees, enclosed by iron railings and hedges, and flanked along the south side by a wide tarmac path edged with stones. To the north of the garden is a small compartment with derelict glasshouses beyond which is a small, disused and derelict concrete-walled lido (1939) with changing rooms and café. The north side of the park is laid out with a belt of mainly evergreen planting along the boundary and two bowling greens. Setting: Bailey Park is the main public open space in Abergavenny. It is situated just to the north of the centre of Abergavenny on the west side of the Hereford Road. The surrounding roads are mostly residential. Sources Cadw 2007: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, additional and revised entries part 1 (ref: PGW(Gt)60(MON).  

PGW(Gt)39(BLG)

Bedwellty Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Blaenau Gwent  

Tredegar  

314236  

208527  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban landscape public park.  

Early nineteenth century; 1910-32.  

Registered as a well-preserved example of an early nineteenth-century landscape park later given to the people of Tredegar to be used for public recreation. Rockwork and a well-preserved icehouse are contemporary with the landscape park. The park has historical associations with the ironmaster Samuel Homfray, who built the existing house, and his son also Samuel, who further developed the house and park. In the second half of the nineteenth-century the house passed to the Morgans of Tredegar Park, who reserved the house for the managers of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company. In 1901 the Morgans gave the house and park to the people of Tredegar. The registered area has group value with the house and associated park features. The basic structure, most of the built features, and some tree planting from the early nineteenth-century park survives. Two curving drives were made to the north and south of Bedwellty House (LB: 1862). The area around and to the east of the house, between the two entrances, was planted with ornamental trees with an under-planting of shrubs, the west boundary was given a screening belt of deciduous trees. The southern end of the park is landscaped with specimen coniferous and deciduous trees, most of which were planted in the twentieth-century. The clumps of beeches in this area, however, date from the early nineteenth-century. To the west of the house the series of five ponds were made, four of them one above the other, linked by narrow rockwork channels, and surrounded by rockwork and with dense planting of coniferous and deciduous trees and rhododendrons on their south and east sides. Both the planting and ponds are shown on the 1839 tithe map. Water for the ponds and fountain was brought from two ponds on the ridge to the south-west of the park, via a drain from the lower pond. To the north-west of the house a small kitchen garden was made, with an unusual ice-house to its east (LB: 1878). This is a small, single-storey stone building, entered on the north side, and with a window in the south side, and a chimney and fireplace on the east wall. On the gable end of the roof is a small belfry. Inside is a single room, with an opening in the centre at the top of the egg-shaped, brick-lined ice chamber, which is built into the raised terrace. The icehouse is early nineteenth-century with the room above said to have been built as a private chapel in the later nineteenth-century and the bellcote added in 1876.   An unusual feature in the park is the lump of coal cut to form a monument at the 1851 Great Exhibition (LB: 1879). Owing to the difficulties of transportation, it was decided that it would not survive the journey to Crystal Palace, and it was set up in the grounds of Bedwellty House, the home of the Homfray family, who owned both the Tredegar Ironworks and the Yard Level. A block of two tons (2.03 tonnes) was cut from a level at Sirhowy 100 years later for the Festival of Britain in 1951, and this was subsequently also placed at Bedwellty Park.   To the west of the house is a garden area composed of a series of linked circular compartments surrounded by water-worn rockwork, with a rockwork fountain and arch at the southern end. At the north end is a small ruinous circular stone pavilion reached by a rockwork-lined path, which may originally have been a grotto. South of this area was a rectangular levelled area shown on the 1875 six-inch Ordnance Survey map as the 'croquet ground' and converted into tennis courts in 1910. In 1901 the Morgans gave the park to the people of Tredegar, and it was converted for use as a public park. Some changes were made to the structure: a new secondary entrance was made on the west side, with a straight drive to the house, and an elaborate system of winding paths was laid out in the southern half of the park. Various recreational features were added: (grass tennis courts and Long (originally Jubilee) Shelter 1910; hard tennis courts and swimming pool 1932). Further additions were the octagonal bandstand (LB: 22487) in 1912 to the south of the house, the circular garden to the east of the house, built in about 1901, the War Memorial erected c.1920 (LB: 22488) and the Second World War Memorial Gates (1951) at the north entrance to the park. The Upper (north) Lodge was rebuilt in 1911, and the park was surrounded by iron railings in 1925. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 13-14 (ref: PGW (Gt)39).  

PGW(Gt)18(NPT)

Beechwood Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Newport  

Beechwood  

333274  

188581  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Late nineteenth-century urban landscape park.  

1880  

Beechwood Park is registered as a good example of a late nineteenth-century urban public park, which is very little altered. The landscaping is similar in style to the contemporary Bellevue Park (PGW(Gt)19(NPT) in Newport designed by Thomas Mawson. Mawson may also have been involved in designing the park at Beechwood. Beechwood House (LB: 3109) was built in 1877-8 by Habershon, Pite and Fawkner, architects of Cardiff and Newport, for George Fothergill, a tobacco manufacturer and former mayor of Newport. The 30 acre park lies on the south-facing side of a ridge in the east of Newport. The park was made at the same time as the house was built and the layout of the estate at this time is shown on the 25” Ordnance Survey map of 1883. Both house and park were purchased by Newport Borough Council and opened to the public in 1900. The park is situated on a steep south-facing slope, elongated north-south and narrowing towards its southern extent. Most of the park is laid out informally, with open rolling grass and planted with ornamental coniferous and deciduous trees. The main entrance gates are at the south end of the park on the B4237. There are two further entrances from Christchurch Road to the north and another from Beechwood Road to the east. All the entrances have wrought iron gates and the park is bounded by iron railings. Springs in the middle and east side of the park enabled ornamental water features to be made, with pools, cascades and rockwork in the small, narrow ravine down the east side of the park, and in a wider small dell in the centre. The latter is particularly elaborate, with a series of pools and cascades surrounded by rockwork. Paths wind through this area across several small bridges. The park provided typical entertainment and recreational facilities including a bandstand, tennis courts and a bowling green, all shown on the 25" Ordnance Survey map of 1920. There are still tennis courts and a bowling green in the park. The site of the former bandstand, which had since also been the site of a paddling pool, is now a public entertainment space developed in 2018. Setting: Beechwood Park is located in an urban area and is surrounded by housing, much of which however is screened from within the park, due to the site's topography and mature planting. Significant View: There are magnificent views from the south front of the house over the park below, Newport and the Bristol Channel. Sources: Cadw, 1994, Register of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent p.107  

PGW(Gt)19(NPT)

Bellevue Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Newport  

Stow Hill  

330668  

187160  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban, public, late nineteenth-century landscape park.  

1893  

Bellevue Park is registered for its historic interest as a good example of a late nineteenth-century public park remaining more or less intact and having historical associations with the influential garden designer Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933). It also has group value with the listed pavilion and conservatories, rustic tea house, terracing, park lodges, entrance gates and boundary walls. Bellevue Park is an enclosed 14 hectare (35 acre) public park in Newport. Created on land donated by Lord Tredegar to alleviate unemployment, the park was designed by T.H Mawson, and opened in 1894. It is informally laid out and is characterised by sweeping walks with grass and ornamental trees dating from before the park’s creation to the present day. At its centre is a small valley water garden with drinking fountains, rockwork, streams, pools and cascades. To the west of the water garden is a two-storey tea pavilion (LB: 16955) built in 1910 by Mawson. The pavilion is built from stone with a red tiled roof, and flanked by conservatories. Below it is a series of terraces built out over the slope on massive stone revetment walls (LB:16956). A rustic tea house is located to the sw of the pavilion (LB:23136). A bowling green was also added later. The park is bounded by stone walls and its main entrances are on the north and south sides, each with wrought iron gates and half-timbered lodges, also by Mawson and built 1893-94 (LB:23134 and 23135). The site includes a Gorsedd circle built for the 1897 Eisteddfod. The park was restored in the early 2000s with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Setting: Located approximately 1km to the southwest of Newport city centre and mostly surrounded by housing. Significant View: From the terraces giving views over the river Usk and the Bristol Channel. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent (ref: PGW(Gt)19). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Monmouthshire, XXXIII, sheet 4 (1902).  

PGW(Gd)10(CON)

Benarth Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Henryd  

278764  

376750  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Woodland, small park, walled gardens, rockery, 'wild garden' and small formal garden area, with views over the Conwy valley.  

1790 and 1810; after 1916.  

Benarth hall is registered as an interesting example of an early twentieth century garden layout set within older woodlands and parkland with extensive late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century walled kitchen gardens. Benarth occupies a sloping site on the west bank of the Conwy estuary and from it there are lovely views over the estuary. The park and gardens have group value with the other estate buildings including the grade II listed Benarth Hall and balustrade terrace, summerhouse and icehouse. Benarth also has historical associations with art patron Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827) for whom Benarth was a summer retreat and who sketched the house in about 1801. The parkland lies to the north and south of Benarth Hall (LB 17710) occupying an inverted 'L'-shaped area, with the stem of the 'L' along the edge of the river. It was probably laid out when the house was built in 1790, but is possibly earlier. The area to the north of the house consists almost entirely of woodland, through which the drive approaches. The south drive (now disused) is also wooded part of the way, but begins alongside open parkland near the home farm, with more woods along the edge of the estuary. The combined length of the drives is over 1.25km, both are flanked by ornamental plantings. There are lodges at both entrances; a third lodge, just north of the house, was demolished (date of demolition unknown). By 1890 there was a network of paths through park and woods but by 1913 many of these had already disappeared and today few survive. Some are overgrown and disused, others have developed into new drives. The woodland is concentrated mainly to the north of the house and is mostly oak, sycamore and beech, with a natural understorey. There are also wooded areas to the south-east and south-west, along the shoreline and flanking the south drive respectively. Most of this, together with part of the garden, is included in the Benarth Wood Site of Special Scientific Interest. Some of the woods, at least, may pre-date the house. A brick-built ice house (LB 17711) lies in woodland to the west of the house. All of the open parkland is to the south of the house. It is bounded by farmland on the south, the garden on the north and woodland on east and west, the home farm is situated at the south-west corner. It is dotted with trees, but fewer than in 1890, and part of the area has been drawn into the garden. The gardens consist of several components formed on sloping ground falling away to the south of the house, and have been subject to alteration throughout their history. In front of the house (the south-east) is a level revetted terrace, which is probably contemporary with the 1790 house. The house was built for Samuel Price of Lincoln’s Inn and he was probably also responsible for creating the terrace in front of the house. The lawned terrace is oval with a yew hedge around it, and remains an open area. Sales particulars of 1805 describe the grounds as ‘beautiful pleasure grounds laid out with great taste and enriched with forest trees and the choicest evergreens', as well as a 'hot house, green house, pinery, melon pit and peachery, and ice house.’ A viewing platform of c.1900 gives views over the Conwy estuary (LB 17710). At the north-east end of the main terrace is a circular, brick-built summer house with attached aviary for small birds (LB 17712). Below the terrace and platform lies the rockery, partly terraced revetted by dry-stone walls. At the foot of the rockery is a small concrete-lined oval pool fed by rainwater collected in a channel crossing the terraces. The rose garden is a terraced level area south of the house, below the south-west end of the main terrace. Steps lead down into it from above, and out of it into the wild garden below. A sundial lies in the centre of a large circular bed, and a tiny stone-edged circular pool near the southern edge of the terrace by the walled garden. Below the rockery and rose garden is the final retaining wall, up to nearly 2m high at the rose garden end, and below this the natural slope. An angled flight of steps down through the wall below the rose garden gives access to the slope of the 'wild garden' below it. These improvements were made after 1913 and before 1931 and can be ascribed to the Tattersalls, who owned the house from 1914 to 1933. Photographs in the sales particulars of 1931 show the gardens at this time. Extensive walled gardens lie to the south-west of the house, covering almost three acres. The garden is roughly rectangular in shape, long axis north by south, rounded at the north end, and enclosed by brick-lined stone walls with brick cross walls. The whole area slopes down from west to east and, less noticeably, from north to south. In the late nineteenth century the interior was divided into three enclosures with a layout of paths which divided them into six roughly equal segments. This tripartite division seems to have been in existence by about 1810. A fourth, southernmost, enclosure is a later addition as it was a paddock with parkland trees in 1890. It is unlikely that any part of the extant garden predates the 1790 house. The garden was used mainly to grow fruit. By 1931 there was also a vinery and peach house and a modern three-part greenhouse, later demolished. Wall fruit and orderly lines of vegetables are recorded on an aerial photograph, together with what looks like a rose pergola to the west of the central north-south path. At the time of registration, in the 1990s, the walled garden had become completely overgrown with only the northernmost area fully accessible. Early maps show a stone-built range of buildings outside the north wall, which included the boiler house and potting sheds, all intact at the time of registration; the apple store outside the east wall was then roofless. More recently, a dwelling, The Vinery, has been built against the north wall, in the location of the former glasshouse and the rest of the walled garden serves as the garden to the new dwelling. Setting: Benarth is located on the edge of the town of Conwy and on the west bank of the Conwy estuary. Significant Views: Fine views from the house and grounds facing southeast over the Conwy estuary. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 48-53 (ref: PGW(Gd)10(CON)). Ordnance Survey six-inch maps: sheet Denbighshire III.SW (editions of 1875 & 1906).  

PGW(Gt)11(MON)

Bertholey House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llantrisant Fawr  

339682  

194561  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Early nineteenth-century landscape park; remains of nineteenth-century pleasure garden, wild garden and walled kitchen garden.  

c.1795-c.1830; second half nineteenth century.  

Registered as an example of a small early nineteenth-century landscape park surviving in its entirety and incorporating the remains of a nineteenth-century pleasure garden and remnants of a wild garden and a large walled kitchen garden in the grounds. The registered park and garden has group value with the ruins of Bertholey House (LB: 22918), outbuildings (LB: 22919; 23868) and dovecote (LB: 22920). The park is situated on rolling ground on the east side of the Usk valley. From the house, views stretch over the park to the west and over the Usk valley. The park is relatively small (but extended to 393 hectares in 1895) and consists largely of rolling pasture with isolated deciduous trees and a few clumps. The original drive from the west is still in use but the original entrance off the minor Llantrisant-Caerleon road has been cut off by the A449 which has sliced across the drive. The main area of woodland in the park is Garden Wood to the north of the house. It was landscaped with walks, ponds and planting. The walled kitchen garden is situated to the northeast of Garden Wood, at some distance from the house. The park was landscaped and the garden made at the same time that the new house was built, in the first thirty years of the nineteenth century. The garden can be divided into two sections: the remains of the pleasure garden immediately around the house, to its west and south, and the wild garden in Garden Wood to the north. The pleasure garden is relatively small, enclosed largely by iron dwarf fencing. The main entrance, on the west side, is flanked by iron gate piers and curving railings. In the north corner steps lead down to a short stone-lined tunnel leading to Garden Wood. The 1847 Sale Particulars show that at this time an elaborate garden was in place, with a circular pond and ‘lawn, gravel walks and flowerbeds, thickly planted with fine standard trees and shrubs.’ Garden Wood is an irregularly-shaped area of semi-natural woodland to the north of the house. The wood is entered from the garden via the tunnel, and from the drive through an archway in a stone wall. It had begun to be developed as a landscaped area by the time of the 1847 Sale Particulars, which mention the walk through it to the kitchen garden at its northeast end. However, it is thought that the ponds and evergreen planting probably date from later in the nineteenth century, as the ponds are not mentioned in the 1847 Sale Particulars, nor do they appear on the 1887 six-inch OS map. It would appear that Garden Wood was developed as a wild woodland garden towards the end of the nineteenth century. The kitchen garden lies 0.4km northeast of the house, beyond Garden Wood. It was reached from the house by two paths, a direct one through the field and a winding one through Garden Wood. Traces of both remain. In the 1847 Sale Particulars it was described as a 'capital walled kitchen garden' with a fishpond in the centre, and well stocked with wall and standard fruit trees, a grapery, an outside shed, a second garden, a gardener's house (3-room), a wash-house and a tool-house. The brick walls, with curved corners, stand more or less to their full height (c.2.5 m.). The interior layout has gone. Significant Views: Views west over the park and across the Usk Valley. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 17-18 (ref: PGW (Gt)11(MON)).  

PGW(C)56(WRE)

Bettisfield Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Wrexham  

Maelor South  

346222  

335960  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Part walled and part earthwork remains of formal terraced gardens  

Late sixteenth to early seventeenth century  

Registered for the survival of the part walled and part earthwork remains of a Tudor/Jacobean terraced garden, as belonging to the Hanmer family in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It was also possibly the home in his youth of the famous horticulturalist Sir Thomas Hanmer (1612-1678). The registered garden has group value with Bettisfield Hall (LB: 1639). Bettisfield Hall lies on the north side of the village of Bettisfield. The garden is situated to the west, south, and east of the house, on ground falling away gently to the east and west, and more steeply to the south. It is accessed by a modern gravel drive from the Bettisfield-Hanmer road to the west, which runs to a small forecourt on the north side of the house. The garden falls into two main sections: the terraces to the south and west of the house, and the former orchard to the south-east. The main, larger, terrace is rectangular and lawned, extending southwards from the north end of the house, and westwards to a scarp in the field west of the present garden. The south end of this terrace is built up over the slope and retained by a brick revetment wall. The garden is variously bounded by a beech hedge, the house itself, and by a brick wall at the south end of the house. The west and south walls are visible as slight bumps in the turf. It once had a 'knot garden' to the west of the house. Below the revetment on the west is another, narrow, terrace running alongside. Beyond the present garden the terrace continues across the pasture field to the west, with only scarps on the north and west sides indicating the original garden boundary walls. This entire, triangular, pasture field is now (2020) an orchard. To the south-east of the house, east of the main terrace, is a gently sloping pasture field with a few old fruit trees in it which was once part of the original gardens, probably an orchard. The garden probably dates to the time of Hanmer family occupation of the house in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth-centuries. Its formal style accords with this date, and after 1640 both house and garden remained largely untouched. Significant View: Views south across the rural landscape around Bettisfield. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 216-8 (ref: PGW(C)36). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheet Flintshire XXVI.13 (second edition 1899).  

PGW(Dy)59(CAM)

Bishop's Palace, Abergwili  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Abergwili  

244241  

220896  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; informal garden; walled kitchen garden  

1581 - 1627; early 18th century; 1801 - 03; 1825 - 40; 1970s  

The Bishop’s Palace is located above the north bank of the Afon Tywi and its flood-plain, to the east of Carmarthen. It is registered for the historical interest of its nineteenth century woodland garden with its rich arboreal flora, on a site with a long history of landscape development around a religious establishment. There is, additionally, group value with the Grade II Listed former Bishop’s Palace (LB 9383), entrance lodge (LB 81932), the walls of the enclosed garden (LB 81930), and the nearby Church of St David (LB 81928). The garden occupies a roughly triangular area, widest at its west end and tapering to the east end. It is bounded on the north side by a rubble stone wall about 1.7m-2 m high, on the west by a stone wall up to about 1.5m high, and along its curving south and south-east side by a substantial ha-ha consisting of a roughly-coursed stone wall 2m high, with an external ditch. Beyond it, on the floodplain, is an area of parkland. The Old Palace is at the west end of the grounds and is approached from the north along a short drive from an entrance and lodge on the old A40 road to a forecourt in front of the palace. The ground is mostly level, with a drop to a lower level at the south end, near and parallel to the south-east boundary. Towards the east end of the garden, where it narrows, the ground slopes steeply from north to south. The grounds west of the palace, around the drive area, and also to the south-west, are heavily planted with evergreen trees and shrubs, native and exotic. Lawns surround the house to the north, east and south of the house. To the south there are mixed specimen trees, deciduous and coniferous, including a huge Cedar of Lebanon. From the drive a winding path leads eastwards across an extensive lawn dotted with specimen trees such as a tulip tree, London Plane and mature conifers. A wooded area along the north boundary also contains specimen trees. North of the house is a more formal, circular area with cross paths. The north-west corner of the garden, to the west of the Bishop’s Palace, is now separate belonging to the present bishop’s residence, a building dating to 1978. Its garden consists mainly of a large lawn to the south of the house with some large specimen trees, including Scots pine, oak and beech. The lawn runs down to the north side of the kitchen garden. This is roughly square, bounded by stone walls up to 3m high lined with brick except on the south. The interior is grassed over though parts appear to be under cultivation. There are relict fruit trees, and a row of old apple trees is planted parallel to the west wall. Against the east wall are the footings of a glasshouse against the wall. Towards the west side is an overgrown area with wall footings suggesting a former building. Beyond the wall here is the churchyard. Close to the east end of the garden a flight of stone steps lead down over the ha-ha to the park beyond. The ornamental landscaping of the palace extends beyond the garden onto the flood plain of the Tywi where a large, level grass field is ornamented with two mature specimen trees. To the south-east is a curving lake called the Bishop’s Pond, a classic oxbow lake, tree-fringed and partly filled with water lilies and reeds. The Tywi Gateway Trust are managing a programme of restoration and enhancement at the Bishop’s Park, including the installation of a new gardens, bringing the walled garden back into production and improving access to the meadow. Setting - The site’s proximity to the the river floodplain gives the house and garden a parkland setting. Significant views – The position of the Bishop’s Palace allowed views across the garden to the east and south across the river and the countryside beyond. Sources: Cadw Historic Assets Database Google satellite imagery, accessed 05.08.2021.  

PGW(Dy)27(PEM)

Blackaldern  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Narberth  

212072  

214232  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal garden surrounding house. Woodland walks to the south-east where the native trees have been underplanted with an interesting collection of deciduous azaleas & rhododendrons.  

Early to mid-nineteenth century.  

The grounds at Blackaldern are registered for their historic interest as a well-preserved example of an early to mid-nineteenth century garden created to complement the country house. Although there are few structural components, there is an interesting collection of plants in the woodland garden, including some early introductions of rhododendrons. The registered area has group value with the grade II listed house (LB:6524) and coach house (LB:6525) at Blackaldern, for which it provides the immediate setting. The house and gardens at Blackaldern are set on a south-facing valley side, about one kilometre to the south-east of Narberth. The house lies at the end of a long, sweeping drive from the north, off the B4314. A second former drive from the south, which is now a sunken or hollow way, was reached from Twll Lane. To the south and east of the house is a small, rather formal garden of lawns and shrubs, through which the main drive sweeps. Throughout the grounds are mature examples of both native and exotic trees, under-planted on the drive and to the south-east with rhododendrons, including some early introductions, and other shrubby exotics. To the east and south-east of the house, separated from the formal garden area by a paddock, is the woodland garden, Blackaldern Plantation on modern maps but formerly `Blackalder Wood'. It occupies an area of about 3.5 acres and has been established on the east and west-facing slopes of a small sheltered valley through the centre of which runs a small stream, and has proved an ideal setting for shade and moisture loving plants, including ericaceous species. Mature oaks provide a light canopy of shade and protection for exotic under-plantings and there are occasional exotic and indigenous pines. A series of small paths meander through the valley, occasionally crossing the stream and associated drainage channels by rustic wooden bridges, though these are not shown on early maps. The early Ordnance Survey maps show a small lake or pond to the south of the house, at a bend of the approaching south drive. The pond appears to have been constructed with a stone retaining wall (maximum height just over 1m) rendered on the inside; traces of this remain. The whole is otherwise filled with rubble and is overgrown. Setting: Blackaldern is situated in the rolling agricultural landscape of rural Pembrokeshire. The house and gardens are set on a south-facing valley side, about one kilometre to the south-east of Narberth. To the north the land gently rises and to the south, the land slopes away to the brook that enters the Eastern Cleddau River at Canaston Bridge to the west. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 160-2 (ref: PGW(Dy)27(PEM)). Ordnance Survey second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire XXIX.11 (1887). Additional notes: C.S.Briggs  

PGW(C)2(DEN)

Bodelwyddan Castle  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Bodelwyddan  

300160  

374596  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medium sized landscape park; pleasure grounds; formal former kitchen garden;  

Eighteenth century, nineteenth century, with twentieth-century additions.  

Bodelwyddan is registered as a well preserved example of an eighteenth and nineteenth century landscape park, with later Arts & Crafts garden (c.1910) by the well-known garden designer Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933). The registered area shares important group value with Bodelwyddan Castle, for which it provides the setting, and the numerous estate buildings of contemporary date, including the associated estate model village and the church of St Margaret’s (the Marble Church). There is also group value with the scheduled First World War practice trenches (FL186) located within the parkland. Bodelwyddan Castle (LB: 1383) a sprawling castellated mansion, is situated to the south-east of Abergele. The park originated in the eighteenth century, but took on its present form in the nineteenth, with the building of the massive boundary walls and lodges in the 1820s and 30s by Sir John Hay Williams. The park is of medium size and surrounds the mansion on the north, south and east sides. It is rectangular in shape, long axis north-east by south-west, on ground which rises to the south, running down towards Bodelwyddan village. The park is enclosed within a massive 3m high stone wall (LB: 80736) even higher in places, and is bounded on the north by the A55 road, on the south by the B5381, on the west by a minor road, and on the east by farmland. The house and pleasure grounds lie towards the western boundary of the park, at the top of a gentle slope with views over Rhuddlan Marsh and the Irish Sea beyond. The park is largely undulating grassland dotted with large mature deciduous trees (mainly oaks) and clumps of trees with some larger areas of woodland, especially on the east boundary; much of the nineteenth-century pattern of planting appears to be intact, though there is now more partitioning. To the east and north-east are the fish pond, mill (LB: 1495) and related ponds; smaller ponds lie scattered across the park, possibly old marl pits. The mill, Felin-y-gors, also served as a picturesque object in the park. The ponds and woodland in the north-east corner were originally laid out as pleasure grounds with diverting and management of water for streams. This is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1871) with an ice house adjacent to one of the ponds in Coed-y-gors. A nursery was also situated there; aside from the ponds little remains today. Another ice-house (LB: 1384) is located in the north-west of the park, also depicted on the first edition OS, with a small pool adjacent. In the south-western corner of the park lie two stone-lined ponds which continue as a stream into the pleasure grounds. Nearby, just within the park walls, is a lime kiln. Late nineteenth-century maps portray five drives and entrances, each with a lodge: from the north at the village, lodge and entrance now destroyed by the A55; from the north-east, near the A55 and just north of the mill; from the south-east on the B5381, at Bryn Celyn Lodge (LB: 80738); from the south, at Lodge Bach, also on the B5381; and from Glascoed Lodge (LB: 20897), also on the B5381, once the main south drive. The main pleasure garden lies to the south of the castle. It is focused on a large walled garden with ornamental elements laid out by Sir John Hay Williams in the first quarter of the nineteenth-century. It is an elongated inverted D-shaped area, long axis north-east by south-west, surrounded by a high brick wall (LB: 80759) around all but the south-east side which is open to the park. A two-storey gardener’s bothy stands against the west side. The southern half of the walled garden was remodelled in Arts and Crafts style by Thomas Mawson in about 1910. Of the entire circuit of garden walls, only the part on the west side was retained; on the east side Mawson built a low wall so visitors to the garden could enjoy the views across the landscape. Mawson commented: 'I replanned the upper part of the garden behind the castle and carried out some necessary improvements on a very difficult site. The soil was sparse, resting upon limestone, demanding great care and knowledge in the choice of shrubs and plants; but here again a fair measure of success rewarded our efforts'. This part of the gardens takes the form of four compartments surrounded by clipped yew hedges, divided by brick paths with mill stones at the entrances to each compartment. A sundial stands at the centre (LB: 80756). On the lower side the cross path is terminated by a stone bench surrounded by a semi-circular yew hedge. The north-eastern compartment is divided into four formal flowerbeds with stone edging. The other compartments are now informally laid out with flower borders and stone chip paths. Along the eastern side of this part of the walled garden is an informal area planted with ornamental trees and shrubs with a small stream running through it. This descends through a series of small pools and cascades into an informal pond. On the western side of the yew compartments a path separates this garden from a perimeter border which lies under the wall. The northern end formerly contained extensive glasshouses but these were removed when the area was redesigned in recent decades. The main feature is an aviary on the western side with steps down to a large area of grass with serpentine paths and box-edged flowerbeds, the eastern side overlooking the park with a holly hedge planted externally. Between this hedge and the park is a narrow grass strip, the boundary with the park is a beech hedge. The main entrance to the garden on the east side is through a small classical stone portico (LB: 80759). This was taken from the north front of the castle and is pre-1820s in date. Just outside it is a stone obelisk (LB: 80752) which was removed to its present site in recent years from its original position on the south-eastern edge of the woodland to the south. The monument was originally erected in 1837 by Sir John Hay Williams in memory of his parents. To the north of the walled garden, adjacent to the new hotel, are two small garden areas: a cypress maze commemorating Thomas Mawson; and a small enclosed garden laid out with small formal flowerbeds and gravel paths incorporating a small nineteenth-century brick building, the play house (LB: 80754) and octagonal brick garden shelter (LB: 80747). The wood to the south of the walled garden was laid out with an informal walk around the perimeter of the wood. There is a doorway in the western wall which leads to the limekiln. At intervals along the wall are 'gun loops'. Sir John Hay Williams wrote in his journal for February 1836: 'I decorated and beautified the long south wall to the Keepers Tower and put up a gate and made a back entrance to the garden from the farm'. The obelisk was situated on the eastern side with a summerhouse behind it which is no longer in existence. The main south drive (now a track) winds gently through this wood. Where the drive emerges through the perimeter wall the site is marked by a folly tower and archway known as the Keepers Tower. An eastern drive branches off the main drive and emerges from the wood just to the north of the old obelisk site. Significant Views: From the east terrace across the parkland and surrounding landscape in all directions. Views of the Marble Church, the north Wales coast and the Clwydian Range are all afforded from the registered area. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 14-16 (ref: PGW(C)2). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map: Flintshire IV (1878). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.  

PGW(Po)55(POW)

Bodfach Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Llanfyllin  

313798  

320131  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal and informal Victorian garden including shrubberies and walks, tree planted lawns and south terraces.  

Present house rebuilt c. 1870, contemporary gardens, house opened as hotel 1946.  

Bodfach Hall is located a short distance to the north-west of Llanfyllin on the north side of the valley of Nant Fyllon. It is registered for its well-preserved Victorian garden at one of the principal Montgomeryshire houses. Much of the tree, shrub and topiary planting from the second half of the nineteenth century survives. There is also group value with Grade II Listed Bodfach Hall and its former coach house (LBs 8544-5) and with Grade II Listed West Lodge and East Lodge (LBs 8546-7). The house stands partly obscured within a wooded garden surrounded by parkland on an ancient site with a long history of occupation. The park was laid out when the house was rebuilt, from 1761, and included the planting of over 170,000 trees. The present garden layout followed a later rebuilding of 1876 though the earliest record for an ornamental garden here is from 1776 when it appears in a Moses Griffith watercolour included in Pennant's Tours of Wales. The park is bounded by public roads on the south and east, and elsewhere by woodland and farmland. The park is now given over to farming though trees, mostly deciduous, are scattered across it. Although partitioned, mostly with post-and-wire fencing, the landscape retains its open, parklike character. Woodland is concentrated north of the house, in Rookery Wood and Coed Llety-yr-eos to its north-east. The main drive enters the park from an entrance and lodge on the south-east before proceeding north and then west across the park to enter the garden from its east side. A second drive, from an entrance and lodge on the west, passes through woodland to approach out-buildings north of the house before joining the main drive. A much earlier, now abandoned, drive once approached the house from the north-east. The garden spans about four acres and lies to the west, south and east of the house. It is enclosed by Rookery Wood to the north and by parkland to the south and east, and faces south on a gentle downhill slope. It is laid out mainly as lawns planted with trees and shrubs, including many specimens. A dense belt of trees and shrubs surrounds the garden on the south and east. Along the east front of the house is a raised terrace with topiary, and opposite the forecourt a split-level lawn enclosed by mature shrubs runs back to the garden boundary. North of the entrance, on the edge of Rookery Wood, is a tree-planted dell with what appears to be an old rock garden. The east lawn extends south to the tree-grown boundary where specimen conifers include redwood and Douglas fir. Along the south front of the house is a verandah and below it two parallel terraces with topiary and shrubs linked by steps along an axis path to the south boundary. On the west side of the house is the site of a conservatory and below it, to the south-west, are paths through a wooded area linking it with the terraces. Beyond the trees is the site of a large garden pond fed by small stream running down the west boundary of the garden. A walled kitchen garden once stood just above Rookery Wood, on its north side, but has now been planted with trees. Setting - Bodfach is located in gently undulating countryside to the north-west of the village of Llanfyllin, the park and gardens providing the setting for the house. Significant views - From the verandah on the south front of the the house there are views across the valley and the countryside beyond, while similar views to the south-west could be had from the conservatory on the west side of the house. Source: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 6-9 (ref: PGW (Po)55(POW)).  

PGW(Gd)5(CON)

Bodnant  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Llansanffraid Glan Conwy  

279901  

372285  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced gardens with views; woodland and water garden; rockeries; small area of parkland; detailed layout with many features, and enormous range of plants including many exotic and half-hardy varieties.  

Late eighteenth century; nineteenth century; 1905-14.  

Registered grade I as an outstanding garden in an extremely picturesque setting. The garden was begun by Henry Pochin and developed by the 2nd Lord Aberconway. The two main elements of the garden are the formal terraces around the house, and The Dell, based on Pochin's original plantings around a stream and artificial ponds. There are also important collections of plants, including many hybrids, especially of rhododendrons, raised at Bodnant. The gardens have historical associations with the landscape designer, Edward Milner, who designed the Victorian gardens around the house. The registered area shares important group value with the house and the associated garden buildings and structures. Bodnant is situated on the east side of the Conwy valley. The house (LB: 25063) was originally built by a Colonel Forbes in 1792, a short distance from the original house (Old Bodnod, LB: 81), and was set in parkland, though much of it has since been turned into gardens, or developed as commercial forestry and farmland, during successor ownerships of Henry Pochin and his descendants. Parkland formerly extended around the house on all sides but is now mostly confined to the north and east. The house is approached by two drives, one from the north, the other from the north-west, both with lodges, both running through plantations of mixed deciduous and coniferous trees, with under-plantings of shrubs, which are probably contemporary with the drives. There is also a short access route from the east, on the Eglwysbach road, next to the kitchen garden. The area between the two main drives has the character of parkland, with scattered hardwood trees, mostly oak, and a small copse of mixed deciduous and coniferous trees on top of a rise. There are views across this area from some parts of the garden. To the south there are remnants of the Old Park (around Old Bodnod) which retain some trees probably planted in c.1792, mostly oak and mostly planted where the land rises into hillocks. It has been extensively planted with narcissi. Managed as part of the garden its function now is to provide a pleasant view beyond the garden to the south. The area of the National Trust carpark, on the east side of the Eglwysfach road, retains some parkland planting, as does part of the woodland to its immediate north. A stone ha-ha forms the boundary between the Old Park and the Front Lawn. It was constructed at some time after 1883. Although the garden's main development was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it could not have developed in the same way without the framework which was already in place. Trees planted by Col. Forbes, from 1792 onwards, were already mature when Henry Pochin bought the house in 1874. These were oak, sweet chestnut and, especially, beech, which had been little planted in North Wales before this time. Pochin was able to indulge his interest in exotic conifers with some shelter already established. In 1876, the first conifers were planted on the east bank of the stream in the Dell. The trees on the west bank were mainly planted in 1886 and planting dates are also recorded during the intervening decade. While Pochin concentrated on planting the Pinetum in the Dell (the steep valley of the Hiraethlyn stream), he engaged Edward Milner's firm to lay out the grounds around the house. Milner designed formal terraces around the house, from which a rather steep grass bank descended to the lawns. There were formal beds and informal shrubberies on the sloping lawn to the west. By 1883 the laburnum arch had been made, rockeries had been created in the Dell and the mausoleum, The Poem (LB: 17565), had just been built. Pochin died in 1895 and left the estate to his daughter, Lady Aberconway, who, with her son, Henry Duncan McLaren further developed the garden. McLaren’s major project was the creation of the five terraces, in 1905-14, which descend west from Milner's terrace on the steep slope (LB: 17562; 17563; 17564). These are bounded by walls of grey granite and are connected by stone steps, luxuriantly planted with climbers and shrubs benefitting from the warmth and shelter of the walls. The Rose Terrace is paved, with rectangular island rose beds, and a long central path with a statue of Priapus at the south end. The lawned Croquet Terrace below (also ‘Bowling Green Terrace’) has a baroque fountain in the centre of the back wall. Steps down from here access the lawn of the Lily Terrace which supports a large rectangular pool with a semi-circular extension on the west. The pool is fed by a narrow canal carrying water to it from a smaller pool in the middle of the back wall. The terrace is fronted by a curving yew hedge its shape echoing that of the pool, and beyond this a grass walk. Flights of steps either side of the semi-circular extension descend to the Lower Rose Terrace through trellis-work pergolas decorated with urns. Again, there are rectangular rose beds, a north-south path, and small lawns with borders. The lawned Canal Terrace below is the longest, with a north-south canal (also called the swimming pool) down the centre, a clipped yew hedge, and a long herbaceous border. At its south end is the Pin Mill, originally built c1730 as a garden house or lodge at Woodchester, Gloucestershire, it was purchased, when derelict, by the second Lord Aberconway, who dismantled it and had it reconstructed at Bodnant in 1938/9. (LB: 65). The Dell continued to be planted and acquired a more woodland character as the trees grew; plantings were altered accordingly. From about 1909 it was developed as a woodland garden along the lines advocated by William Robinson. Henry Duncan McLaren's other great contribution to the garden was the introduction of rhododendrons. Some of the first, with Himalayan varieties, were planted in the Quarry Garden, an area at the top of the valley of a tributary of the Hiraethlyn, where there had formerly been a small quarry. They did well there, and McLaren began to hybridise, planting masses of the species and hybrids he found most successful. He continued to develop and plant new varieties all his life. The kitchen garden was located on the immediate south-east side of the house on the south side of what is now its south wall. It was probably moved to its present position, immediately east of the house, in the early 1880s. The 25-inch map shows a rectangular garden divided by paths into six areas, planted with fruit trees and with two small glasshouses and a shed. Where the two main paths crossed was a small circular feature, a dipping pool, which perhaps developed into the small pond on the present top lawn. The new kitchen garden, likely built in the early 1880s, on the north side of the old north wall. Walls are of the same blue-grey granite as the house. They were later raised, now up to 5.5m high. The kitchen garden is now occupied by the plant sales area. A range of buildings against the inside of the south wall may at least in part remain from the last century. Additional note: Storm Arwen (2021) caused extensive damage at Bodnant and caused the loss of many mature trees. Significant Views: Magnificent views westwards from the house and garden over the valley and beyond to Snowdonia. Numerous internal and external views can be obtained from all over the garden. There is a viewpoint from the small circular garden just above the break of slope at the top of the Dell, known as the ‘Rosemary Garden’. Another viewpoint close to the mausoleum, to the north, consists of a circular area surrounding a seat encircling an oak tree, with a low informal stone wall around it. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 54-58 (ref: PGW(Gd)5(CON)). Ordnance Survey six-inch maps: sheet Denbighshire VI.NW (editions of 1875, 1890 & 1913). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton  

PGW(Gd)44(ANG)

Bodowen and Bodorgan  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Isle of Anglesey  

Bodorgan  

230883  

387688  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden, deer park, walled kitchen gardens, informal lawn/shrubbery areas, woodland.  

1779-82; mid nineteenth century.  

The registered area represents the relict remains of the house, garden and two parks at Bodowen, the ancestral seat of the Owen family, one of the most important families on Anglesey in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During the nineteenth century the Bodowen estate was gradually absorbed by the adjacent Bodorgan estate and the registered area therefore encompasses both Bodowen and Bodorgan. Bodorgan is the seat of the Meyrick family who played a significant role in the development of Anglesey in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.  It retains many of its original features, including well-preserved formal garden terraces, informal gardens, deer park, remains of the walled kitchen garden and estate woodland and shooting coverts. The site has important historical associations with the Owen and Meyrick families and the registered area has group value with the house, buildings and other structures of historic significance to the estates. Bodowen and Bodorgan are located in the south-west of Anglesey. Bodowen is an estate with medieval origins. The last Bodowen mansion was built in 1615, located to the south-east of the present Bodowen farmhouse. It was demolished in 1829 as its lands were gradually absorbed by the Bodorgan estate and the two became a single unit. In the process, various changes, including tree planting, were instigated in the surrounding parkland with the aim of blurring the boundary between the two estates. Bodowen had two parks, one large, one small; historically ‘Park’ and ‘Park bach’. A deer park is known to have existed at Bodowen in the seventeenth-century; both park enclosures were probably used for deer. By the later nineteenth-century the larger park appears to have been managed for rabbits (Bodowen Warren (1891) or ‘Cwningar Bodowen’). The north end of the larger lies on the ridge top about 1km to the west of the house and garden. It occupies a linear, roughly rectangular area of ground sloping south-westwards from here to the shore, which is indented with three sandy bays and rocky headlands. Elsewhere, the park is bounded on its north-west and south-east sides by stone walls, and on the east by a wall now gone. The south-east wall is low and ruinous. It begins, at its west end, at the top of the cliff on the south side of Porth Gro, also the start of the boundary wall of the smaller park which occupies the headland of Twyn-y-parc (the site of an Iron Age promontory fort, scheduled monument: AN049). Most of the park interiors are tussocky grass with some rocky outcrops on the higher ground. There were two drives approaching the house; the main one from the north, the other from the west. The relict garden of Bodowen lies to the west of the house site, on slightly rising ground above it, and is contemporary with the house, dating to the early seventeenth-century. It consists of a four-sided, walled enclosure with a raised terrace along its west side. Beyond, to the west, is the rocky ridge of Bonc-grogen. The west wall of the house formed the southern half of the east wall of the garden. The structure and much of the walling of the early seventeenth-century garden remain, with some fine, ornamented entrance gateways (15586). Walls are of variable height rising to a maximum of about 3.8m. Bodorgan Mansion (LB: 5502) is the Anglesey seat of the Meyrick family. It is located on rising ground north-west of the Malltraeth inlet and facing south-east overlooking it. The situation gives excellent views towards Snowdon. The house lies within parkland the history of which can be traced from the early eighteenth-century onwards, on an estate with medieval origins. The park occupies a roughly rectangular area of ground, long axis north-east by south-west, sloping south-eastwards down towards the Malltraeth estuary. It is bounded by minor roads, and by a stone field wall on the south-west. The house lies in the centre of the park, near the southern end of the central band of woodland which occupies a low ridge. There are fine views from the house and garden out over the park to the estuary and Snowdonia beyond. The park contains large areas of woodland in part for use as shelter belts for the exposed location, especially around the house which is surrounded by the central belt on three sides. Within the parkland is the deer park, a long, narrow area occupying the open strip between the central and eastern bands of woodland. The deer park is still used as such but is much reduced. Only the southern half of it, in front of the house, contains parkland trees, mainly oak and sycamore. The open areas of parkland other than the deer park are now farmland. Parkland planting once extended further north but by 1891 there were few trees outside the area where they are now concentrated. The woods contain a mixture of trees of all ages with some fine specimens, both deciduous and coniferous. The eastern woodland belt is now used as shooting coverts. The walled gardens, surrounded by woodland, are also located here. Nearby are Garden Cottage (the head gardener’s house- LB: 20403), a former bath house (dated 1825) and a twentieth-century boathouse. The ‘Lime Walk’ runs from a point almost opposite the bath house to the edge of the deer park, where there is a gate. Formerly the path continued across the park and through Rookery Wood towards the house, but this is now disused. There are three lodges. The main drive runs through woodland from the north at Lower Lodge (mid-nineteenth century - LB: 20406), continues along a public road due south to Front Lodge (late eighteenth-century lodge with early nineteenth-century gates LB: 20398; 20414), the oldest lodge, then gently curves towards the house. Before the house it intersects another drive from farm buildings, and crosses the deer park to the eastern band of woodland. The rear drive runs south-eastwards from the Back Lodge (mid nineteenth-century LB: 20399) to the farm area, and then south to approach the back of the house. The gardens in front of the house comprise three shallow, descending formal terraces with interconnecting steps, enclosed by stone balustrading with supporting walls, separating the terraces from the deer park on north and east and the lawn on the south (LB: 20413). The narrow upper terrace is gravelled and paved in front of French windows in the middle of the house. Central balustrading overlooks a small, formal rectangular pool on the next terrace below. The gravelled area in front of the pool is flanked either side by areas of grass. In the back wall is an elaborate carved shell with a dolphin’s head fountain in the centre. The lower terrace is two shallow steps down which run across the whole width of the terrace. Along the centre of the terrace is grass with gravelled walk all round the perimeter. The front balustrading curves outwards at either end of the walk and in the middle, a curved stone bench in each bay. The deer park is a little over a metre below. The terraces date from the mid-nineteenth century, the work of Owen Fuller Meyrick. To the south is an enclosed rectangular garden with the same balustrading around it. It is laid out as slightly sunken grass surrounded by sloping shrub and herbaceous borders. On the west side are two similar, nineteenth-century, classical-style open-fronted loggias used as a summer house and (formerly) an aviary. To the north of the house is a lawn with specimen trees and woodland. The eighteenth-century dovecote (LB: 5503) and various listed farm buildings are situated beyond. A large area west of the kitchen garden is known as the American Garden. Formerly part of the park, by 1891 it had taken on its present layout. It is grass, planted with a wide variety of specimen trees, including monkey puzzle, Indian bean, sweet chestnut, pines and other conifers, and groups of mature hybrid rhododendrons. To the south is a small circular pool with dressed stone edging, sloping cobbled sides and a simple spray fountain rising from a central rock pile; three square stone bases around it may have held figures or further waterworks. The American Garden was developed in the mid-nineteenth century and many of the trees in the gardens and grounds date to this period. There has been little alteration to the garden since then. The kitchen gardens were laid out between 1818 and 1840-41 and are extensive, a complex of enclosures comprising a large, main, garden with a later, smaller, extension on the north and a second extension on the north-east of that. All have brick walls. The main garden is a sub-square area of around two acres. The south and east corners are rounded, and the north corner forms an S-curve. Its walls rise to 4m high, with flat brick buttresses on the outside west wall. The interior layout appears unchanged. There is a sub-dividing brick wall across the south, rounded, end, with wide archways through it at either end. The larger portion is subdivided by cross paths into four quadrants. The extension on the north is rectangular with curved east and west walls and entrances with wooden doors giving access to it from the main garden. The gardens were notable for their glasshouses. The bases and some superstructure of a wide range of glasshouses and frames, some modern but others much older, survive. Against the dividing wall across the south-east of the garden is a very long, narrow glasshouse, quite modern, replacing its predecessor which was used as a peach house. Most of the glass was in the newer, northern, extensions, including probably the glass walls which are mentioned in gardening articles from 1854 onwards. The oldest glasshouse is the vine house in the centre of the original north wall, still containing vines, and to its rear a row of sheds with a fruit store and a gardeners' room. The tall chimney of the subterranean boiler-house is visible in the first extension area. By 1891 the amount of glass had increased enormously, from one house in 1840-41 to six or seven, plus frames, at the later date. By 1922 there was a gardener's house, and the total area of kitchen gardens was more than three and a half acres. The gardener’s cottage (mid nineteenth-century LB: 20403) lies to the south-east of the gardens. Significant Views: There are fine views from the house and garden out over the park to the estuary and Snowdonia beyond. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 2-8 (ref: PGW(Gd)44(ANG)). Cadw 2013: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, (ref: PGW(Gd)65(ANG)). Ordnance Survey first-edition 25-inch map: sheet Anglesey XXI.8 & 12 (1886).  

PGW(C)54(DEN)

Bodrhyddan  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Rhuddlan  

304421  

378782  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; formal garden of parterre and topiary; informal garden.  

c. late sixteenth - early seventeenth century; late seventeenth century; eighteenth century; 1874-75.  

Bodrhyddan is located on the coastal lowlands of north Wales, between Dyserth and Rhuddlan. It is the seat of the Conwy family who have occupied the site since the fifteenth century. It is registered for the survival, near intact, of its fine Victorian formal garden and for its association with the noted architect W.E. Nesfield (1835-1888). There is important group value with a range of Listed structures including the Grade I Listed Hall (LB 1361), the Grade II* Listed gate piers at the original entrance (LB 1395), and several Grade II Listed parkland and garden features as well as buildings associated with the Home Farm. The park is also the site of the Grade II* Listed St Mary’s Well. The house is set in parkland which lies to the north, east and west of the house, bounded on the south side by the A5151 road. The original drive from the road, through ornamental gate piers (c.1696), to the south front was replaced in 1874-5 by a new drive west from Rhuddlan. Now disused this was replaced in 1928 by the present tree-lined drive from an entrance west of the original one. A further drive, from the north off what is now the A547, to the rear of the house, has North Lodge at the entrance. The park evolved, with the house, from the early eighteenth century. The eastern part, the Old Park, rises gently to the east, extending north to a former road to Dyserth. It was laid out with three avenues of trees converging on the garden south of the house. Now gone, a few ancient trees near the garden are perhaps remnants of this phase. Changes from the later eighteenth century saw the removal of the Dyserth road and field boundaries, the building of a ha-ha along the eastern edge of the garden, and the planting of two clumps, the western one containing a pond. This area is now pasture dotted with isolated deciduous trees. East of the house the park is fenced pasture with some isolated trees in the southern part, some ancient, some ornamental. The walled kitchen garden is situated next to the road in the south-east corner of the park and nearby is a well-preserved ice-house with ice cart shed (LB 1395). The New Park, west of the house, is more or less flat, and was incorporated into the park in the 1870s, when Nesfield altered the house and the new drive from Rhuddlan created. This area was is bounded by a perimeter belt of coniferous and deciduous trees. The rest is pasture, with some isolated oaks and a clump of deciduous trees. The gardens, to the south and west of the house, developed over four centuries and features from all periods remain. To the west is The Pleasaunce, an informal woodland garden of rough grass, trees and ponds, while to the south is a formal Victorian garden of topiary and parterre. St Mary's Well, an octagonal stone wellhouse, is the earliest garden feature and lies in The Pleasaunce ('The Grove' on maps), to the west of the house, and is possibly a more ancient sacred spring. Little remains of the original layout aside from St Mary’s Well, boundaries and the general wooded character of the area. Early maps show a curving wall retaining a mound at the end of a north-south pond. This survives with a modern summerhouse on top and forms a focal point at the end of the pond. Later alterations include a Japanese 'Walk of Life', made in the 1860s, a cobbled path from the Well to a sundial to a bell. The sundial survives (LB 14997) and the path is still visible. Trees are well-spaced ornamentals. Recent features include four informal ponds, the raising of the mound, tree and shrub planting. An area of bamboo the north of the house (the site of a formal pond), has been cleared. To the south of the house is the main Victorian garden, which also retains the general configuration and boundaries from the later seventeenth-century layout. Estate maps of 1730 and 1756 show the axial (south) approach to the house, leading to a turning circle and cross path in front of the house. The approach is now incorporated into the garden as a grass walk flanked by rows of trees, mainly yews. The entire east boundary of the garden is formed by a ha-ha, probably dating from the second half of the eighteenth, or the beginning of the nineteenth, century. It is well preserved and is crossed by two small bridges, the southern one with commemorative iron gates fitted following the visit of Princess Margaret in 1981. To the south-east and south-west of the house the garden is laid out to lawns with a gravel cross path, and planted, in the 1830s, with flanking yew topiary. In 1874-75 the drive and turning circle in front of the house were replaced by a formal rectangular parterre designed by Nesfield. It is set in gravel, with scrolling box-edged narrow beds (filled with bedding plants), in the centre a circular, stone-edged pool with central fountain (LB 14996) the whole flanked either side by the lawns. North of the fountain, also on the central axis, are two ornamental vases (LBs 14994-5), and at the south end are stone steps flanked by yew bushes. In the north-west corner of this area, against the house, are the footings and backing wall of a Victorian conservatory of 1875 (nprn 35671), destroyed in 1990. At the western end of the area is a row of four ancient oaks, likely those shown here on the 1756 map, and to their west further large oaks. The kitchen garden, in the south-east corner of the park, lies on ground sloping to the south, and originated in the eighteenth century. It is surrounded by brick walls on a stone base, up to 3m high, except on the south side where it is stone. A lower stone wall parallel with it provided a narrow, partitioned, strip beside the road, the west end used as an orchard, the east end supporting farm buildings. The main garden is divided by a north-south stone cross wall. Parallel with the north wall is a range of derelict, free-standing greenhouses built against a brick wall. The interior layout of paths has gone, and the whole is grassed over with a few remaining fruit trees. Setting - Bodrhyddan lies in a rural setting between the towns of Rhuddlan and Dyserth. The park is flanked on the north and south sides by road upgrade developments. The far west area has been re-landscaped as a golf course though the former drive across it is still visible from the air. Significant views – The ha-ha built along the eastern edge of the garden affords fine views from the house and garden out over the eastern parkland. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 18-21 (ref: PGW(C) 54). Additional notes: D.K. Leighton  

PGW(Gd)17(GWY)

Boduan  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Buan  

232333  

338222  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Nineteenth-century woodland/wild garden with fishponds, formal areas and walks, kitchen gardens, small park.  

Nineteenth century; mid and late twentieth century.  

Registered for its historic interest as an example of nineteenth-century gardens with a variety of interesting features, including a wall walk and tower, ponds, waterfall, formal walks and woodland garden together with a large walled garden and eighteenth to nineteenth-century park. The registered park and garden has group value with the house, Plas Boduan (LB:4265) and associated estate buildings and structures. It is likely that the park was first laid out when the eighteenth-century house was built (1736). The 1889 Ordnance Survey map shows a large park extending on both sides of the house, bounded with perimeter plantations and planted with individual trees and clumps. By the time of the survey for the map of 1918, some of this planting had already disappeared. Since then the park has been cultivated and it has lost some of its parkland character although some of the fields retain large old trees on their boundaries, and areas of woodland survive over a wide area. One small area of unspoiled parkland survives within the triangle of grounds close to the house, to the south, as a pasture field with a few scattered trees. It is surrounded by plantations and the drive runs along its west side. This area of park existed in 1816 but had been enlarged by 1889. The main drive runs from a lodge almost due south of the house along a gently curving course to approach the house on the west. A second drive approaches from a lodge (LB: 20118) to the north through upper lodge plantation. There are two main areas within the grounds, each with a distinct character: grassy areas with walks and trees planted in groups and rows to the west, south and south-west, and woods, shrubberies and fishponds with informal walks to the north, east and south-east. There are also smaller areas of formal gardens near the house. Planted woodlands surround the site. The dating of the garden areas is unclear and there have been several phases of alteration. There are no trees of obvious great age and it is most likely that the present layout is largely later nineteenth century. The site slopes rather steeply and unevenly down from the west to a narrow valley with a stream in the east. This stream has been extensively exploited in laying out the gardens and includes three large fish-ponds, with ornamental bridges and paths along the edges, and a more formal pool with waterfall to the west of the main stream where it re-enters the garden, makes use of a small secondary watercourse. The site is sheltered, opening out and levelling off to the south and south-west. The house has been built near the northern apex of the site in order to take advantage of this relatively wide and level area for the approach, but the choice of site necessitated levelling the building area when further buildings were added, resulting in a sheer cliff just to the west of the house. North of the house the garden narrows to a point, and the steep, wooded, valley side here forms the western boundary of the grounds. Alongside the house and buildings the garden is wider, the house built on the crest of the steepest part of the slope. The house, stables and a rose garden lie on a levelled area supported by a retaining wall - part garden feature - on the east with three towers, two acting as buttresses, with ornamental alcoves. West of the house is a sheer rock face. South of the house the lawn has been levelled above a steep slope to the east now planted with shrubs and accessed via zigzag paths. Another grassy area, south-west of the house, is planted with a variety of trees, and laid out with paths and a formal straight walk. There are two walled gardens. The gardens lie a short distance to the north-west of the lodge at the park entrance. They are long, roughly rectangular conjoining east and west gardens, aligned almost north-south. They do not appear on the 1816 Ordnance Survey manuscript map, but were in place by 1889. The east garden is almost twice the size of the west, with a mortared stone wall around it, originally about 2.8m high but later raised on the east side to about 3.5m, and again on the north side to about 4.5m. The north and east walls are brick-lined, the west wall brick throughout, and the south wall only stone. In the centre of the west wall a doorway leads into the west garden. The west garden, now a private garden, belongs to a house converted from former garden buildings, including a small, two-storey, stone-built octagonal building, which is built through the north wall at the point where the two gardens join, and is now the core of the house. The garden once contained four free-standing glasshouses and a fifth against the north wall. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 152-5 (ref: PGW(Gd)17(GWY)). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch maps: Caernarvonshire XXXII SW & XL NW (1888); third-edition (1918).  

PGW(Po)42(POW)

Bodynfoel Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Llanfechain  

317553  

320232  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medium sized house and small formal gardens, semi-natural woodland and a small area of park to the south. The garden has been partially restored and two lakes have been added since about 1980.  

c. 1830s; restoration and remodeling c. 1980.  

The registered area at Bodynfoel Hall represents a good example of a compact early Victorian estate of house, formal grounds, woodland and small park situated in a fine location. Bodynfoel has historical associations with an important Montgomeryshire family, the Bonnor-Maurices, who built the hall in 1846 and laid out the surrounding grounds. The registered area shares important group value with the hall (LB: 82419) and associated estate buildings of contemporary date. Bodynfoel Hall is sited on a level terrace overlooking its landscaped grounds. The house was the second, and new, home of the Bonnor-Maurices and the park is believed to have been laid out by Robert Bonnor-Maurice, soon after his new house was built. It is not thought that any earth-moving was carried out in laying out the park, instead full advantage was taken of the picturesque glacial landscape of northern Montgomeryshire. The parkland lies to the south and east of the house on either side of the main drive which enters the site off the Llanfechain road to the west of the lodge. The park is compact and relatively small, covering an area of approximately 20 acres (8.1 ha). The parkland slopes south from the house to the Llanfechain road. A small belt of trees growing along a ridge marks the boundary of the park to the west of the drive and, in the east, the park is dotted with isolated trees. In the north, the park is separated from the garden by a stone ha-ha. In about 1920 a tennis court was constructed in the northern area of the park, sets of steps connecting it to surrounding parkland. In the mid-1970s two small lakes were created in the west garden and the northwest park, and bisected by the garden drive. Originally two drives entered the site, the existing formal drive from the south, and a now abandoned drive from the west, approaching the house through a chestnut avenue, and still partially visible through surviving trees. Narrow belts of trees were also planted on the east and west sides of the south park with a few clumps in between, but these were largely felled during the two World Wars. A large proportion of Ty-du wood, north of the house, is also thought to have been planted from 1840. The main south drive enters the garden from the west through a pair of formal gates. It approaches along a cutting, overhung by laurel and oak trees, and passes over a dam separating the two lakes. Ty-du wood, which may have had an ornamental role, overhangs the lake to the north and east. The gardens lie to the south, east, west and north-west of the house on sloping and level areas of ground. They date to the 1830s when the house was built. To the south of the house the gardens consist of terraces, herbaceous borders, tree and shrub planted lawns and shrubberies, connected by walks and stone steps. To the east of the house, a curving, sunken lawn is separated from the stable yard above by a small arboretum which contains many conifers, acers and ferns growing beneath some older broadleaf trees. On the east side of this lawn there is an extensive rock garden which appears to date from the late nineteenth-century. Largely replanted, it still contains a stream, with small cascades and sets of stone steps. The kitchen garden stood above and to the north of the stables but is now planted with trees and is contiguous with Ty-Du Wood. Significant Views: From the house and gardens to the south across the park and the picturesque Cain valley. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 12-13 (ref: PGW Po42(POW)). Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, Montgomeryshire X.NW (1884) Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, Montgomeryshire X.5 (1901)  

PGW(Gd)7(CON)

Bodysgallen  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Llandudno  

279976  

379328  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced gardens; walled rose and kitchen gardens; park with woods; woodland walk and terrace walk.  

c. 1620; eighteenth century; late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  

Bodysgallen Hall occupies an elevated site with good views on the east side of the Conwy estuary, near Llandudno Junction. It is registered at grade I for its exceptional terraced and walled gardens which lie on several levels and have early origins; its long terrace walk giving superb views; its large and basically unchanged rose and kitchen gardens partly dating to the eighteenth century; and the remains of its landscape park with large areas of oak woodland. There is group value with the Grade I Listed Hall and with several Listed out buildings in addition to Listed structures related to the gardens. The estate was also mentioned by travellers of the period, notably Thomas Pennant and Richard Fenton. The park is likely to have been developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but had earlier origins. The house is surrounded on most sides by woodland established for sporting purposes. Given the close proximity of the home farm the parkland has probably always been farmland but with mature hardwood trees planted to improve the environs of the house and garden. The main areas of open parkland are to the south-east and to the north and north-west. Fields further north were probably once part of the park and they retain boundary and some 'dot' oak trees. The original drive through the farm was replaced by the present drive during the nineteenth century. It approaches from the west, off the A470 and a nearby, modern, lodge, meeting up with the original drive immediately north of the house. The lack of naturally level ground immediately near the house has strongly influenced the layout and style of the gardens. The kitchen gardens were laid out to the south-west, at the foot of the slope, and the craggy hill has been sculpted into a series of terraces. The gardens have likely origins in the early seventeenth century, contemporary with the house, and throughout the eighteenth century there are references to plantings and gardeners. There are now very few mature trees in the garden proper. The hilltop around the house forms one large terrace, now mostly lawn, running round from the south-west, where there is a natural slope away to the Spring Garden, to the north-east, where there are retaining walls. The south-west lawn is bounded by Grade II Listed walls, gate piers and railings (LB 3102). The lawn on the north, above the forecourt, is bounded by Grade II Listed terrace wall, steps and gate (LB 3338), and on its south-east side by Grade II Listed walls and gate piers. To the south-east of the house are two massive Grade II Listed walls supporting narrow terraces (LB 3343). At the foot of the lower wall is a terrace with an elaborate box parterre, walled on all sides. An additional terrace south of the house supports a modern rectangular pool, in an area once occupied by greenhouses, bounded by Grade II Listed walls, steps, terraces and gate (LB 3341). Below are the walled rose garden and the present kitchen garden, on the south-west. The walled garden was formerly the kitchen garden, a large enclosure of two acres, within Grade II Listed stone and brick walls (LB 3342). It is now laid out mainly as lawn with formal rose beds and box hedging and with perimeter and cross paths. A roughly rectangular area beyond the south-east wall of the rose garden, not part of the original layout, now consists of several discrete areas, including formal borders, an area of shrubs, and an experimental formal hedge. Outside the south corner of the rose garden is a small rockery area, planted with shrubs and herbaceous plants. It has informal steps, a seat at the top and an artificial cascade down the north-west side. The area west of the walled gardens, south-west of the house, is now known as the Spring Garden, planted extensively with bulbs. The terrace walk, one of the oldest elements of the garden, is mentioned by Pennant and Fenton. It is located to the south-west to take advantage of the view over Conwy and the river estuary though the view is now compromised by tree growth. The walk is a grass terrace over 100 m long with a rebuilt parapet about 1m high flanked by a few old trees. The kitchen garden is a south-west extension of the main walled (rose) garden. It is bounded by walls of stone 1.5m-2m high, brick on the north-east (the south-west wall of the rose garden). The interior is split into two distinct areas. The larger, north-eastern area is bounded by box-edged paths and used for growing fruit and vegetables. The south-western part, irregular in shape, slopes steeply on a rocky outcrop. It was planted originally with trees and shrubs and was always part of the pleasure garden. Most of the large trees have gone and the slope has been planted with shrubs. Some yews remain including two Irish yews guarding the entrance to a small grotto. There is a path along the top of this area and also a diagonal path rising from the south corner which meets the end of the central cross path. Setting - Bodyscallen occupies an elevated site above the east side of the Conwy valley, at the north-east edge of Llandudno Junction. The gardens provide a magnificent setting for the house. Significant views - The terrace walk was positioned to take advantage of views east over Conwy and the river estuary. Within the present kitchen garden there is a path from which an excellent view of the house and terraces is obtained. Source: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 60-4 (ref: PGW(Gd)7(CON)).  

PGW(Dy)69(PEM)

Boulston Old Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Uzmaston, Boulston and Slebech  

198010  

212487  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Walled and compartmented garden, including a long terrace  

Second half of sixteenth century  

Registered for its historic interest as the survival of a walled and compartmented garden dating to the second half of the sixteenth century and associated with the ruins of Boulston Old Hall. An interesting and unusual feature is a substantial, long, rectangular walled terrace built along the shoreline and overlooking the Western Cleddau estuary. The site has historical associations with the Wogan family, who lived at Boulston Old Hall. The former gardens lie around the ruined house (NPRN:21647;PRN:102767). They are now abandoned, ruined and overgrown but their structure and much of the walling remains. No internal layout or planting survives. The main feature is a walled terrace which lies between house and shore. It is 70m long and 8.5m wide with a rubble stone revetment wall on the seaward side, a parapet wall about 1.3m high above it rising to 3.5m on the south-east, and backed on the north by a wall about 3.5m high. Towards the west end is a wide, arched, entrance gap inserted later, a gate opposite leading to the walled area east of the house. To the west of the terrace, on the same line, is a smaller walled bay which may have been an entrance court, as a gap in the north wall at its east end lies opposite the centre of the house. To the east of the house, north of the terrace, is a third walled enclosure. Its east wall, which butts on to the north wall of the terrace, is about 3m high. To the north of the west end of the house are the remains of the fourth compartment, its residual walls on the north and east sides rising to 3.5m. Beyond the immediate vicinity of the house, ancillary features linked to it include Ash Wood, mixed woodland to the north and east; an old, stony track, flanked by low rubble stone walls, running from Boulston Farm southwards through the wood to the shore; and another, similar track running south-eastwards and then eastwards at the northern end of the wood, and crossing the stream through the wood over a small arched stone bridge. The stream flow is interrupted by two, probably ancient, ponds, the upper, smaller one is of irregular shape with an earthen dam along its south side, the larger one below it (PRN:40633). The similarity of most of the walling of the courts and terrace indicates that the whole layout is probably of one date. On stylistic grounds this is likely to be the second half of the sixteenth century. The most probable builder of the garden is Sir John Wogan, owner of Boulston from about 1541 until his death in 1601. The present-day layout of walled compartments is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1899 (revised 1888). Setting: The ruins of Boulston Old Hall are situated on a small inlet on the north shore of the Western Cleddau estuary, to the south of the hamlet of Boulston. Significant Views: The terrace overlooks the Western Cleddau estuary, the parapet wall on the estuary side is low and gives views out across the Western Cleddau landscape. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 164-7 (ref: PGW(Dy)69(PEM)). Ordnance Survey 25-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire XXVIII.13 (second edition 1907).  

PGW(Po)23(POW)

Boultibrooke  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Presteigne  

330864  

265503  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Georgian house; wooded Victorian pleasure grounds to north and east of house; walled kitchen garden set in pleasure grounds to west.  

c. 1812 on.  

Boultibrooke is located to the immediate north of Presteigne, on the English border. It is registered for the survival of its attractive early nineteenth-century wooded pleasure grounds and gardens in the picturesque Lugg valley contemporary with the additions to an older house by the famous Orientalist Sir Harford Jones Brydges (1764-1847). It is further important for group value with the Grade II Listed Boultibrooke House (LB 8927), its coach house and service range (LB 8928), and the Grade II Listed entrance lodge (LB 8926). Boultibrooke House is set on a wooded terrace which faces south overlooking fields which run down to the river Lugg. The early history of the grounds is unclear. Although land attached to the original farm was recorded in 1587, most of the gardens as they survive today appear, from the age of the ornamental plantings, to date from about the early or mid-nineteenth-century. By 1822 the grounds, divided by the road, were developed enough to attract the attention of John Claudius Loudon and, in 1842, S. Lewis described them in his topographical dictionary as 'beautifully disposed'. In 1840 the grounds merited an article in the Gardener's Magazine when they were under the care of Mr Weatherston, the head gardener. According to the article the area around the house were relatively simple; the designed woodlands and south lawn which were recorded on the 1843 tithe map. The ornamental pleasure grounds, which included pools and flower beds, lay to the west of the road to the south of the kitchen garden. The garden surrounds the house on a slope that gradually increases to the east where the ground falls quickly into a small stream valley. The grounds are entered from the west at the lodge on the B4355. The drive follows a north-east course then curves south towards the house, passing through informal woodland which extends east of the drive down a steep slope to a narrow water meadow in the stream valley below. A walk curves down the hillside to the meadow. The woodland is mixed, with some notable Victorian tree plantings, including a wellingtonia in the river valley. There are also some notable veteran beech and oak trees. The drive, just before it reaches the house, splits into two, either side of a small triangular formal garden with a central pond and fountain surrounded by lawn and shrubs. This is shown on the 6-inch and 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps (1888 & 1889) which record the layout of house, gardens, pleasure grounds, walled garden and park at this time. Along the south front of the house is a split-level grass terrace, once partly used for a tennis or croquet lawn. In the centre of this area is a more recent rectangular pool. Adjacent on the west, immediately in front of the west wing, there is a vegetable garden, in existence since c.1950. The walled kitchen garden lies to the west of Boultibrooke House on the opposite side of the B4355 set in ornamental pleasure grounds. An article in the Gardener’s Magazine from 1840 describes the kitchen garden and pleasure grounds and refers to two vineries and two hot-houses, including a peach house. The pleasure grounds, situated on the north bank of the river Lugg, contained several small streams and a pond. The layout is shown on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map (1889) and recorded on a postcard of 1904, which shows the hot-houses, lawns, ornamental planting and a single-storey, thatched garden building. The glasshouses and garden building are no longer extant. Dwellings and a fish farm have since been built within this part of the grounds. Setting – Situated a short distance to the north of Presteigne on a wooded rise in the picturesque Lugg valley. Significant Views – From the south front of the house there are views down the Lugg valley, and from the north front views across surrounding woodland and the countryside beyond. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 14-16 (ref: PGW (Po)23(POW)). Google Earth satellite imagery (accessed 17.08.2021). Ordnance Survey 25-inch map Herefordshire: V.15 (1889) and (1903)  

PGW(Po)22(POW)

Broadheath House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Presteigne  

333629  

263600  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Georgian house, partially remodelled by Clough Williams-Ellis; formal garden in a series of 'garden rooms' with pools, walks and yew hedging; shrubbery, vegetable gardens and new nuttery.  

c. 1920  

Broadheath is registered as a well-preserved and charming example of a set-piece Edwardian Italianate garden incorporating a series of ‘garden rooms’ with pools, walks and yew hedging. Broadheath has important historical associations with Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) who partially remodelled the house and designed the gardens in the 1920s. The registered garden has group value with the house and associated buildings including the carriage house, stable, former head gardener’s cottage and the barn/loggia. Broad Heath is situated to the east of Presteigne, set back to the south of the B4362, partly hidden behind a high yew hedge. It lies on flat land, on the flood plain of the River Lugg. Broadheath is a small Georgian manor house (LB: 8930) of about 1750, a remodelling of an earlier house. In about 1925 Clough Williams-Ellis was commissioned to further remodel the house and design the garden. The gardens lie to the north, east and south of the house. The south front of the house opens out on to a broad, crazy-paved, stone terrace, which runs along the length of the house and on to an area of lawn beyond. This area is enclosed on the south-west by the carriage house. The barn/loggia is the focus of the garden. As part of his design for the garden, Williams-Ellis altered a timber framed barn to link the house to the existing barns, which enclose the garden on the east. The south wall of the barn was removed, the interior plastered and the floor paved with stone random paving, creating a garden room, or loggia. The loggia overlooks a sophisticated formal Arts and Crafts stone-paved, rectangular sunken garden. The garden is arranged into six symmetrical beds, two square and four rectangular, with those closest to the loggia, the square beds, having since been converted to pools. A sundial stands in the centre of the rectangular beds and a pair of narrow borders run along the west and east sides of the sunken garden. The barn encloses the sunken garden on the east and a stone wall, supported by stone buttresses, continues along the remaining length of the garden. This connects to the south cross wall, which forms the southern boundary of the sunken garden. An arch supporting an ornamental iron gate is located in the centre of the cross wall, aligned with the sundial and creating an axis through the gardens. The gateway leads into a second formal garden enclosure known as the ‘Well Garden’. A broad grass path leads to a paved circle surrounding an antique well-head. Two small paved paths run east and west off the paved circle with a pair of wide herbaceous borders backed by mature yew hedges either side of the paths. A doorway though the east barn connects the sunken garden with an informal kitchen garden; a rectangular enclosure running parallel to the sunken garden. The early Ordnance Survey maps show it in use as an orchard. The garden to the north, between the house and the road, is about 1 acre (0.4ha.) in extent, bounded by a wall on the east and south, yew hedges and shrubbery on the north and west. To the north of a gravelled walk alongside the house is a wide, slightly sunken expanse of rough grass, the site of a croquet lawn. The 25-inch Ordnance Survey (1903) shows a sundial in the north garden, which was possibly moved to form part of the layout of the sunken garden (Ordnance Survey 1928). Significant View: From the house terrace and loggia across the gardens and towards the Hindwell Brook and backdrop of wooded hills. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 10-13 (ref: PGW (Po)22(POW)). Ordnance Survey 25-inch map: sheet Herefordshire X4 (1903) Ordnance Survey 25-inch map: sheet Herefordshire X4 (1928)  

PGW(Po)9(POW)

Bronllys Hospital  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Bronllys  

313486  

235036  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Early twentieth-century hospital set in eighteenth-/nineteenth-century grounds.  

Park and mansion from at least late nineteenth century. Hospital 1913-20  

Registered for its historic interest as a purpose-built tuberculosis hospital, with associated landscaping, set within earlier eighteenth and nineteenth century parkland. The original house at Bronllys Hospital, Pont-y-Wal, is a three gabled, two-storeyed late nineteenth-century house, built of local stone. The house is situated on the brow of a gentle hill and faces south, looking over sloping parkland with extensive views of the Brecon Beacons. The park is depicted on early Ordnance Survey mapping (1888 -1904). The pleasure grounds and gardens at Bronllys are composed of a series of historic overlays. The first recorded house on the site was in 1759 but no obvious evidence remains of any eighteenth-century pleasure grounds unless the woodlands immediately to the west and east of the house are included. Originally ‘Pontywal’, the site had a kitchen garden, pond, aviary, and was fronted by earthwork terracing. There was a farmyard with adjacent feeder pond, the whole set in agricultural land with woodland and rides to the N, picturesque paths and shrubberies and trees around the residential areas. This had not changed significantly by 1904, though the east pond had silted up and glasshouses had been added to the north wall of the kitchen garden. The house was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century and this seems to have had more of an influence on the gardens than the parkland. By 1910 the estate was owned by the Powell family and it is believed that they sold the estate in 1913 when it was bought by the Crown Estates as a hospital site. The centre parkland was lost to development, the lake filled in and the new east drive established, changing the orientation of the estate. Small orchard areas were established to the north of the hospital and east of the new Estate Office. Before 1913 a cricket pitch had already been established in the western area of the park, to the west of the drive. The hospital is arranged on a widely spaced pavilion-system plan. It was built by Edwin T. Hall and Stanley Hall in c. 1913-20, on open land descending to the south. Built as a TB sanatorium, many of the south-facing sides of the wards open on to verandahs. A central corridor, running north-south, links the wards. The central western pavilion is notable in being built on a butterfly plan. A sophisticated Arts and Crafts chapel with modernist influences lies in its own grounds some 50m south-west of the main hospital. It was built in c. 1920, following a £5000 gift from Sir David R. Llewellyn and H. Seymour Berry (Lord Buckland of Bwlch) and was dedicated in July 1920. The Basil Webb Hall was a recreation hall, a memorial to Tom Henry Basil Webb, funded by Lieut. Col Sir Henry Webb at a cost of £5,000. It was opened by King George V and Queen Mary on 17th July 1920. A similarly styled building to the chapel, with a slate hung gable, it lies 50m to the east of the main hospital. A croquet/bowls lawn lies immediately adjacent to and above it on the east. Setting - situated in a rural setting with extensive views of the Brecon Beacons. Sources Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys (ref: PGW(Po)xx). Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, sheet: Brecknock XXII.12 (editions of 1888 and 1904).  

PGW(Po)37(POW)

Brookland Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Guilsfield  

321405  

309968  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Modest gentry house with relict formal and walled kitchen gardens. Mature compact parkland.  

c. 1860 on  

Registered as a good example of a small Victorian park with a very fine approach to the house and with relict formal and walled kitchen gardens of contemporary date. The registered area has group value with the grade II listed house and contemporary estate outbuildings, entrance gate piers and walls. Brookland Hall (LB: 15800) to the south-west of Guilsfield, was built on a green field site on land in the ownership of the Curling family of Maesmawr Hall (LB: 15810). The house is located on the north-west edge of a small Victorian park, which covers about 40 acres (16.2ha). It runs south-east downhill from the house and garden, and from a high bank above Shade Oak in a gentle undulating valley. It is understood that no major earth-moving was necessary as the natural contours of the land, which are characteristic of the surrounding area, created an elegant and picturesque setting for the park. The peaks and troughs of the natural landform were highlighted through astute tree planting, with groups of lime, oak and beech. The house is approached from an entrance in its south-east corner. A pair of ornamental stone gates (LB: 15799) leads off the road on to the drive which curves up and around the southern end of the park towards the house. Mature trees, including Scots pine, cedar, oak and beech, grow near the drive. Set below it, in the gently sloping valley, there is a cricket pitch at the west end of which is a group of mature lime trees. To the north, at the top of the high bank above Shade Oak on a rise about midway along the eastern park boundary, there are two mature plantings of beech and oak. A service drive approaches the house from the north. As the main drive approaches the garden it passes through an iron gate connected to nineteenth-century iron fencing which separates the garden from the park. The formal gardens at Brookland Hall lie to the south and south-east of the house. They are contemporary with the house, dating from about 1860. It appears that they were designed as a group of terraces around the walled kitchen garden and ornamented in a High Victorian manner, though changes occurred during the twentieth century. A wide tarmacked walk runs along the south side of the house above a rectangular terrace lawn, enclosed on the south by a line of trees. The walk runs around the east front of the house, to an area that was once a formal parterre containing small geometric beds of low bedding plants. Below is a hard tennis court which appears to have been built on the site of a former lawn ornamented by a sand or gravel path within immature shrubbery; low, formal flower beds were incorporated into this lawn. The lawn on the south of the house (formerly a croquet lawn) also connects to this feature by way of a third, uneven grass level. On the east side of the tennis court, higher up, is a roughly level tree-planted lawn. This lawn is bordered to the east by a mature shrubbery. The land to the south-east rises to the historic park boundary which is defined by a group of Scots pine. Beyond the shrubbery is an area of rough grass which may once have been a continuation of the garden. A simple farm gate connects this area to a triangular lawn, with relics of earlier flower beds, and which falls away to the east, to the north of the tree planted lawn. The walled kitchen garden is believed to be contemporary with the house (c.1860) and is sited near to it for convenience, lying immediately to its north-east and connected to it by the service wing. The garden covers about one acre and is on two levels, the ground rising by about 1m in the centre on a north-west/south-east line. Walling survives on the north-east and south-east sides. Both rise to about 2m, are capped, and are built of stone rubble with an interior brick skin. The north-west side of the garden is now defined by a building along its entire length. In 1931 the garden still contained a peach house and a vinery but it is unclear if one of the walls was heated (no evidence of a heated wall survives). Significant View: Views southeast across the park from the house and terraces. Views across the park from the approach drive. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 26-8 (ref: PGW (Po)37(POW)). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Montgomeryshire XXIII NE (1884). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton  

PGW(Gd)22(GWY)

Broom Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Llanystumdwy  

241241  

336983  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Park with woodland and double drive, terraced gardens, shrubbery's, kitchen garden.  

Late eighteenth/early nineteenth century; early twentieth century.  

Registered as a park and garden contemporary with the 1790s house. The park was later enlarged and terracing was added in the garden. There are some excellent trees and other plantings in the grounds which also incorporates an unusual double drive. The registered park and garden has important group value with the grade II* listed late eighteenth century gentry house, the grade II listed Tower gatehouse and the grade II listed kitchen garden walls and associated structures. Broom Hall, built in the period 1779-82 (LB: 21586; NPRN 26087) is situated very close to the south coast of the Lleyn Peninsula, between Pwllheli and Criccieth. It is built on a slight rise, facing south-east. Although close to the sea there is no view of it as the site is not sufficiently elevated and the location is not an exposed one. The park, of about 30 acres, lies to the south and south-west of the house and was laid out when the house was built. It consists of a larger (northern) and a smaller (southern) enclosure, sloping gently to the south and north respectively; there is a low-lying, damp area between them, through which runs a small stream. There is an extensive belt of mixed, mainly deciduous, trees along the south-west boundary, and another belt of trees flanking the drive on the north-east; the latter contains a wide variety of trees and varied under-plantings, especially of rhododendrons. The north-western and south-eastern boundaries are also mostly screened by trees, and further mature trees, including some conifers, dot the parkland. Both areas are maintained by light grazing. The park is separated from the garden by a ha-ha. A line of irregularly-placed large natural boulders, with some trees, crosses the park and marks the parish boundary between Llanystumdwy and Llannor. The drive is unusual in that it approaches from the south in two parallel lanes. The drive to the house approaches from West Lodge and that to the farm from East Lodge. They are separated by walls and a belt of trees and shrubs. The main drive originally approached the house through the gatehouse arch but has since been re-routed to pass to the west of this. The earlier layout is shown on the tithe, with the lodges and second drive being added by 1888 (first edition Ordnance Survey). The main feature of the garden is the shallow terraces on three levels south-east of the house. These are lawned with plantings only down the sides and under the retaining walls. A ha-ha runs along the south-west side of the gardens separating the gardens from the park. However, the view across the terraces into the park is now obscured by the growth of trees and shrubs planted along the ha-ha at the far edge of the bottom terrace. The areas to the south-west and north-east of the house, now more or less wooded, probably started out as shrubberies with walks through them which have in many cases survived. The terraced area seems previously to have had a similar layout, with shrubs and curving paths, though it was probably more open - a sloping lawn with groups of shrubs as shown on historic Ordnance Survey maps. To the south-west, between house and woodland, are some smaller enclosures. One, adjacent to the walled garden, was planted, with roses especially, as a ‘garden of remembrance’ to a previous owner who died in a flying accident. Gardens were laid out when the house was built (1779-82) but these were modified after 1840 and the present lay-out established in the twentieth century. Many of the trees are probably original plantings made at the time of the first change of design. They include beeches and two enormous conifers near the stable-yard. Other varieties include oak, various pines and firs and exotic conifers. There are smaller ornamental trees such as magnolia, maple and bay. On the low grassy terrace next to the paved courtyard is a large, mature cork oak. At the far end of the lowest terrace, near the ha-ha, is a monkey-puzzle. The kitchen garden (LB: 21587) lies at the rear, north-west side, of the house. It is rectangular, built of rubble stone on three sides, around 2.5m high; the north-west side is lined with hand-made brick; the north-east wall is brick throughout. The path layout is shown on the 25-inch OS (1889) and is still visible beneath the turf on aerial photographs. There are three derelict glasshouses on the north wall. On the outside of the wall is a brick-built boiler-house and another small lean-to building, both derelict. Against the outside of the north-east garden wall are two other small buildings one of which is brick-built and accessible only through a door from the garden. On the south-eastern edge of the garden are several more buildings, with some small enclosures outside the garden wall. Setting: Broom Hall is situated very close to the south coast of the Lleyn Peninsula, between Pwllheli and Criccieth, and is built on a slight rise, facing south-east. The coast is only just over a kilometre away but there is no view of the sea, as the site is not sufficiently elevated. A small rocky ridge between the park and the sea evidently provides some shelter, and the position is not an exposed one, as can be clearly seen by the size and quality of the trees. Source: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 156-9 (ref: PGW(Gd)22(GWY).  

PGW(Gd)41(GWY)

Bryn Bras Castle  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Llanrug  

254518  

362465  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Woodland garden with ponds and stream, former kitchen garden converted to knot garden, lawns with statuary near house, rockery and 'Mountain Walk'.  

1829-35, 1830s-40s; 1920s; 1965 onwards.  

Bryn Bras is located to the south-east of Llanrug, near Caernarfon. It is registered for its varied garden design largely unchanged since it was originally laid out in 1830s-40s. Its woodland, water garden, lawn and formal areas all blend into each other. Additionally, there are two 1920s garden buildings and a well-preserved system of paths. There is important group value with Grade II* Listed Bryn Bras Castle (LB 3804), Grade II Listed boundary walls and embellishments (LBs 22261-2) and a number of Listed features associated with the gardens. The present house was built between 1830 and 1835 during which time the gardens were likely laid out. It is uncertain to what extent the areas outside the garden were ever parkland, but two small areas beyond the garden boundary, which must once have formed part of the park, remain. To the north-west is a small triangular paddock, now mown, and to the far south-east a rocky knoll which includes the Mountain Walk in light woodland. The gardens lie to the east and south-east of the house and consist of three main areas, all enclosed within a wall, partly dry-stone and partly mortared. The largest, to the north and east, is woodland, containing a Grade II Listed brick look-out tower (LB 22256, replacing an earlier summer house), and a complex of informal paths, the layout only slightly changed. Most of the trees were replanted after felling in 1919. The second largest area is the water garden, between wood and house, with the stream flowing from south-east to north-west through a series of four ponds. The uppermost is the largest, with an island, and partly used for swimming. The others are much smaller and entirely ornamental. All are planted round with shrubs and damp-loving plants. There are bridges, dams, a derelict fountain in the upper pool, and a castellated tower, with a run of several small decorative waterfalls crossing the lawn just in front of the house. Its original character may have been more formal than now appears, before the plantings grew to give the present luxuriant setting; the path layout was never symmetrical. The pond on the north, overlooked from the house, is canal-like. Nearby are a pair of Grade II Listed statues (LBs 22259-60). The third area, immediately east of the house, consists of semi-formal lawns (including a former croquet lawn) and borders, with gravel walks and many short flights of steps, and extends south-eastwards, with a rockery and more lawn and beds on the site of a former rosary. On the north boundary, close to the present kitchen garden, is a Grade II Listed summer house (LB 22257). The former kitchen garden fits into the north-east corner of this area, its arched walls acting as a backdrop. The original kitchen garden was located to the south-west, on the far side of the approach lane, and was probably moved to its present site around the middle of the nineteenth century. Then it was larger, rectangular with long axis north-east by south-west, but the south end was reduced to accommodate a tennis court, the north end retained but converted to mainly ornamental function as a ‘knot’ garden in the 1920s, now Grade II Listed (LB 22255). Its arched stone walls are about 3.5m high, battlemented above, and swathed in climbing plants. There are three entrances: the main iron-gated entrance in the south wall; one in the north-west corner into a potting shed and boiler house area; and another in the north-east corner. The interior is laid out as a box parterre with gravel paths and a Grade II Listed pool with statue of Pan (LB 22258), formerly central to the original garden extent. By 1900 there was a continuous range of glass along the north wall, still intact but derelict, and one glasshouse against the west wall. A former vinery is restored, its ventilation system, vine rods and underfloor heating structure remain. There was also a peach house. The gardens formerly extended to the south-west, on the far side of the road, on a site now occupied largely by a caravan park. On the south side of the road are two intact lodges and a belt of woodland behind the former Upper Lodge. Setting - Bryn Bras Castle is located on the west side of the Rhyddallt valley, gardens and woodland providing the setting for the house. Significant views - From the lookout tower/observatory on high ground east of the house there are spectacular views to the north, east and west. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 160-4 (ref: PGW(Gd)41(GWY)). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map: sheet Caernarfonshire XVI.3 (1899)  

PGW(Gd)8(CON)

Bryn Eisteddfod  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Llansantffraid  

280688  

376874  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal garden, kitchen garden, woodland walk.  

1760-76; 1830-41  

Well-preserved eighteenth-century formal garden and nineteenth-century walled kitchen garden with woodland and incorporating a long carriage drive between two early nineteenth-century lodges. The situation affords outstanding views. The registered area shares group value with the house at Bryn Eisteddfod and the estate buildings and structures of contemporary date. Bryn Eisteddfod occupies an elevated site on the east side of the Conwy valley, overlooking the Conwy estuary and the town and castle of Conwy. The name, adopted in the eighteenth-century, arises from the supposed druidic connections of the site. The garden and grounds lie on sloping ground with exceptional views to south and west across the Conwy Valley and the mountains beyond. The principal features are the well-preserved eighteenth-century formal garden and nineteenth-century walled kitchen garden, its woodland and outstanding views, and the long carriage drive between two lodges. The drives (replacing an earlier one, before 1833), each with a Tudor style lodge (LB: 17039; 17040 – built 1830s) approach from the north-east and from the south-west, meeting and entering the grounds just to the north-west of the house. From the house (LB: 17030) the kitchen and formal gardens are situated behind, and the lawn and woodlands stretch away to the south-west, into the view, which has long been a guiding principle in the laying out of the grounds. An estate plan of 1776 shows the main elements of the garden much as they are today: a large area to the south-west of the house partly planted with trees but partly open to the view, a walled garden east of the house, and woodland (less extensive than today) south and west of this; the kitchen garden and drives are not shown on this plan. The main lawn, to the south-west of the house, terminates in a ha-ha, possibly an early feature original to the eighteenth-century garden. The lawn includes the croquet lawn, formerly a bowling green. A former tennis court at the south-west corner, has been levelled, creating low grass terraces. The views to the south-west are drawn into the garden by the framework of plantations to right and left. Both these areas were planted by 1776, but have been added to, thinned and altered since. More or less due south of the house, part of the eastern plantation has been cleared and is now maintained as a wild flower meadow. A group of oaks by the eastern plantation are probably original plantings. In the 1920s the northern part of this area was developed as an arboretum of exotic conifers, most of the existing hardwoods removed, aside from a large horse chestnut and a sycamore, the latter now being one of the largest of this species in Britain. A small enclosure to the south-west is used as a nursery. The formal garden lies to the immediate north-east of the house on ground sloping up towards the south-east. It is square, rubble stone-walled on all sides (LB: 17032) and has gravelled perimeter and cross paths dividing it into quarters, with borders round the outside. There are entrances in the south corner, through the north-east wall and near the middle of the north-west wall, all with doors. The south quadrant contains a well which was once the sole source of water for house and garden. The present layout, with box parterres and hedges, differs from that of the 1890s when the path layout was different, and probably dates from early in the twentieth-century. But it is likely that the garden walls date from the eighteenth-century (if not earlier), from at least the 1760s when the house was built. The kitchen garden (LB: 17037) dating from 1841, lies to the immediate north of the house, beyond the rear courtyard, and was probably built to replace an earlier one to the south which became an ornamental garden. The site itself was previously occupied by small enclosures. The garden is roughly trapezoidal in shape defined by walls of brick and stone: stone on the south-east and south-west (up to 3m high); brick on the north-east (4m high), and brick-lined on the north-west. There are doors in the north-west and south-east walls. The latter, which has a central doorway, may date from the eighteenth century as it runs alongside the old entrance drive; walling near the north corner was partly built out of stone from the demolished former lodge. Glasshouses and sheds in the northern corner are shown on the 1890 OS map and are in varying states of repair. These include a boiler house, a small melon house, a vine house with slate water tank, and potting sheds. A peach house was added after 1890. In the southern part of the garden is a derelict former generator house. Significant Views: The garden occupies a sloping site on the east side of the Conwy valley, with extensive views to south and west. The house is situated at the north-east end of the site, with the lawn and woodlands stretching away to the south-west, into the view and this has been a guiding principle in the laying out of the grounds. The view across the croquet lawn and ha-ha of the Conway valley and the mountains beyond is exceptional, and is drawn into the garden by the framework of plantations to right and left. The house was oriented to make the most of the view and has a large bay at the western end to enable this to be appreciated. In the 1830s it was doubled in size by the addition of a new wing at right angles to the original house. This faces the view down the Conwy valley, thus bringing both of the main views from the site into the house. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 66-9 (ref: PGW(Gd)8(CON)). Ordnance Survey second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Caernarvonshire V.13 (c.1890)  

PGW(Gt)20(NPT)

Bryn Glas  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Newport  

Shaftesbury  

331133  

190219  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Late nineteenth-century formal and informal garden, 'pleasure grounds' and remains of walled kitchen.  

Late nineteenth century (pre-1885).  

The grounds at Bryn Glas, Newport are registered for their historic interest as the survival, in an urban area, of a late nineteenth century garden and the remains of a walled kitchen garden, associated with Bryn Glas House (LB:3003; NPRN:403521). The gardens have group value with the listed house and gardener’s cottage. Bryn Glas gardens and pleasure grounds lie to the south and east of Bryn Glas house. Originally set in open countryside they are now surrounded by housing. Covering an area of 8.4 hectares (21 acres) the estate includes both formal and informal gardens, `pleasure grounds' and the remains of a walled kitchen garden. It preserves remarkable exotic shrubs and trees. The front of the house is flanked on the east by a broad terrace, a lawn below it on gently sloping ground, and below this the ‘wilderness’. This is an area of unmanaged deciduous woodland with a canopy of mature oaks and some underplanting of rhododendrons and laurels, originally criss-crossed with paths, but now partly destroyed in its lower reaches through road development. Some fine mature coniferous and deciduous trees of the original planting survive in the gardens. On the edge of the lawn east of the house are a wellingtonia, a coast redwood, an evergreen oak and a cut-leaf beech. The lawn to the north is flanked on its west side by a row of six wellingtonias and a Japanese red cedar. The walled kitchen garden lies immediately to the north of the house, on gentle east-facing ground. Formerly divided by gravel paths, this layout has now gone along with glasshouses, sheds and a gardener’s house (now a private dwelling). The former gardener's house is listed as a cottage ornee (LB:3002). Sale particulars of 1890 describe the pleasure grounds as ‘…beautifully laid out with great taste.’ ‘Beautiful clumps of rhododendrons’ and other shrubs are mentioned, as is the wilderness which was 'laid out in numberless zig-zag walks’. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent (ref: PGW(Gt)20 Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Monmouthshire, XXVIII.12 (1901)  

PGW(Gd)20(GWY)

Bryn Gwynant  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Beddgelert  

264121  

351312  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Steeply sloping park and woodlands; long drive with good plantings; small ornamental garden with interesting features; kitchen garden; orchard; terrace with views.  

Mid nineteenth century.  

Bryn Gwynant is situated about 7km north-east of Beddgelert on the south side of the Nant Gwynant valley overlooking Llyn Gwynant. It is registered for the good survival of an interesting range of trees, its extensive planted woodlands, the remains of a Japanese garden, and superb views. The parkland lies on a steeply-sloping, north-west-facing hillside, with the house near the bottom and large areas of woodland behind, bounded on the north by a wall. It was once more extensive, and included the lake, but is now about 40 acres. The park was probably laid out in the 1830s when the house was built. The woodland was formerly managed commercially, the rest of the park is rough grazing. The house is approached by two drives, from east and west. The main entrance is off the A498 road, at the east end of the site, with a lodge and disused entrance gates. The drives meet in front of the house and were the focus for most of the ornamental plantings, especially exotic conifers. Between the drives and the road a further small area of parkland also planted with specimen trees including a huge giant sequoia. The higher park area is south-west of the house, steeper and rougher with occasional rocky outcrops. It is an open area dotted with parkland trees, including specimens. At the top there is a cottage, still occupied, called Pen-y-bryn, the original name of the farm that became the Bryn Gwynant estate, protected from nearby planting to preserve the views. The woods to the west, south and east of the house are planted over the steep and rocky hillside and contain an extensive system of walks, including some original ones. The garden was probably laid out in the 1830s. It now consists of a lawned terrace around the house, without plantings, and a Japanese garden and two rockeries. The house is surrounded on three sides by a sloping grass terrace, retained by a stone wall, which once supported statues, with a short flight of steps at the western end. A small stream is culverted under the lawn near the western end of the terrace. Below the terrace wall, between it and the drive, a grass slope is planted with conifers and shrubs. The small Japanese garden is to the east of the house, beyond the orchard, and is reached up a steep rocky slope, via a zig-zag path created by the addition of rocks to an already rocky surface. Shrubs and small trees have been planted in keeping with the Japanese theme. At the top of the rockery, is the pool, and beyond it a hexagonal gazebo, or summer-house, designed to appear oriental. The overflow from the pool has been trained into miniature waterfalls. Although overgrown the garden retains a tranquil atmosphere. The other rockery is on the far side of the setting-down area west of the house, and decorates the approach to the (disused) tennis court which lies above. Larger than that near the Japanese garden, it still covers only a small area, and all the planting has been shaded out by large trees above. It has a picturesque walk along the top. The enclosed orchard, which may once have been the kitchen garden, is sited on the steep slope behind the house. It is sub-rectangular, long axis north-west by south-east, with a rounded top, and surrounded on all but the north-west with a wall up to 2m high. The orchard is reached by a steep flight of steps up to the north corner. Accessed by three entrances, the one towards the south-east top giving on to the Japanese garden. Inside there are four levels of sloping terraces retained by dry-stone walls with steps up at either end. Traces of some paths remain. The kitchen garden lies immediately to the west of the stables/coach house and is now used as a car park with a mostly gravelled surface. The garden is enclosed in a stone wall 1.5m-2.5m high, and is an irregular, elongated shape to fit the only fairly level space available on an irregular site. There is a western extension, similarly walled, smaller than the main garden and built later. No buildings survive within the garden though both parts once had glasshouses, lean-to on the north wall of the main garden, and a building in the south-east corner of the extension. Externally, boiler houses for each lean-to survive outside the north wall, and another building lies externally at the far western end. Nothing is known of the planting or layout. Setting - Bryn Gwynant is located in the mountain landscape of Snowdonia, overlooking Llyn Gwynant. Significant views - Bryn Gwynant, with its park and gardens, is a site chosen for its spectacular views, in a valley famous for its beauty. The best views of Llyn Gwynant, Nant Gwynant and the Snowdon range are obtained from the open parkland south-west of the house. Above it is a cottage, Pen-y-bryn, from where the view over the lake and towards Snowdon is spectacular. It has clearly been protected when planting as there are no large parkland trees in the way. Source: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 166-9 (ref: PGW(Gd)20(GWY)).  

PGW(C)6(FLT)

Bryn Iorcyn  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Flintshire  

Llanfynydd  

330040  

356802  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Walled gardens, incorporating a dovecote  

Seventeenth century  

Registered as a well-preserved example of utilitarian walled gardens and for group value with the seventeenth-century manor house, dove house, privy and corresponding farm buildings, together with associated woodlands with old coppice. Bryn Iorcyn is situated on the east-facing side of Hope Mountain. A straight drive runs from the Bryn Yorkyn Lane on the east to Bryn Iorcyn Manor (Cadw LB: 6). Seventeenth-century gate piers (Cadw ref: LB 14339) are situated at the head of the drive. The gardens consist of a series of walled enclosures, shown as orchards on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map (1870s). There were two to the north of the house, but the dividing wall is no longer extant. Where the dividing wall joined the outer wall there is now a recess backed by large slabs of slate. This area has been further modified with the conversion of an old building in the south-east corner into a double garage and the addition of a car sweep made up with reconstituted stone paviors and brick. A small circular hole in the east wall gives a view out of the garden to Caergwrle Castle (Cadw LB: 28; scheduled monument FL020). To the east of the house and south of the above is another walled enclosure with gravel drive, lawn and informal flower and shrub borders around the perimeter. The drive enters the enclosure from the south, through dressed stone gate piers topped by ball finials (Cadw LB: 19383; NPRN 35711). Incorporated into the walls are a large dovecote and smaller outhouse both contemporary with the house. The square dovecote is built of stone with a hipped slate roof and arched doorways on the east and west sides (Cadw LB: 35; NPRN: 37313). To the south of the house, and west of the above, is a walled garden with narrow borders around the edges and central concrete path leading to the front door. At the entrance are dressed stone gate piers with ball finials. A door in the wall leads to the garden to the east. Another small walled enclosure leads off to the west linking the previous enclosure with the pigsties (Cadw LB: 19384). This was put up more recently (1995). Between the house and pigpen are small narrow stone edged beds and a cobbled path. A large field lies to the east and north of the house, with a few trees around the edges. There is mixed woodland to the north, east and west with some old coppicing and pollarded trees, mostly beech, with some oak and sycamore. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 26-8 (ref: PGW(C)6). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: Flintshire, sheet XVII.10 (1870).  

PGW(C)23(DEN)

Brynbella  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Tremeirchion  

307804  

372326  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; informal garden.  

Late eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century.  

Registered for its historic interest as a small late eighteenth-century park and informal garden with later overlays, which provides the setting to Brynbella Hall and its associated estate buildings. Also important for its close historical association with Hester Lynch Piozzi. Brynbella Hall (Cadw LB: 1373; NPRN 35700) was built for Mr and Mrs Piozzi in 1792-5 and was designed by Clement Mead (1798-1839). Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741-1821) was born Hester Lynch Salusbury the heiress to the Bachygraig estate. Her first husband was the brewer and MP Henry Thrale (1724-1781) who she supported in political campaigning and managing their large brewery business, which she sold after his death. She was a famous author, a member of the Blue Stocking society for female intellectuals, and a close friend of Samuel Johnson about whom she wrote a best-selling biography. Her other publications included poetry, travel writing, history, linguistics and politics. She travelled widely in Europe following her second marriage to the Italian singer Gabriele Piozzi in 1784, before returning to Wales to live at Brynbella, named to reflect her love of Wales and Italy. The gardens around the house are located at the east end of the park. The two are separated by a ha-ha. The house is approached via two drives through woodland, one from the north and one from the south, each with an entrance lodge (Cadw LB: 1413 and 26453) the drives meeting at a sweep on the east side of the house. Around the house are areas of woodland providing buffers between the gardens and its boundary tracks and the B5429 road. Much of the garden landscaping is of twentieth-century date. The west front of the house is planted with a shrub border. A paved terrace leads down to a croquet lawn with shrub borders and a path to the rest of the garden. The main part of the garden lies to the north of the house and includes a walled kitchen garden around which are herbaceous borders, shrubberies, woodland and a small enclosed area of yew hedging behind which a yew walk with herbaceous border leads back to the house via the stable yard. The west side of the walled garden overlooks a lawn area with ornamental pond. The nineteenth-century kitchen garden at the north end of the garden is bounded by brick walls standing to their full height of about 5m. The garden is currently (2020) divided into quadrants: those on the east side are maintained for vegetables and fruit, that on the south-west is a tennis court while the north-west quadrant is a garden with formal, geometric layout. The area to the west of the house is not so much parkland, being small, but rather the adaption of fields to provide an improved setting for the house. It incorporates some old hedgerow trees and a dried-up stream bed. The park is separated from the garden by a ha-ha running the length of the west side of the garden. Mixed deciduous trees are scattered throughout the area, with a few specimen oaks in the eastern part. On either side of the view from the garden front of the house are clumps of mixed deciduous trees, and in the western end of the area is a similar clump around a dew pond. The distribution of trees is much the same now as it was in the later nineteenth century. Significant view and setting: the setting of Brynbella and the views from the house and gardens across the park and Vale of Clwyd make this an exceptionally attractive site. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 22-4 (ref: PGW(C)23). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map Flintshire VIII (first edition 1871). Additional notes: D.K. Leighton  

PGW(Gt)12(MON)

Brynderwen  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llanarth  

335504  

206952  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Nineteenth-century landscape park; Edwardian garden; walled kitchen garden.  

Nineteenth/early twentieth century.  

Brynderwen lies to the south-east of Abergavenny on the east bank of the River Usk. It is registered for its historic interest as a small, well-preserved, landscape park with an Edwardian pleasure garden and a walled kitchen garden. The park was laid out at the same time as the main house was built in 1820. Its linear layout extends from the River Usk on the west to the Usk-Clytha road on the east where the entrance with lodge opens onto a drive which winds through the park to the house on the west. The landscape is rolling, with a steep drop to the west of the garden to the river flood plain. The park is now farmed as pasture but there are a good number of isolated mature oaks and limes and four large mature wellingtonias, and a large clump of mixed trees south of the drive. The remains of an ancient oak once famed for its enormous girth (and which gave its name to the park), lies at the west end of the drive. The garden area lies around the house but mostly to its south, on level ground slightly lower than the house. It is divided into several compartments: a wide terrace around the south-west and north-west sides of the house with steps down on both sides; to the south-west a large expanse of lawn bounded on its south-west side by a yew hedge, beyond which is a further grassed garden (formerly the rose garden) with a path through it bounded by herbaceous borders backed by espalier apples. To its south are tennis courts and a small tennis pavilion (1920s), on the site of the orchard. East of the large lawn is an area of ornamental woodland planted mainly with specimen conifers. To the north of the house is an area of mainly deciduous woodland. The kitchen garden is a large, roughly square walled garden about 200m south of the house. It is a replacement for a predecessor, on the same site. An inscription over the south door reads '1895. Erected by James Crispin FRHS and Sons, Horticultural engineers, Bristol'. The walls stand to their full height of 2m and are of stone lined internally with brick. There are several entrances. The interior was laid out with a perimeter gravel path and box-edged cross paths dividing the garden into four quarters. These have now gone and remodelling of the interior saw the installation of a circular lily pond and bog garden. Against the outside of the south wall are two lean-to vineries and other utilitarian brick buildings; there was once extensive glass on either side of this wall. Setting - Brynderwen is located in the Usk valley, in a rural area surrounded by farmland. Significant views - its fine position on the east bank of the River Usk, above the river floodplain, affords views extending out over the surrounding scenery. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 20-1 (ref: PGW (Gt)12(MON)). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map: sheets Monmouthshire XIX.2 & XIII.14 (1899). Google satellite imagery.  

PGW(Gm)5(BRI)

Bryngarw  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Bridgend  

Ynysawdre  

290475  

185501  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden; informal woodland and water garden with Japanese overtones.  

1910-18  

Bryngarw is registered for its extensive informal Edwardian woodland and water gardens, which include some oriental features and planting. Planting features some fine specimen trees and shrubs, including Japanese maples, magnolias and rhododendrons. Bryngarw is important for its historical associations with the landscape design partnership of Alfred Parsons, Captain Walter Partridge and Charles Tudway who were involved in the design and planting. The gardens at Bryngarw are located in the Garw valley, on slopes immediately west of the river, laid out around the Tudorbethan-style Bryngarw house (NPRN 409938). The house lies towards the centre of its grounds with the gardens situated mainly to the south, east, and north-east of the house. The site has a history of occupation likely dating from at least the fifteenth century. The Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map portrayal (1899) includes a walled garden, terrace walls, carriage drive, lodge, conservatory, isolated geometric copses, glasshouses, orchard, possible flower beds, and woodland with vista paths and ponds. The grounds in their present form were created by Captain Onslow Powell Traherne between 1910 and 1918, aided in the design and planting by the landscape design partnership of Alfred Parsons, Captain Walter Partridge and Charles Tudway. Aside from the terraced lawn to the south of the house the gardens are informal. There are areas of woodland, including semi-natural woodland, ponds, pools and water gardens. Ornamental trees and shrubs are planted in a woodland setting with some oriental features and fine specimen trees and shrubs. Chinese and Japanese plantings included maples, magnolias and rhododendrons. Bamboos, pines and other conifers were also planted. Water gardens lie in the Afon Garw valley below the house to the east. The kitchen garden, now a carpark, is located to the south of the house. The entrance to the grounds lies to the south just north of the village of Brynmenyn, the house approached by a drive. Square stone piers and walls flank iron gates, all modern. Other built structures include a lodge, kennels (now a dwelling), Japanese-style wooden bridge (replacing the original), and a small wooden pavilion with open verandah replacing the original pagoda. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)5(BRI). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, XXXIV,7 (1899).  

PGW(Po)41(POW)

Bryngwyn  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Meifod  

317825  

318009  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

House with small formal garden set in park with lake and intact shelter belts.  

c. 1770, with additions or alterations c.1800 (following fire damage), c. 1813, c. 1914, c. 1989  

Registered for its well-preserved late eighteenth to early nineteenth-century landscape park and garden in a scenic situation and associated with the house of the same date. The park is enclosed by intact shelter belts and the grounds incorporate a lake dating to at least the nineteenth-century. Bryngwyn has important historical associations with the architect Robert Mylne (1733-1811) who designed the house for William Mostyn. The registered area has group value with the house (built 1773-4) and the stables and coach-house (c.1813). Bryngwyn Hall (LB: 8710) is situated on the summit of a small hill to the north-east of the village of Bwlch-y-cibau. The park surrounds the house. It is roughly circular in shape and covers about 60 acres, rising to the summit on which the house was built. The park lies in the natural, glaciated landscape associated with this part of Montgomeryshire, creating gentle undulating ground which was highlighted by carefully considered tree planting. No earth-moving is thought to have taken place and no known landscape designer to have been employed. The early history of the park is unclear but it appears that there has been some sort of park in existence since at least the eighteenth-century. The park which survives today dates from 1813, mainly the work of Martin Williams (owner from 1813 until his death in 1856) who seems to have been sympathetic to the ideas of the Picturesque Movement. A drive enters the site from the A490 in the west, replacing an earlier drive which approached from the south-west but which fell out of use at some time in the twentieth-century. There is no lodge and none has ever been recorded. An irregular, curving shelter belt of mixed woodland surrounds the western, south-western and northern periphery of the park. To the south, the park is enclosed by the tree-planted hillside of Bryngwyn Wood, known as 'Madams' Wood'; the actual park boundary here is created by a lane which connects Bwlch-y-Cibau with Glanbrogan. A boundary plantation stands on the east of the park and the open parkland is dotted with mature parkland trees, mainly oak. Ornamental gardens lie to the northeast, east and south of the house and, including the lake, cover about 18 acres. Their early history is unclear. It is assumed that a garden would have been in existence from about 1830. The 1840 tithe map records the area as ‘Bryngwyn Pleasure Grounds and Shrubberies’. The presence of mature yews to the south-east and north-west of the house may mark the boundary of an earlier garden; the oldest plantings here, they are possibly associated with the earlier house. The form of the nineteenth-century garden would have been partly dictated by the presence of the ha-ha which is known to have been in position since at least 1825 - its own position possibly determined by the yew trees - when it was recorded on a map included in sale particulars. The ha-ha seems to have retained its divisional role between garden and park at least until 1889 as the Ordnance Survey map clearly shows the 'garden' area clearly confined within it. Photographs of c.1868 show the gardens as lawn planted with shrubs. From 1903, the then owner, Arthur Sandbach, began to develop the east garden. Straight formal gravel paths, possibly reinstatements of Victorian paths, were laid out around the south and east of the house and a long, sloping, straight walk leading east from the bay window to, by about 1910, a small paved terrace. The gardens were extended beyond the ha-ha to the east. Photographs of about 1909 record this work. Today, the northeast front opens onto a raised lawn below which is a rectangular area, possibly once the formal garden. Steps descend on to a more informal tree and shrub planted sloping lawn which supports large clumps of mature rhododendrons, azaleas, Japanese maples and many new plantings, together with trees and roses; these grow along the north side of this area which is defined by a shelter belt. To the north-east a new hard tennis court has been constructed on a raised platform which extends out into the park. To the south of the informal east lawn there is a croquet lawn enclosed by young yew hedges, and next to it a new, rectangular formal rose garden. On the south front of the house a narrow strip of sloping lawn, planted with a large mature larch, runs down to the ha-ha, beyond which a wide, tree planted sloping lawn, sweeps down to the northern edge of the lake. The ha-ha runs about 5m from the south-west corner of the house curving around for about 40m to the east, to the central walk steps. The lake covers about 9 acres and is in two sections. Trees and shrubs grow around it and it is inhabited by wild fowl and ducks. To the west of the house and separated from it by a gravel forecourt, is an area of lawn that runs into a small area of woodland. A walled kitchen garden, about 1 acre in extent, lay at the north-eastern end of the lake. It is now planted up with trees. The kitchen garden is recorded on an 1839 estate map. Significant Views: Views from the house and gardens across the parkland and surrounding countryside. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 32-34 (ref: PGW(Po)41(POW)). Ordnance Survey first edition 6-inch map: sheet Montgomeryshire X.SW (1884) Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map: sheet Montgomeryshire X.13 (1901).  

PGW(C)4(FLT)

Bryngwyn Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Flintshire  

Caerwys  

310594  

374035  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Late Victorian garden near house with woodland walk, and Edwardian additions.  

Mid nineteenth century and early twentieth century  

Registered for its historic interest as a small late Victorian garden laid out around the house with associated park and landscaped Edwardian swimming pool. Bryngwyn Hall, a nineteenth-century house (NPRN 35705) lies to the east of Tremeirchion. Located in parkland the house is surrounded by gardens. Early Ordnance Survey maps portray a parkland landscape comprising some large areas of woodland with open wood-pasture surrounding the house, ponds to its north-east, and a drive without lodge. The garden is enclosed on all sides by a band of woodland planting. The south front has a lawn with informal planting of specimen ornamental trees. This leads into the wood on the west side of the house. On the east side of the house is the remains of a small formal garden of two terraces. A rockface lies hard against the house on the west side with the woodland above. A rustic summerhouse has heather thatching on its roof and sides. A kitchen garden once lay to the north of the house. As portrayed on the first-edition Ordnance Survey map (1871) the garden enclosure was sub-rectangular, long axis north-south, with a rectangular layout of paths. It now survives as a rectangle of rough grass but some of the perimeter beech hedging remains as do some fruit trees. The remains of a small 1930s greenhouse survive on the northern end of the site. The 1871 map shows that orchards were laid out around the kitchen garden on its north, east, and west sides. Much of the area north of the nineteenth-century farmyard is now occupied by more recent agricultural buildings. The main drive, now disused, runs north-west/south-east across the park, flanked by dense rhododendron plantings at the northern end. On the east side of the house a branch leads to the farmyard (on the immediate north of the house), the present drive then runs on southwards to a minor road. To the north-east of the house is an Edwardian ornamental layout of a bathing pool, and two ornamental ponds formed by damming a small stream. The ‘Upper Lake’, on the south-west, was created in the late nineteenth century and has a small island planted with rhododendrons. The ‘Lower Lake’, to the north-east, was added before 1910. Both are surrounded by ornamental trees and shrubs, as is the stone-lined bathing pool. The present disposition of woodland is little changed since the nineteenth century. The wood pasture, however, is now partitioned and populated by fewer specimen and parkland trees. Significant views: From the house and gardens across the park towards the Upper and Lower Lake and east towards Coed Shepherd (FL183). Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 10-12 (ref: PGW(C)56). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map Flintshire V (first edition 1871); 25-inch map: sheet Flintshire V.14 (second edition 1899). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton  

PGW(C)15(WRE)

Brynkinalt  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Wrexham  

Chirk  

330118  

337781  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Large picturesque landscape park; formal and informal pleasure gardens.  

Early nineteenth century.  

Registered for its historic interest as a large, picturesque landscape park, laid out in the nineteenth-century and providing the setting to the house and its gardens. The grounds also incorporate an unusual tunnel to the kitchen garden. Brynkinalt has historical associations with the Trevor family who have lived on this site since the year 942. The earliest building on the site today dates back to 1612, being the central portion of the present house. The registered park and garden has important group value with the house and its associated estate outbuildings and ornamental parkland structures. Brynkinalt Park is located on the eastern edge of Chirk village, occupying rising, rolling, ground on the north side of the Ceiriog valley which here forms the English border. The Hall (LB: 599) lies on high ground towards the east end of the park. The park is bounded on the south and east by the Ceiriog River and Coed Glanyrafon, on the west by Chirk Wood, and on the north by public roads running east from the village. The A5 Chirk bypass, flanked by planted woodland, now bisects the park near its west end. Part of Chirk Wood obscures the road from the house. The present main entrance drive is from the village, approaching the house from the west. The entrance is flanked by simple stone gate piers (LB: 20207) with Chirk Lodge (LB: 20206) on the north side. The drive crosses a crenellated stone bridge over a side valley, then divides to approach both north and south sides of the house. From the park entrance, a separate, more picturesque winding drive, now a farm track, runs down into the valley through Chirk Wood and on to the house. The original main entrance drive, from the England side of the park, led from the St Martin's road (B5070) northwards across a plateau (Rhyn Park) to the Coed Glanyrafon, across the ‘Lady's Bridge’ (LB: 20230, built in 1820) over the river, then on to the south front of the house. Much of this drive has now gone but a gothick entrance lodge (Bryngwilla Lodge) survives. To the north and west of the house the park levels out. In the open parkland planting consists mainly of scattered deciduous trees, in particular oaks from the eighteenth-century and earlier. Part of Chirk Wood has been dated recently to c.1730. To the north of the house are the remains of a sycamore avenue and a line of horse chestnuts. Just to the west of the house is an eighteenth-century clump of limes. Nineteenth-century planting is largely confined to Chirk and Glanyrafon woods, and is mainly conifers, including redwoods underplanted with rhododendrons, laurels and box. The early history of the park is unclear but the present layout dates from the early nineteenth-century when Lady Charlotte Dungannon was improving the house and grounds in 1808. The park was embellished with picturesque winding drives, gothick entrances, a gothick folly, a fine gothick bridge over the river, the Lady’s Bridge, and next to it a rustic picturesque cottage. Gothick shelters (LB: 20232) next to one of the drives afforded rest for the ladies on their perambulations. The gardens at Brynkinalt lie in two distinct areas, to the west and to the north-east of the house. Adjoining the west wing is a small garden enclosed by a low modern brick wall that was originally laid out in the early nineteenth-century by Lady Charlotte Dungannon for subtropical bedding. The garden is laid out with formal raised flowerbeds in paving. Part of the enclosed area is now occupied by a swimming pool. To the west is a gently sloping lawn. At the upper end of the lawn is a circular pool with a central ornamental stone basin raised on a decorative pedestal, surrounded by formal flowerbeds. North of the house and forecourt, on ground sloping steeply towards the park, is a linear north-south garden, informally landscaped and planted, its west side dominated by a rockwork bank. A central sunken area, once occupied by a formal rose garden, is now openly planted with specimen trees and shrubs. The north-east part of this garden has much evergreen planting as a background, interspersed with rhododendrons and azaleas, the whole being broken up by winding paths and walks. A system of streams and pools with surrounding rockwork is the focus for the east end of the pleasure ground. This garden was laid out in the late nineteenth-century. A walled kitchen garden is situated to the north of the house, on the north side of the minor road to Pont-y-blew. The approach from the house is by a footpath, now partly gone, and via a tunnel beneath the road. The tunnel entrance is of rough stone giving the impression of a grotto, though the roof is vaulted with brick. The walled kitchen garden, as was often the case in the nineteenth-century, also formed part of the pleasure garden, referred to in the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener article of 1879 as the 'principal flower garden' (in this case of cut flowers). The garden comprises two walled gardens, the inner in the middle of the outer garden. A range of glasshouses in the north-west corner of the outer garden have now gone aside from some foundations. The south part of the outer garden formed the 'principal flower garden'. In the south-east corner is a brick-built gardener's house and fruit store. The inner garden entrance lies opposite the tunnel, through a pair of double wooden doors. It is still partly used for the production of vegetables, and the walls and paths retain old fruit trees. At the north end are the remains of two box-edged circular beds. The outside of the north wall supports a range of bothies, tool sheds, and a furnace room. The south-facing side has two glasshouses, including a vinery still with vines, and a cucumber house. Significant Views: Views from and towards the house across the parkland and surrounding countryside. Views across the parkland from the drives and arbour. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 32-5 (ref: PGW(C)15). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map Denbighshire XL (1879)  

PGW(Gm)46(SWA)

Brynmill Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Uplands  

263445  

192558  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Public park  

1872  

Registered as a good example of a small but well preserved Victorian urban public park dominated by an attractive tree-fringed lake. Brynmill Park lies on a south-facing slope in central Swansea, to the west of the city centre and immediately east of Singleton Park, from which it is divided by Brynmill Lane. The park was opened as a public amenity in 1872, created from the Brynmill Reservoir Property of the Swansea Water Works. By 1878 early mapping shows the area landscaped with walks and planting, the layout being more or less as it is now. There was no aviary or bowling green at this stage and the reservoir was surrounded by fields with the gardens of Parc-wern to the north-west and Singleton Park to the west. By 1913 (second edition Ordnance Survey map) the area had officially been named Brynmill Park and had acquired a bowling green (added in 1907 and the first in Swansea) with pavilion, an aviary, and a gardener’s house. The park is triangular in shape and centred on the lake, the former reservoir, which is home to a range of wildfowl. The park is bounded by iron railings on all but the west side, where there is a stone wall. There are four entrances, in the south, east and west corners and towards the east end of the north side. The park is laid out informally, dominated by the lake, with winding tarmac paths, lawns, planting beds, ornamental trees and shrubs. In 2006, Brynmill Park was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for its restoration, which included a new community and educational building, the Discovery Centre. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)46(SWA). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, sheet XXIII.9(1899)  

PGW(C)20(DEN)

Bryntisilio  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Llantysilio  

319826  

343461  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden with shrubberies. Typical nineteenth-century planting, with laurels and rhododendrons.  

1865-1875  

Bryntisilio is registered for its historic interest as a comparatively unaltered small terraced garden of the last half of the nineteenth century and for its historical association with Sir Theodore Martin, biographer of Prince Albert, and Helen Faucit, the Shakespearean actress. It is also important for its group value with Bryntisilio Hall and the nineteenth century entrance lodge for which the grounds provide the setting. Bryntisilio (LB:1323) is an Italianate style Victorian house with Georgian origins. The house is surrounded by terrace lawns on a prominent platform overlooking the Horseshoe Falls. Most of the gardens lie to the west and north-west of the house and are accessed via a path leading from the south side of the house. An axial path running southwest-northeast leads to the terraces to the north-west. There are two main terraces with box-edged herbaceous beds either side of the axial stone path backed by yew hedges, behind which are further box-edged squares. Pathways running east-west link these areas. Lying to the north-west, and reached via steps, is a large stone pool in an area surrounded by rhododendrons. This area is probably twentieth century in date, the original boundary of the garden ending with the upper terrace of box-edged beds. Sloping lawns planted with shrubs and specimen trees lie immediately to the south-west of the house. South-west of the terraces are more informal areas of lawn broken up in regular fashion by lines of trees and shrubs running east-west, with Irish yews flanking the axial path which extends into this area. Setting and Significant Views: In a rural setting, Bryntisilio is situated on a small bend above the River Dee to the west of Llangollen, with fine views overlooking the Horseshoe Falls to Plas Berwyn on the other side of the river. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 36-7 (ref: PGW(C)20). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map Denbighshire XXXIV (first edition 1874).  

PGW(Gd)3(CON)

Bryn-y-Neuadd  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Llanfairfechan  

267548  

374551  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Mid nineteenth-century landscape park with formal Italianate garden and extensive kitchen garden.  

1850s and 1860s.  

Registered for its historic interest as a mid-nineteenth century landscape park with formal Italianate garden laid out by the eminent Victorian garden designer Edward Milner (1819-1884). The formal garden includes a French cast-iron fountain by Barbezat & Cie dating to the 1850s. The stream near the former Grand Lodge was laid out with artificial pools, waterfalls and rockwork by James Pulham & Son. There is also an extensive kitchen garden. In the 1850s Bryn-y-Neuadd was purchased by John Platt, a wealthy textile engineer, who built a new house, model farm, several other estate buildings, railway station, church, and much of the village of Llanfairfechan. The first edition 1-in. to the mile Ordnance Survey map of 1840-41 shows a house and small enclosure with trees, and a building on the site of the farm (and the railway), but there appears to have been nothing else on the site before Platt's time. Platt employed Edward Milner, who was by this time a well-known garden designer, having served an apprenticeship with Joseph Paxton, to lay out the park. Bryn-y-Neuadd is an excellent and very typical example of Milner's formal garden style, linked to parkland with flowing curves, specimen trees and shrubberies. Much of the layout is preserved, and can be appreciated, but there is also a detailed contemporary account by John Gould in the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener (1864), which mentions much that is gone. Bryn-y-Neuadd mansion (NPRN 26139) was situated on ground sloping gently down to the sea, on the western edge of the village of Llanfairfechan. The house stood in the centre of a park. The park was bounded on the north by the railway, on the east by the village and on the west by the old A55 road. The house was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a hospital, but the stable block (LB: 3516) to the immediate north-east, and some other estate buildings, remain (LB: 3518; 3519; 3520; 5841). The original park lay-out of Edward Milner survives. The slope below the house was terraced, and a formal garden was laid out to the south-west. Beyond this the park was planted with groups and belts of trees, under-planted with shrubbery. A complex of routes around the house site partly follow original routes, whilst others are new. In the nineteenth century, carriage drives led away from the house to the south-west, south-east and north-east. The drive from the south-west corner survives though its Grand Lodge has gone. This continues, with an avenue, out to the south-east lodge; it was the original drive and is now the main entrance. Although the modern hospital consists of many buildings scattered over the eastern part of the park, these have been sited in such a way that almost all the copses, woods and groups of trees designed by Milner have survived. These are mostly mixed coniferous and deciduous plantings with under-planting of rhododendron and laurel. There are some individual trees, mostly oak and sycamore in the open areas. The south-west corner of the park was originally landscaped with a stream dammed into pools, embellished with Pulhamite rockwork, and decorated with artificial islands and waterfalls, within mixed woodland and shrubs. Most of this was destroyed during construction of the new A55, everything to the north of the Grand Lodge having been swept away. Further land belonging to the estate lay close to the sea, on the far side of the railway, and a plantation was made flanking a way down to the beach. There were once bathing-huts on the beach but these are not shown on the earliest maps. The formal garden was laid out at the same time as the rest of the grounds. There are terraces to the south-west and north-east of the house site. That on the south-west is retained by a low wall and a central shallow flight of steps leads down into the formal garden. The terrace on the north-east partly overlooks the grassy bank on the north-west side of the formal garden, and a long flight of steps, again roughly central to the terrace, descends across this bank into what is now a car park. From the house site a flight of steps leads down into the gravelled, rectangular Italianate formal garden on the south-west. Its apsidal end accommodates a large and elaborate, circular, cast-iron fountain in Italian Renaissance style, by Barbezat & Cie (LB: 3517). Beyond the apsidal end is a small, level, rectangular area, recently used as a bowling green, with a hedge on three sides and a rockery bank at the base of two of them. There was once a long, narrow glasshouse across the end of the formal garden. Next to this area is a grotto with a winding passage, and an underground chamber, possibly connected with heating for the former glasshouse. To the south of the formal garden are groups of trees and shrubs with a path, as shown on the 1888 map. To the north-west, the ground slopes away. There is a flight of steps down from the formal garden, and another, to the north-east, from the terrace across the north-west of the house site. Between the two is a terraced grassy slope, also shown on the 1888 map. This overlooked lawn areas with groups of trees, now partly occupied by a car park. The garden of only five acres was originally richly planted and, along with the kitchen garden, required 11 gardeners to maintain it. The kitchen garden survives and lies on the north-eastern edge of the estate next to the model farm. The garden is rectangular with two concentric walls on three sides which remain complete; the outer wall is up to 6m high and the inner about 3m. There is a smaller rectangular enclosure conjoining on the north. The garden was noted for its extensive ranges of glasshouses which are now ruinous; aerial images suggest that these have now been largely removed. Along the north side of the garden north wall, in the enclosure, are the ruins of two boiler houses, bothy and sheds. In the yard at the east end of the enclosure are ruinous sheds and pigsties. The original head gardener’s cottage, Bronrardd (LB: 5841) lies just outside the walled garden and had its own small walled garden. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 70-3 (ref: PGW(Gd)3(CON)). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Caernarfonshire VII.NE (1888).  

PGW(Po)6(POW)

Buckland House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Talybont-on-Usk  

312949  

221924  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Extensive country estate. Wild garden; parkland; formal gardens.  

c. 1775, c. 1836-40, c. 1895 on.  

Buckland House, located on an ancient site, is situated to the east of Talybont-on-Usk, on the west side of Buckland Hill overlooking the Usk valley. It is registered for the survival of the structure of a grand Edwardian formal garden in a fine position in the valley. The garden and grounds contain some good specimen trees and shrubs, and a Grade II* Listed tennis pavilion designed by the noted architect H.Avray Tipping. There is also important group value with Grade II Listed Buckland House (LB 21186) along with a number of outbuildings, as well as several Grade II Listed park and garden features, and buildings associated with the Home Farm (Buckland Farm). The park lies mostly to the north and west of Buckland House, on ground falling away to the Usk. It curves down from the north-west, following a bend in the river. It is bounded on the east by the forestry plantations of Buckland Hill. The park covers about 200 acres though it was once more extensive. It is now managed as permanent pasture. Within the park, hedge and dry-stone wall boundaries survive as does some open parkland planting of oak, chestnut and ornamental conifers, particularly in the field to the west of the old tennis courts. The drive approaches the house from the north to its north front. The south drive ran on from the house, through farmland, to exit about 1 km to the south on the Llangynidr road. Traces of the former main drive from the lodge (demolished 1972) at Llansantffread are still visible as a track crossing the park from the northwest. The drive follows the route of the river along its eastern bank providing a highly scenic approach to the house. It then turns east through woodland planted with an ornamental understorey of laurel, rhododendron and box to follow a stream enhanced with drystone walls, pools and a small cascade. In the park to the north of the house is a fishpond. It dates to at least 1840 when it is shown on the tithe map with a similar outline to the current pond. By the early twentieth-century (Ordnance Survey 1905) the walk had been created around the pond and a boathouse constructed at its southern end. Behind the coach house, cut into the rising slope, is a well-preserved ice-house (LB 21198) and, to its south, a possible fernery. No formal record of the fernery has been found but the microclimate of Buckland is such that some rare, exotic ferns have survived. The native woodland was gradually replaced by conifers from the mid nineteenth-century. Major Gwynne Holford, nineteenth-century owner and a veteran of Waterloo, planted blocks of conifers on the western hillside imitating ranks of British infantry and cavalry; this survived in form until about 1940. A strip of former parkland to the east of the river (southwest of the house) is now mixed woodland preventing views in this direction from the gardens. The 1887 OS map shows a winding path down to the river to a ferry boat landing stage. In 1910 an iron footway suspension bridge was installed (by David Rowell & Co of London) across the river to replace the old landing stage and boat house. The gardens lie to the west and south of the house. There have been formal gardens on the present site since at least 1840 and the garden structure is unchanged, only augmented through later planting. It has been suggested that the gardens may overlay an earlier garden dating to c.1600. The main planting appears to have been undertaken from about 1800 by the Gwynne Holfords, who had family connections with Westonbirt Park, Gloucestershire. It is believed that many of the ornamental conifers, some of which were planted in a ‘Conifer Walk’ south-west of the maze, originated from the Westonbirt estate. It is also assumed that the family were responsible for establishing the rhododendrons within the garden. In the 1935 Sale Catalogue the gardens were said to include an Italian garden, a rose garden, an American garden, a blue garden, the maze, and a rhododendron bank. Photographs in the 1935 Sale Catalogue also record highly ornamented gardens with many statues, urns and wide, stone edged gravelled paths. To the west of the house, the ground descends in two broad grass terraces. The once clipped topiary cones on the west front of the house, have grown into large yew squares. Major Gwynne Holford continued his celebration of the British victory at Waterloo within the garden. On the south front of the house he planted four topiary trees within a yew enclosure, representing a battle formation and about 10m to the south he planted four Irish yews in a block around a statue of the Duke of Wellington, representing the battle command. The planted features, apart from the hedge, survive but the statue has been lost. The south front of the house looks out on to the terraced formal gardens. From the south-east corner of the house a wide, raised grass terrace runs south for approximately 100m. This terrace is bordered on its eastern side by banks of mature rhododendrons which have colonised the lower woodland of Buckland Hill and on the west it descends to a lower lawn. From this terrace an ornamental, Italianate flight of stone stairs (LB 21189) ascends the hillside leading to walks in the lower woodland. Traces of these walks survive in stone steps and dry-stone retaining walls. Two separate, ornamental flights of stone steps connect the terrace with a wide, curving lawn about 2m below. This lawn is known as the 'Archery Lawn' which in the early twentieth-century was used as a croquet lawn. The presence of a raised earth bank at its northern end suggests that it could have been the site of an archery butt. Below the lawn on the west there is a terrace of three square, interconnecting garden enclosures. All of the enclosures are partly surrounded by Irish or golden yew hedges, in variable condition, which appear to retain evidence of earlier topiary work. The central enclosure is the rose garden. It has a sunken centre, suggesting a possible pool but no other evidence was found to support this. The two flanking enclosures contain mature ornamental conifers and specimen trees. These may be the Blue and Italian gardens referenced in the 1935 Sales Catalogue. West and south-west of these gardens a network of overgrown paths leads through a small arboretum. To the southwest of the rose garden is the yew maze (outgrown) said to be a small version of the maze at Hampton Court. South of the maze may have been the site of H. Avray Tipping’s lily/iris garden, which consists of rectangular stone-edged beds and a stone seat. To the south, beyond the lily garden, ornamental stone steps lead down from what is known as the American garden towards the river. The southern area of the garden is characterised by trees and shrubs planted in rough grass. It appears that this area could have been a 'wild garden'. Circulatory paths run through the area connecting to the remains of a classical, curved seat set in a yew arbour and to the remains of a collapsed building, possibly a summer house, at the southern-most point. The early nineteenth-century walled garden (LB: 21180) is situated to the north of the historic farm complex at Buckland Farm. It is rectangular and enclosed by high stone and brick walls. The north side has a range of bothies against its outer side. The interior is now grass. To the southeast of the walled garden and farm is the former head gardener’s cottage with former estate laundry adjacent (LB: 21200). Setting - The park and gardens provide the setting for Buckland House which lies on the lower west slopes of Buckland Hill, in a scenic situation above the Usk Valley. Significant views – From west front of the house and the surrounding gardens there are splendid views across the Usk Valley to the Black Mountains beyond it. Views from the west terrace towards the fish pond, and between the west terrace and park to the west of the fishpond. View from the south front of the house across the gardens. Views from the Lily Garden and American Garden to the River Usk. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 36-9 (ref: PGW (Po)6(POW)). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map sheet, Brecknockshire XXXIV.SE (1887) Ordnance Survey, six-inch map sheet, Brecknockshire XXXIV.SE (1905)  

PGW(Gd)12(CON)

Caer Rhun Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Caerhun  

277617  

370554  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Terraced formal gardens, large park, remains of walled garden.  

1890s, park earlier in nineteenth century or before.  

Caer Rhûn Hall is situated above the west bank of the River Conwy. It is registered for the historical interest of its well-preserved terraced garden layout of the 1890s set in extensive older parkland, in an attractive riverside location. It has historical association with the military figure, Major-General G.H.Gough of India. Additionally there is important group value with the Grade II Listed Hall (LB 17010), the Grade I Listed medieval church of St Mary with its Grade II Listed lychgate (LBs 3167 & 17009), and the Scheduled Roman military landscape of Canovium (SAM CN001), all of which lie within the historic park. The park is bounded on the east by the river, on the west by the B5106 Conwy to Betws y Coed road, on the south by the river and a tributary, and on the north by belts of woodland. The park dates from at least the early nineteenth century. Although it pre-dates the present house its layout was largely unchanged when the house was rebuilt and the garden redesigned in 1892. Many of the trees shown on early maps have gone but it retains its parkland appearance, sloping gently towards the river, dotted with old oaks. Some areas of deciduous woodland remain with the addition of some mixed plantations. An ice-house is located in the northern part of the park, on the edge of a plantation north-east of the house, under a man-made mound. It is approached via a right-angled passage 6 m long which had at least two doors. The chamber is conical and domed. Prior to 1892 most of the garden area, apart from a lawn south of the house, was a walled kitchen garden of irregular shape containing glasshouses and fruit trees. This was replaced by a new lay-out and a new kitchen garden. Traces of the old walls, and some early plantings, survive. The drive approaches in a curve from the north-west, from an iron-gated entrance and lodge on the road, with two further gateways from the road into the garden, passing through lawn with ornamental trees and shrubs, and into a courtyard in front of the house. The garden terraces are to the south of the house, aligned on the garden front, and are wide and shallow. The top terrace runs along the front of the house, a broad gravel path with wide grass strips on either side. Beyond the west end of the terrace is a box parterre of two squares of different box patterns, replacing areas of shrubbery. Steps down access the second terrace below, which is lawned. Former paths are still visible as grassy ridges. The box parterre may be a later addition by General Gough, or possibly is attributable to a later owner. A small formal pool and pergola at the west end of the terraces also seem likely to be the work of General Gough; a yew arbour at the opposite end may be slightly later, but provides a focal point from the pool, so was probably part of the same plan. The walk down the west side of the terraces has been laid out to focus on a pre-existing cedar. Below the lower terrace is a large lawn with a few trees and shrubs and terminating at a ha-ha on the south. In the south-west corner of the garden, beyond the site of the orchard, is a small area which was shown as a rectangular plantation on the map of 1889. By 1913 it had been enlarged and given a curved outline, and had a path around within the boundary and one across the middle. More plantings had also been made, as conifers are indicated on this map, unlike the earlier one. There is also a small pool and rockwork at the southern end of this garden area. The ‘new’ kitchen garden lies on the west side of the B5106, north of the home farm buildings, one range of which forms the south wall of the garden. It is rectangular, long axis north by south, with rounded north corners and an ‘apse’ in the north wall. The walls, of brick up to 3m high, have largely survived. There were four arched doorways three of which remain. The interior has been completely cleared and is now used as a caravan park. Two internal features remain: a circular pool and fountain just south of centre, and in the apse another, smaller circular feature, possibly a filled-in pool. Setting - Caer Rhûn is located in a rural area surrounded by farmland in a riverside location providing a setting for the house. Significant views - Caer Rhûn Hall is located at the highest point of the park from which there are views south across the gardens to the countryside beyond. Source: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 74-8 (ref: PGW(Gd)12(CON)).  

PGW(Dy)60(PEM)

Caldey Priory  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Tenby  

214109  

196398  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Ponds & walled gardens.  

Twelfth century; 1800; 1867; 1910-13.  

Caldey Priory is registered for its historical interest in the survival of part of the structure, including a pond, of a nineteenth-century compartmented garden associated with a listed grade I(LB:5932) demolished mansion on the site of the medieval priory dating from the twelfth century. Traces of the medieval gardens have also survived, incorporated into the later garden. The medieval remains consist of a small walled garden attached to the priory buildings, a series of ponds and the ruins of a mill. The valley to the east and north of the priory contains three ponds, probably of medieval origin. The uppermost, and largest, is rectangular and lies to the east of the priory and walled garden. The second, lower down the valley, is a smaller, overgrown D-shaped boggy area, dammed on the north side. To the north is the smallest pond, given a concrete dam in the twentieth century. The nineteenth-century gardens were created by Thomas Kynaston to accompany the mansion that he built in 1800. They occupy the level ground to the north of the mansion site, and the valley to the north. A rectangular area north of the house, now much overgrown, is bounded on the north by a wavy ha-ha and on the west by a stone wall. In the centre is a fallen sundial. The valley to the east was laid out as a garden with five stone-walled compartments conjoined in linear fashion. Three of the enclosures incorporate the medieval ponds, a fourth the mill ruins. The fifth, lowermost, compartment is an elongated triangle containing a small pond of more recent date. The compartments are now mostly overgrown with trees but the 1887 map shows them laid out with paths and planted with mixed deciduous and coniferous trees; those between the house and the mill were more ornamented than those to the north, in which there was informal tree planting and a walk. Setting - Caldey Island lies off the coast of south Pembrokeshire. The gardens occupy the immediate vicinity of the buildings and a small, narrow valley running down north from them. Significant views - The north side of the mansion afforded views across the garden to the sea and the coast of Pembrokeshire beyond. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 168-71 (ref: PGW(Dy)60(PEM)). Ordnance Survey First-Edition six-inch map: sheet: Pembrokeshire XLIV.NE (1887).  

PGW(Gm)22(CDF)

Cardiff Castle and Bute Park  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Gabalfa  

317594  

177252  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1778; 1867-1900; 1920s  

Bute Park is registered as one of the largest urban parks in the country, and with Pontcanna Fields and Sophia Gardens to the west forms a huge public open space in the centre of Cardiff. The park's designer and planter, Andrew Pettigrew, was one of the most important park designers of the second half of the nineteenth century, and the open, flowing informal design allowed a smooth transition from a private pleasure ground to a public park. Much of the Victorian planting, particularly of ornamental trees, survives. The grounds of Cardiff Castle have a long history of landscaping, going back to the mediaeval period. The grounds owe their present day appearance to late eighteenth-century landscaping by Capability Brown and late nineteenth-century alterations by the 3rd Marquis of Bute. The park became a public park after 1947. The registered area shares important group value with Cardiff Castle (LB: 13662; scheduled monument Gm171) associated animal wall (LB: 21696), stables (LB: 13764) and nineteenth-century park lodges (LB: 21697 west lodge; LB: 13751 north lodge), and the remains of Black Friars (LB: 13663; scheduled monument Gm173). The grounds of Cardiff Castle are enclosed in a high, crenellated stone wall, with a wall walk around the top. The space within the wall is roughly square and flat, with a large earthen bank against the wall on the north, east, and part of the south side. The level area is laid out to a large lawn, with grass and mixed trees on the banks. A cobble path leads from the south to the north gates. The motte is a circular, steep-sided mound, with a stone shell keep on top. Its sides are covered in rough grass. A spiral path, now disused but still visible, winds up it, starting on the west side. Around the foot of the motte is a wide water-filled moat. The present-day appearance of the castle grounds is largely due to late eighteenth-century and late nineteenth-century alterations and planting. Of the mediaeval and Tudor gardens nothing remains. In 1778 Capability Brown undertook a limited amount of landscaping in the grounds for the 4th Earl of Bute. He cleared the interior by removing the buildings from the former outer bailey, in the eastern half of the enclosure, and by demolishing the cross wall. He stripped the ivy off the keep, cut down the trees growing on the motte, made the spiral walk and filled in the moat. In 1794 Robert Clutterbuck noted in his journal that the green walks of the castle 'owe their disposition to the celebrated Brown'. The layout was very simple: there was a single gravel walk around the edge on two levels. On the north and east sides it was along the top of the ramparts, on the south and west at ground level. The remainder of the interior was a 'fine level lawn', described in 1804 (Donovan, Excursions through South Wales, vol. 1) as 'a smoothly mown-grass plat'. Donovan also mentioned the spiral path 'that thrice encircles the lofty mount'. In 1797 Henry Wigstead commented that: 'a very fine gravel walk is raised all round the walls, which is a public promenade' (Tour to North and South Wales). A gothick summerhouse appears to have stood in the south-east corner of the castle ward, on top of the bank. It is shown in a painting by Paul Sandby published in 1775 but dating to 1773 and another by S. Mazell of approximately the same date. By 1830, the date of the Woods map of Cardiff, there is no building in the south-east corner, only a circular mount. Further nineteenth-century maps, and an oil painting of 1826, also show this mount, with a level observation platform on top and a spiral walk up it. Bute Park is elongated north-south, bounded on the west by the river Taff, and on the east, for most of its length, by the dock feeder canal. The character of the park is informal and flowing: spacious grounds, laid out with winding walks and areas of open grass alternating with specimen trees in grass, borders, and less manicured woodland. The park was laid out ornamentally on the land of five farms, part of which is known as Cooper's Fields, as part of the pleasure grounds of Cardiff Castle, the seat of the Marquises of Bute. The 2nd Marquis moved into the castle in 1814, and until the 1850s the castle grounds were open to the public. In 1858 his widow opened Sophia Gardens, on the west bank of the river Taff, to the public to compensate for the closure of the castle grounds, which then became the private grounds of the castle. It was the 3rd Marquis who began laying out the gardens and grounds in 1871. These were in the charge of Mr Andrew Pettigrew, who was brought down from Dumfries House, a Bute property in Scotland. Pettigrew was a highly skilled and influential gardener and landscaper, and was responsible for much of the layout and planting. By the time of the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map (1879) the bones of the present-day layout of the park were in place. Much tree and shrub planting was to follow. After Burges's death in 1881 his former assistant, William Frame, built the animal wall that Burges had designed to the south of the castle grounds, enclosing a narrow strip of sloping ground that was laid out with formal flower beds. In 1925-30 the 4th Marquis's architect, J.P. Grant, moved the animal wall to its present position along the south boundary of Bute Park, where it was extended, with further animals being sculpted by Alexander Carrick. On the death of the 4th Marquess in 1947 the castle and park were presented to the city and were opened to the public. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)22(CDF).  

PGW(Dy)72(CER)

Cardigan Castle  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Ceredigion  

Cardigan  

217802  

245936  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Pleasure garden; kitchen garden  

1713; about 1808; 1827-30; 1924-39  

Registered for the survival of most of the structure, and some planting, of an interesting and unusual Regency period garden, set within the medieval castle ward. The ward was extensively altered and adapted to accommodate and enhance the garden, providing a romantic setting to Castle Green House. The grounds incorporate a pleasure garden and a kitchen garden. The registered garden has group value with Castle Green House (LB: 10459), Cardigan Castle (LB: 10458; scheduled monument: CD123) and the outbuildings at the rear entrance drive to Castle Green House (LB: 10461). Castle Green House is a substantial, Regency period house in an unusual setting, situated within the ward of Cardigan Castle. The house stands on the north edge of the medieval castle, and its north end incorporates the castle’s north tower, which projects beyond the line of the curtain wall. The castle itself is situated at the southern end of the town of Cardigan, on a rocky spur overlooking the river Teifi, to the south. The first mention of Castle Green House is in 1799, when John Bowen (d. 1815) was leasing it to Thomas Colby. Samuel Meyrick, in The History and Antiquities of the County of Cardigan (1808), indicated that Bowen began the building of the house: ‘… John Bowen, Esq. who is erecting a house on the site of the keep, the dungeons now serving as his cellars’. Bowen levelled the ward, filled in the ditch around the north tower and generally raised the level of the ward quite considerably. Excavations in 1984 revealed that medieval archaeological deposits are buried under up to 2m of topsoil. The house took on its present form in 1827, when the owner, Arthur Jones, a solicitor and high-sheriff of Cardiganshire, began building a new front range; he also altered and added a storey to the north tower. The architect and master builder was David Evans of Eglwyswrw. Sale particulars of 13 July 1832 described a ‘Capital modern mansion’ and Samuel Lewis in 1833 called it ‘a handsome modern villa’. It is shown in its present form on Wood’s map of 1834. The property was bought by David Davies of Carnarchenwen, Fishguard, in 1836. Davies was a wealthy man, founder of the Cardigan Mercantile Company and high-sheriff of the county in 1841. An engraving of the house in Thomas Nicholas’s Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales, vols I and II (1872) shows the house much as it is now. The gardens of Castle Green House, situated both within and without the walls of the medieval castle of Cardigan, date from the Regency period. The house was built as a prestigious, well-appointed residence, requiring an attractive and appropriate setting of fashionable gardens, grand entrance, drives, coach house and stabling. The castle ward and its immediate surroundings were altered and adapted to provide all of these features. The resultant early nineteenth-century overlay, within the medieval castle, combines elements with two very different purposes: defensive strength and aesthetic pleasure, and so providing an informal romantic setting to the house. The first phase of landscaping within the castle seems to have been in 1713 in order to create a level terrace, used at least some of the time as a bowling green. This was followed in 1801–15 by a major phase of landscaping under the ownership of John Bowen that created most of the garden layout as it exists today. The entire former ward of the medieval castle was laid out as ornamental gardens. The curtain wall itself was adjusted, punctured, and in places demolished or rebuilt to suit the needs of the garden. The garden was laid out in a mainly informal way, with a central lawn, circuit and side paths and informal planting. An unusual feature is a whale jawbone arch. To the north, walled garden compartments of various functions were laid out just outside the ward. To the north-east and east are further compartments, including the stables courtyard. The kitchen garden lies to the north of the house. Against the east wall of this area is the Gardener’s House (Ty’r Ardd), a small, two-storey stone building built in about 1808 by John Bowen to provide staff accommodation. The entire complex fell into disrepair and ruin during the twentieth century. In 2003 the castle, including the house, was bought by Ceredigion County Council. Since 2011, a comprehensive programme of repair and restoration has taken place and the site is now open to the public. Significant Views: Fine panoramic views from the front of the house and gardens across the river Teifi and beyond. Sources: Cadw, 2007, Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Additional Entries pp.17-21 (ref: PGW(Dy)72(CER))  

PGW(Gd)43(ANG)

Carreglwyd  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Isle of Anglesey  

Llanfaethlu  

230882  

387687  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Lawn and lake surrounded by woodland, with garden buildings of interest; walled kitchen garden; some parkland including silted up lake.  

Eighteenth century; nineteenth century.  

Carreglwyd is registered as a good example of a nineteenth century layout of ornamental wooded grounds focused on an informal lake and incorporating earlier elements into the scheme. The grounds include garden buildings of historic interest and good planting of woodlands for practical and aesthetic reasons. The registered area shares important group value with the listed house and ancillary estate buildings for which they provide the setting. Carreglwyd (LB: 5267) is a Georgian manor house set in wooded grounds near the north-west coast of Anglesey. A house was in existence here in the sixteenth century, replaced by a second house, built in 1634 by Dr William Griffiths. The estate was joined to those of the Trygarns of the Lleyn and the Hollands of Plas Berw in 1755, when John Griffiths married Mary Trygarn, heiress of Trygarn and Berw. Their initials can be seen on a lead cistern at the rear of the house, with the date 1763. The wooded gardens and grounds of the house are surrounded by the open grazed enclosures of the park. The main approach, from the south, is across the largest enclosure which, although it has few trees, is undoubtedly parkland; other areas to the north and north-west have a similar character. As Mary Trygarn Griffiths made substantial alterations to the house in the late eighteenth century it is thought that she was also responsible for other major work, including the building of the stables (LB: 24786) and laundry (LB: 24785) and the walled garden, all of which are of eighteenth-century date. The two pairs of simple, dressed stone gateposts on the main drive (LB: 24789) may also be attributed to her. The exploitation of the lake to the south-east, probably a development of a natural feature, may well date to the eighteenth century too, and the layout of the woodlands around the kitchen garden, with summer house and look-out tower, is probably nineteenth-century. The house is enclosed by woodland, of which the areas known as Mount Pleasant and Bryn Covert, to the north-east and east respectively, properly belong with the park. They are different in character, the former being on top of a rocky knoll and shown on maps up until 1924 as being mainly open. There are some ancient beeches at the base of the knoll which could go back to Mary Trygarn Griffiths's time. Bryn Covert is a planted wood, shown on maps of 1900 and 1924 as mixed woodland and planted presumably as a shooting covert. The main area of open parkland is crossed by the drive from the south. The house is concealed by its surrounding trees throughout the approach, but there are open views over the surrounding countryside from the drive. Another area of parkland to the north-west of the house has a rocky ridge crowned by an old telegraph station; from this ridge there is a superb view in all directions. The viewpoint is reached via a gate from the garden. To the north of Mount Pleasant is another area of parkland with rock outcropping and to the north-east is Llyn Garreg-lwyd, now protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is now an area of wetland but the lake may have been open water up to the middle of the nineteenth-century. The ornamental lake in the garden is part of the same system, with the stream flowing away to the south-west, and it is difficult to tell whether this is wholly artificial or to what extent the system has been modified as part of the park and garden design. A boat house constructed of wood and corrugated sheeting, with a slate roof is located on the north side of the lake. In the woodland, to the northwest of the boathouse, stands an eighteenth century dovecot (LB: 24788). The layout of the garden is quite informal, consisting of a lawn, flanked by specimen lime, oak and sycamore, leading down to the lake, with woods and shrubberies around. A walled kitchen garden lies to the north of the house, surrounded by further woodland containing garden features, including a stone built summerhouse. The summerhouse is sited on an outcrop to the northeast of the walled garden and has a view over it. It is thought to date from the nineteenth century. The garden is linked by a system of paths which offers a circular walk round the whole garden, or woodland and lakeside promenades. Interest is provided through the good use of space and water and by the varied shapes and colours offered by the woodlands, which also create an intimate atmosphere. An early eighteenth century folly lookout tower (LB: 24787) stands in the west corner of the woodland and provided views out over the surrounding fields and towards Holyhead Bay. The walled kitchen garden is situated in woodland to the north of the house, oriented north-west/south-east. The main part of the garden is square, with stone walls and with a rectangular extension on the north-west side. The walls of the main garden were built in the eighteenth century. The extension is thought to be later but had been constructed by 1891. Outside the garden, sited close to the garden door in the north-east wall, is the two-storey gardener's cottage, the gable end of which is built into the garden wall. Setting: Situated in an isolated and exposed location near the north-west coast of Anglesey. Significant views: Facing west from the folly tower; in all directions from the rocky ridge crowned by the old telegraph station; views from the summerhouse across the walled garden; views from the drive across the park and lake, and to the surrounding countryside. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 11-13 (ref: PGW(Gd)43(ANG)).  

PGW(Dy)32(PEM)

Castell Malgwyn  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Manordeifi  

221782  

243262  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Small park; gardens; pleasure grounds and walks; walled kitchen garden.  

1791-1811; 1837-49; 1860s-1914.  

The grounds at Castell Malgwyn are registered for the survival, almost in its entirety, of intricate and highly picturesque landscaping dating mainly to about 1795-1811. The grounds have historical associations with Charles Price of Llechryd, one of the few Welsh professional landscapers, who carried out some of the landscaping. The setting for this landscaping is one of extreme beauty and picturesqueness, with the contrasting valleys of the Teifi and Morgenau included in the grounds. The picturesque walks laid out in these valleys are a rare survival and can be compared with Piercefield (Monmouthshire) and Hafod (Ceredigion). Castell Malgwyn has other landscaping features of interest, including, remains of a detached ornamental garden, which includes a large fountain. The registered area encompasses the gardens, pleasure grounds, walled garden, the park and model farm and has group value with the late eighteenth century county house (LB: 14507) and other estate buildings and structures of eighteenth and nineteenth century date. Castell Malgwyn is a substantial Georgian mansion situated on the south bank of the river Teifi, just to the south-west of the village of Llechryd. The house was built by Sir Benjamin Hammett (C.1736-1800) a wealthy entrepreneur from Taunton, who took over the Penygored tinplate works, situated between the house and the river, in the 1790s. The house is set within its garden, extensive pleasure grounds and a small park. The park, gardens and grounds were created in two main phases, in 1791–1811 and 1837–49. Some further work took place later in the nineteenth century. The greater part of the landscaping was undertaken by Sir Benjamin Hammet in the first phase. The park lies to the east of the house and its pleasure grounds. Just inside the north boundary are traces of a former canal built to service the nearby tinplate works, out of use by 1810 (NPRN: 404580). The drive to the house runs westwards along the north side of the park, from the entrance just south of Llechyrd Bridge (scheduled monument CD002; LB: 9895). The wide entrance is flanked by substantial, rectangular gate piers of local stone (LB: 15120) with a lodge to the north (LB: 15119 – built for Abel Lewes Gower of Castle Malgwyn c.1844-45, contemporary with the stables and gatepiers). The gently curving drive runs westwards on a raised revetted embankment, flanked by mature ornamental trees, lime, beech and oak. It divides before the house and two late eighteenth or early nineteenth century bridges (LB: 14510; 14511) carry the drive over the Afon Morgennau, giving access to a small forecourt, at the south front of the house, with a branch to the service court. The ground drops gently northwards towards the river and is now mostly pasture fields in which stand various clumps and a few isolated deciduous trees, including five limes on the north near the lodge. A narrow belt of ornamental trees runs along the west side of the Llechryd-Boncath road bounding the park on the east and there is a strip of woodland along the north side of the Garnon’s Mill Road on the south side. At the south end of the west side of the park is a cricket ground and tennis courts with pavilion. Castell Malgwyn Farm lies in the south-east corner of the park (LB: 11979), and nearby are enclosed garden areas (NPRN 265250). The garden and pleasure grounds lie around the house and, although contiguous, they divide into three distinct areas. First, there is the main garden next to the house. Secondly there are the woodland pleasure grounds further away which fall into two parts. There is additionally a detached garden on the far side of the park, close to the kitchen garden. The main garden lies to the east and south of the house. To the east the ground slopes down towards the Morgenau valley; to the south it slopes gently upwards towards a plateau between the two valleys. On the east, it consists mainly of a large croquet lawn cut into the slope, with a small wooden pavilion at its south end. The drive crosses the north end of the area and to its north is a bank of mixed trees and shrubs, dominated by mature beech under-planted with rhododendrons and holly. From the forecourt a section of drive curves around the south end of the croquet lawn, backed by a low drystone wall. The southern boundary of the lawn to the south, and of the lawn south of the house, is planted with a belt of mixed ornamental trees and shrubs, including conifers. The outer area of pleasure grounds is quite different in character from the main garden. The two valleys, naturally wooded but enhanced with extra planting of trees and, near the garden, rhododendrons and laurel, present a more picturesque style. Walks have been threaded through the landscape, and a few built structures added, in order to open up and show off its natural attributes. The scenery here is unspoilt and of exceptional beauty; landscaping has had a minimal impact on its appearance. Although both valleys are steep-sided and wooded they are otherwise of contrasting character, enhancing the overall appeal of the pleasure grounds. At the house the Teifi flows first west, flanked by the drive and park, then turns to run southwards along the west side of the pleasure grounds. The valley sides are precipitous and lightly wooded with mixed deciduous trees, dominated by beech. The broad, dark river occupies the entire valley floor. At the north end, near the garden, ornamental planting grades into natural, with mixed planting of oak, beech, conifers, sweet chestnut, holly, rhododendrons and bamboos. The east side of the valley is transected by a complex network of paths, mostly following the contours, sometimes cut into rock but linked by steep zig-zag stretches. They extend to the south towards an area of quarries to the north-east of Cilgerran. At the north end, near the house, a branch track fringing the lawn, joins the north–south track along the western lip of the Morgenau valley where landscaping also consisted of opening up the valley with walks and bridges. This track, at its north end, drops down to the river, cut into the rock. The main path then runs up the west side of the river for most of its length, at the north end branching off opposite the lawn near the house. Aside from some local slumping most of the walk is passable and well preserved. It is partly cut into the rock and in places revetted. Upstream, to the south, the walk crosses the river on a single-arched stone bridge with low parapet. Other footbridges, shown on historic mapping, appear to have gone. Further south, the path on the east side of the valley climbs steeply, rock-cut, with a flight of four cut stone steps. The track along the western lip of the valley branches into the Teifi valley but the main line continues south to the road near Hammet Bridge. The kitchen garden was located some distance away from the house, about 1.5km to the south-east, to the immediate east of Castell Maelgwyn farm buildings. It probably dates to the period 1791-1811 when the house, park and gardens were created. The kitchen garden is a ‘D’-shaped enclosure, its south side straight and forming the north wall of the adjacent ornamental garden (NPRN 265250). It lies in a dip, the ground sloping down from the east and west to a pool in the centre, once at the intersection of cross paths. The garden is enclosed by stone walls mostly standing to their full height of about 4m. The north, east and west walls are internally lined with brick. The south wall has a stone core and is faced with brick on both sides and is supported on the outside by stone buttresses. The pool in the centre of the garden is oval, about 1m deep and is lined with a drystone revetment wall. A flight of ruinous stone steps leads down into it on its north-west side. . Evidence of fruit-growing against the walls survives in the form of innumerable nails and many lead labels still fixed to them. In addition to the garden and pleasure grounds around and below the house, there was another, quite separate, ornamental garden to the south of Castle Malgwyn Farm, created in the 1840s. It lies immediately south of the former kitchen garden. The roughly rectangular area, long axis east by west, is now a pasture field with a few deciduous trees. The west end of the area, at the foot of the slope, is marked by a fountain at the centre of a circular pool. The east end of the garden area is levelled, with a scarp on its south side. It is bounded on the north by a 3.5m high wall, the back wall of a range of glasshouses, now gone. A small, sunken, circular pool, now dry, lies close to this. On the north side of the wall is a range of single-storey stone bothies, now in agricultural use. At the east end of the area is Gardens Cottage at the end of a track along the north side of the garden. The internal layout and the arrangement of paths across and around both parts of the garden have now gone. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 172-8 (ref: PGW(Dy)32(PEM)). Ordnance Survey first-edition 25-inch map, sheet Cardiganshire XXXVIII.10 (1886). Ordnance Survey second-edition six-inch map, sheet Cardiganshire XXXVIII.SW (1904). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.  

PGW(Dy)16(PEM)

Castle Hall  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Milford Haven  

191774  

205840  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscaped garden & pleasure grounds.  

Former raised drive, now supporting later terrace about 1780, landscaped about 1804, with additional features about 1850.  

Registered for the historic interest of its early nineteenth-century gardens incorporating some late eighteenth-century features. The gardens include two substantial terraces associated with the house (house demolished 1930s); fine entrances at the approach and elsewhere; a grotto; a lake; further terracing with a range of glass and an enigmatic garden structure formerly referred to as a 'pinery'. The registered area has group value with the surviving garden structures, some of which are designated as listed buildings. The site of Castle Hall is to the east of the town of Milford Haven, overlooking the Haven and an inlet known as Castle Pill. The present house is a modern structure built on part of the earlier house platform after the demolition of the mid-nineteenth century house in the 1930s. This and previous house sites all lie at about 35m ASL, giving views towards Milford and across the Haven towards Angle. The formal gardens, small rectangular beds with a central circular bed, existed by 1769 (estate map) falling west of the house towards a pool and the shore. An enclosed orchard then lay to the north of the house. There followed a history of landscaping spanning the next 150 years. The present, early nineteenth-century gardens, include two substantial terraces associated with the house (LB: 12913’ 12914). There is also further terracing with a range of glass and an enigmatic garden structure formerly referred to as a 'pinery'. There are fine entrances at the approach (LB; 12910) and elsewhere (LB: 12911; 12912) a grotto and a lake with islands. By the early nineteenth century the slopes around the house were described by Fenton as ‘charmingly wooded’. The terraces were probably part of the estate improvements made by Benjamin Rotch c.1810. Mr Benjamin Rotch bought Castle Hall in 1804 and extensively transformed the grounds before 1817, when he was bankrupted. Rotch was a North American Quaker, owner of whaling ships and leading figure in the group invited to settle in Milford by Charles Greville to establish Milford as a whaling port. He also established the first bank in Milford, The 1818 sale particulars refer to a 'capital conservatory, pineries, peachery, green-house and fish-pond' and his daughter's memoirs refer to an iron and glass orangery and three pineries, hot, hotter and hottest in which 250-300 pineapples were grown a year. The house site, stable block (LB: 12909) and gardens together occupy a little more than 10 acres, of which a quarter acre is the lake. The gardens are formed in a now dry, shallow valley which slopes from the house down towards Castle Pill, giving the garden a mostly west-facing aspect. The present house site is towards the east of the original house platform. Below this platform are steps leading to the two terraces; to the north of the lower terrace a further flight of steps gives access to the main garden area. Immediately below and to the west of the lower terrace is the tennis court and below that again is the lake. The main entrance to the house is off Castle Hall Road to the north (formerly a drive) where the stone boundary wall rises, in places, to above 4.5m. At the entrance to the drive is a wide masonry carriage arch (LB: 12910), nearby are the remains of a gatehouse. Though early surveys give very little indication of the exact route of former drives, two lodges are shown on early Ordnance Survey maps, one to the north (western drives) and another on the east (LB: 12916). The area between these lodges is shown as parkland in the nineteenth century but is now a housing estate. Also present is the site of the orangery, to the east of the gate, and which included a heated wall. This is now marked by low brick walls. Significant Views: Views towards Milford and across the Haven towards Angle. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 180-85 (ref: PGW(Dy)16(PEM)). Ordnance Survey County Series six-inch plan: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXIII.7 (1862)  

PGW(Gm)19(CDF)

Cathays Cemetery  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Heath  

318129  

178885  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban cemetery;  

1859; early twentieth century  

Cathays Cemetery is registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved large Victorian multi-denominational cemetery, retaining most of its original layout and ornamental evergreen planting. It contains some elaborate and interesting memorials dating from 1859 onwards. The registered area also has group value with the fine main entrance gateway and forecourt walls (LB: 13682), mortuary chapels (LB: 13683) and lodge, cemetery house (LB: 25824) designed by R.G Thomas, architect of Newport in collaboration with T. Waring, borough surveyor. Cathays Cemetery is situated in the Cathays area of Cardiff to the north of the city centre. It is kite-shaped, bounded on the east side by a railway, and on all other sides by roads. It is divided into a northern and southern half by the A48 dual carriageway, the southern part being the original cemetery. The two halves are quite separate, although inter-visible across the deep cutting of the A48. The first cemetery on the site, Cardiff New Cemetery, opened in 1859 in open countryside to the north of Cardiff. It was a multi-denominational cemetery, each faith being allocated a section, and with chapels for 'Episcopals', 'Dissenters', and Roman Catholics. It was laid out with a central axial walk orientated north-west/south-east leading to twin chapels and a grand entrance and lodge at the southern end. Branching off from the main walk were two curving side walks forming a heart-shaped plan. On either side of the chapels were symmetrical layouts of oval and crossing paths, with further paths leading around the outer parts of the cemetery. At the north-west end was a Roman Catholic chapel with radial walks leading off from it. The cemetery was planted mainly with conifers, particularly flanking the main walks and around the perimeter. This layout is shown on the six-inch first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1886. Most of the original layout of the oldest part of the cemetery survives, the main parts missing being the Roman Catholic chapel and the oval path layout to the south-west of the Dissenters' chapel. By 1915 it had expanded to Whitchurch Road in the south, and a new area to the north of the Taff Vale railway, which followed the route of the present A48 road, was opened up across former farmland and allotments. The southern section is laid out with straight crossing tarmac paths, with the graves in rows, several entrances, the boundaries planted with trees. The main entrance is in the middle of the south-east side, flanked by iron railings. It consists of iron gates in triple stone gothic arches, the central one larger and surmounted by a cross. This was built in 1857-59, designed by R.G. Thomas of Newport and T. Waring of Cardiff. To the north-east is a two-storey gothic lodge of stone with a pitched slate roof. Its smaller windows are trefoil-headed. Inside the main entrance are twin gothic chapels on either side of a central reception room surmounted by a bell tower, with porte-cochères and linking passages between them. The chapels are in the same style as the entrance and lodge. They were built in 1857-59 by R.G. Thomas and T. Waring. Further south, along the south-east side is another entrance with double iron gates and stone piers with recessed gothic panels and triangular tops ornamented with half-trefoils. Similar piers are used at all the entrances. In the south-west corner is a small gate flanked by stone piers. Near the east end of the south side is a similar, wider entrance, with double iron gates and side pedestrian gates flanked by incurving stone walls. The south-east corner of the site is occupied by the fine Carnegie Library building (LB:13681). The west side, along Allensbank Road, has two entrances, one main one and one side one, with iron gates, piers, and flanking banded walls Plantings include limes, cypresses, yews, pines and a monkey puzzle. The northern half of the cemetery is laid out with straight crossing walks, graves in uneven rows, and with similar planting to the southern section. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)19(CDF)) Ordnance Survey first edition 6-inch map of Glamorgan, sheet XLIII (1886) Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, sheet XLIII.11 (1901).  

PGW(Gm)26(CDF)

Cathays Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Castle  

318223  

176961  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park: formal gardens; informal gardens  

1903-06; 1924-28  

Cathays Park is registered for its historic interest as a large, roughly rectangular area of public open space containing three main garden spaces: Alexandra Gardens, Gorsedd Gardens, and Friary Gardens, which are all contemporary with the original Edwardian laying out of the park. Cathays Park lies to the east of Bute Park and to the north of the main commercial centre of Cardiff. Each garden has its own different character and each retains its original layout. The setting of these gardens is a magnificent group of public buildings and its attendant tree-lined spacious roads, the layout of which reflects the underlying earlier park. Cathays Park originated as a private park of the Bute Estate laid out from 1812, and was purchased for the public in 1897. The idea of purchasing Cathays Park from the Butes for public use was mooted as early as the 1850s, but nothing came of it until the 1890s. Negotiations were opened in 1892, and in 1897 a purchase price for 59 acres of £159,000 was accepted. Mr William Harpur, drew up layout plans for the park in 1899 which included Gorsedd Gardens and Friary Gardens. He produced detailed plans in 1903, and development began. Alexandra Gardens, first called University Gardens, was laid out and planted in 1903 and formally opened and renamed Alexandra Gardens by the Queen on 27 July 1910. It is the largest of the three parks. Rectangular in shape, it comprises a five-acre garden with the Welsh National Memorial of the European War (1914-18) in the centre (Cadw listed building ref:13742). It is largely laid out to formal lawns with island beds and specimen trees. The War Memorial is of exceptional quality and forms an imposing focal point for the gardens. To the south-east is Gorsedd Gardens, a sub-triangular 2-acre (0.8ha) area of informal garden opposite the National Museum. Gorsedd Gardens was enclosed and partly laid out in 1904-5, the public being finally admitted in 1910. It is laid out with lawns, specimen trees and tree and shrub borders and hedges. Winding brick paths run through the gardens and around the Gorsedd circle, re-erected here in 1905, having formerly been put up elsewhere in the park for the National Eisteddfod of 1899. A number of statues adorn the gardens. On the north side is a standing bronze statue of David Lloyd George. At the south end of the garden, next to the path, is a statue to John Cory, coal owner and philanthropist, by Sir W. Goscombe John. Next to the path in the north-west corner of the garden is another Goscombe John statue, of Lord Ninian Edward Crichton Stuart (1883-1915), who fell in France at the battle of Loos. Immediately to the west of the garden, set in an area of grass between the Boulevard de Nantes and the City Hall, is a large equestrian statue by Goscombe John of the 1st Viscount Tredegar To the south, Friary Gardens occupies a triangular area of about 1 acre (0.4ha) divided into two areas by the Dock Feeder Canal, flanked by deciduous trees, which crosses it. The southern half is a slightly sunken triangular area laid out as a formal parterre garden of box-edged beds and gravel paths. Formerly known as a 'Dutch garden', it has retained its original layout. In the middle of the path along the north side is a large statue by P. Macgillivray to John, 3rd Marquis of Bute, Baron Cardiff, Earl of Dumfries, Earl of Windsor (1847-1900), erected in 1928. Friary Gardens was enclosed in the autumn of 1904 and laid out in the winter of 1905/6. Setting: The setting of these parks is the magnificent group of public buildings forming Cardiff's Civic Centre with its attendant tree-lined spacious roads, the layout of which reflects the underlying earlier park. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)26(CDF). Pettigrew, A., 'The public parks and recreation grounds of Cardiff' (1926), vol. II, pp. 149 ff. and vol VI, pp. 72-76. Cardiff Central Library. Chappell, E.L., Cardiff's Civic Centre (1946). Newman, J., The buildings of Wales. Glamorgan (1995), pp. 220-37.  

PGW(Po)29(POW)

Cefn Bryntalch  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Llandyssil  

317669  

296291  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

House and formal garden in rural setting.  

c. 1870  

Registered for its largely intact formal garden contemporary with the Queen Anne revival house of c.1870 by architect G.F Bodley (1827-1907). Cefn Bryntalch has historical associations with the composer Peter Warlock (1894-1930) who lived here intermittently from 1903, and wrote much of his music here. The registered area has group value with the house and its associated group of service buildings of contemporary date, also by G.F Bodley. Cefn Bryntalch (LB: 7714; NPRN: 28942) lies to the north of a minor road linking the village of Green Lane with the B4385, on the northern edge of a steep slope overlooking the Severn valley to the north and west. The gardens, believed to be contemporary with the house, lie to the south, south-west and west of the house on terraced ground which slopes to the south-west. The original, formal, drive from an entrance and lodge (LB: 18524) on the road to the south, approached the house from the south-west to the forecourt on the north-east front. The drive ran along the northern boundary of a field containing various specimen trees planted on, or around, two earth tumps. This drive is now disused, replaced by the former service drive along the north-east end of the field. The garden is laid out in a series of formal enclosures connected by paths and steps. To the south front is a small, sunken rectangular lawn surrounded by raised straight paths which connect to rectangular raised platforms on the south-west and south-east corners of the lawn. South of the lawn the ground slopes away downhill to the tree-grown field and, to the west, towards the kitchen garden. Nineteenth-century iron park fencing separate the garden from the field to the south and east. West of the lawn, on the west side of the house, a set of brick steps and a path connect on the north to a large split-level rectangular lawn, enclosed by a wooded bank on the north which continues out into the farmland. On the west end of the bank is a medieval motte (scheduled monument MG014). Beyond the east end of the lawn is a steep slope (planted up with yew, laurel and other shrubs) down to a second level below, formerly a tennis court but now planted as a wind barrier. The lawns are connected by stone steps. There are formal walks around and between the terraced areas. The garden of Cefn Bryntalch is believed to be contemporary with the house. It was certainly in place by 1888 when it was recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map. No actual plans of the garden are known to have survived but some information about the garden area occurs in Bodley's building specifications for the house, dated 1868, which note the proposed creation of different ground levels around the site of the house. It is believed that the house, outbuildings and lodge were all originally designed by G.F. Bodley (1827-1907) but that the work was passed on to Philip Webb (1831-1915) in the early 1870s on the event of Bodley becoming ill. The kitchen garden, also believed to be contemporary with the house, lies to the south-west of the house, on a sunken level terrace. It covers about 0.4 ha, is laid out on two separate levels, and is surrounded by laurel hedging and a mixed shelter belt. Source: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 40-2 (ref: PGW (Po)29(POW)). Ordnance Survey, First Edition map sheet Montgomeryshire XXXVII.NW (1885)  

PGW(Gm)70(MER)

Cefn Coed Cemetery & Jewish Burial Ground  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Merthyr Tydfil  

Vaynor  

302526  

208372  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Cemetery, burial ground  

1859; 1905; 1982; 1994 (Cefn Coed Cemetery). 1872 (Jewish burial ground)  

Included in the register for its historic interest as a Victorian public cemetery with its original layout largely surviving in its entirety. Cefn Coed Cemetery is situated at the north end of the village of Cefn-coed-y-cymmer on the north-west edge of Merthyr Tydfil, on the lower, sloping sides of the Taf Fawr valley, divided into two sections by the river. It is the oldest and largest general public cemetery in Merthyr Tydfil, created in 1859 when the town was experiencing a population explosion. Apart from the loss of the chapel of rest it survives in its entirety with its original layout. Some of the graves are of great historic interest, reflecting a wide range of occupation and wealth. Historical events, such as pit disasters and cholera outbreaks, are also commemorated. A few memorials are of value for their sculptural and monumental qualities and include the work of the well- known Victorian sculptor Joseph Edwards RA. The cemetery is about 40 acres in extent and can be divided into four main sections: the oldest, Cefn, on the east flank of the Taf Fawr valley (opened 1859); the Ffrwd section, on the west flank (1905); and the Pontycapel (1982) and Capel Fach (1994) sections above the Ffrwd. Each section represents a phase of development and expansion since the original area was laid out. The sections are subdivided by drives and/or narrow paths. Planting is informal, Cefn having the broadest variety including pine, Irish yew, Monkey Puzzle, cypresses, laurel and cedar. Some older deciduous trees may predate the cemetery. The Ffrwd section has two large wellingtonias. Flanking the Cefn entrance on the old A470 (now A4701) is a lodge, the carpark terrace below it the site of the former chapel. The Jewish Burial Ground, opened in 1860 and one of the largest in south Wales, is of historic interest in reflecting the presence of a thriving Jewish community in Merthyr Tydfil in the nineteenth century. It lies as a separate plot adjacent to the Cefn section of the cemetery, just beyond its north end, on the opposite (east) side of the A4701. Trees are absent aside from a large oak which probably predates the cemetery. Sources: Cadw Historic Park & Gardens database: PGW(Gm)70(MER). Photographed during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance on 13 June 2011.  

PGW(Gt)63(MON)

Cefn Ila  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llanbadoc  

336195  

200429  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden; informal woodland garden; orchard; walled kitchen garden  

1865; 1925  

Cefn Ila is registered for its historic interest as a good example of a Victorian garden, surviving it its entirety, with most of its structure intact, despite the loss of the house. The registered area comprises a formal terrace garden, an informal woodland garden, an orchard including some old apple and pear trees, and a well-preserved walled kitchen garden. An important aspect of the garden is the Victorian plantings of ornamental trees and shrubs, now fine mature specimens, including some rarities. The original house, belonged to the Williams family of Llangibby Castle, a few kilometres to the south. This house was bought in about 1846 by Edward J. Trelawney, a friend of the poets Shelley and Byron. In about 1865 it was bought by Edward Lister, who was recorded as ‘of Cefn Ila’ in 1869. He rebuilt and enlarged the house, with the help of ‘Mr Waterhouse’, who was probably a local builder. In 1885 Edward’s son Joseph died in a riding accident and the house and estate were sold by his widow. By the turn of the century Cefn Ila belonged to a French nobleman, Gerard Ducarel, 4th Marquis de la Pasture. In 1925 Cefn Ila went into institutional use when it was annexed to Pontypool Hospital and opened as The Kate Ayres Gustard Convalescent Home for women and children. From 1939 it was used as a sick bay for evacuated children; in 1947 it became a maternity home. The hospital finally closed on 3rd September 1973. Eleven days later it was burnt to the ground. The house site, garden, walled garden and part of the original park were sold to the Woodland Trust in 2007. The approach to Cefn Ila is from a minor road to the south. On the east side of the entrance is a small two-storey, stone lodge. The drive crosses the river over a single-arched stone bridge. In the river is a sluice on the upstream side, forming a small cascade, which creates a pleasing sound effect and is almost undoubtedly a deliberate piece of landscaping, designed to enhance the experience of crossing the bridge. The drive climbs the hill towards the house and garden, flanked in part by iron park fencing. On either side is relict parkland. To the west it has been planted as mixed woodland by the Woodland Trust. A large Cedar of Lebanon stands on the east side of the entrance to the grounds and at this point a subsidiary drive leads off to the west. Iron gateposts survive in the fence on the west side of the drive. The main drive winds uphill through the wooded gardens to a level area. The house stood on this platform. The drive swept around the east side of the house and led to the stable block to the north. The platform is bounded on the east side by a steep slope with battered dry-stone revetment walling at its foot. In front of the house, on its south side, was a level lawn. The gardens can be divided into two sections: the terraces immediately adjacent to the house site and the informal wooded grounds beyond. The terraced garden lies to the south and west of the house site. It is no longer lawned, as shown in early twentieth century photographs. The terraces are linked by two flights of steps. They, and a path below the lower flight, are flanked by overgrown yews, suggesting former yew hedges. The wooded part of the garden occupies a large area to the west and south of the house. The drive curves through it, passing banks of rhododendrons. The woodland is dominated by large conifers, including fine specimens of Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica Elegans), Lawson’s cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris), Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba), Monkey puzzle (Araucaria arucana), Incense cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), Himalayan cedar (Cedrus 4 deodara) and Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica Glauca). Other specimen trees in the woodland include Red horse chestnut (Aesculus Carnea), Evergreen oak (Quercus ilex), lime (Tilia x europea) and yew. At the end of the drive, near the house site, is a huge Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), shown clearly on the lawn in twentieth century photographs. To the north of the garden is an old orchard. The orchard is an area of well-spaced, large old apple trees on the slope and large pear trees at its foot. Near the top of the slope a wide, levelled path runs northwards across the slope to a handsome doorway in the south wall of the kitchen garden. The doorway has a cut stone surround and a wooden door, which appears original. The kitchen garden is rectangular, enclosed by roughly coursed, mortared stone walls, with flagstone coping. Along the outside of the east wall are two ruined stone bothies. The general layout of Lister’s gardens is shown on the first edition 25 in. Ordnance Survey map of 1886-87. This shows the gardens, set in parkland to the east, west and south, with their present configuration of winding drive, wooded southern half of the garden, terracing to the south and west of the house, orchard and kitchen garden. The photograph also shows a pond (which has recently been restored) and well in the valley floor to the west, below the terraces. Much of the substantial planting of trees and shrubs in the gardens can be attributed to Edward Lister. Setting: Cefn Ila is located in rolling countryside in an isolated situation about 1.5 km to the west of Usk. To the north the ground rises to a low ridge and to the south it drops to a small river valley running eastwards to the river Usk. Sources: Cadw 2013: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales Ordnance Survey, 25-inch sheet Monmouthshire XXIV.2 (1882) Ordnance Survey, 6-inch sheet Monmouthshire XXIV (1887)  

PGW(Gm)11(CAE)

Cefn Mably  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Rudry  

321870  

184106  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced garden; informal pleasure grounds; landscape park; walled garden  

Late sixteenth century; 1709-35; nineteenth century  

Registered for the survival of much of the park, woodland grounds and terraced garden of the major Glamorgan house at Cefn Mably, with features dating from the early eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The steep slopes and mature oaks of the southern half of the park form a beautiful setting for the house and are visible from a wide area to the south. Cefn Mably House (LB:13570) now converted to private apartments, is located to the north of Cardiff. It lies within a medium-sized park situated mainly on rolling ground to the south and west of the house. The park has probably evolved over a long period but evidence for its early history is scant. A painting of the 'old Tudor mansion', formerly in the house and sketched in 1910, shows a drive approaching the south front of the house from the east, with a straight drive to the front door, a forecourt along the length of the house, and linking parallel drives forming two squares in front of the house. The house is framed by large deciduous trees to the east and west. The painting may be the same one that was copied into an album in about 1837 by Angharad Llwyd of Tyn Rhyl, Rhyl, which purports to show the house in 1630. Some formal tree planting appears to have taken place in the park, probably in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. This may have been the work of Sir Charles Kemeys, who substantially altered the house at the beginning of the eighteenth century. An estate map of 1767 by William Jones shows the park walled, with some formal clumps (depicted as conifers), a row of conifers running east-west to the south-west of the house, and the park to the west dotted with trees. At some stage during the later eighteenth or nineteenth centuries the park was informally planted with deciduous clumps and specimen trees, and probably the present drives were made. By the time of the first edition 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps of 1875-82 the park was fully developed and the general configuration of open ground and woodland was established. The configuration remains largely the same but there are fewer clumps and individual trees in the park. The main entrance lies on the east boundary at Cefn Mably Lodge, just west of the Cefn-llwyd bridge over the river Rhymney. The drive winds its way to the north side of the house, intermittently flanked by horse chestnuts and oaks. A secondary gravel drive leads from the Maes-y-bryn road on the south-west boundary, eventually joining the main drive north of the house. This entrance is modern with no lodge and the drive is flanked by ash, beech, and horse chestnut trees. South of the house the ground drops steeply from the terraced gardens down towards the Rhymney valley flood plain. To the south-west, a small wood, Coed Cae-bach, and a ribbon of woodland below it run east-west down a slight valley, to the south of which the ground rises again to a narrow ridge. Planting is largely of deciduous trees, the most prominent being a row of oak clumps along the top of the ridge visible from the house and from a wide area beyond the park to the south. Near the western edge of the field below the house is a copse of large ancient sweet chestnuts, possibly part of an early formal layout of the park. The field to the west, beyond the Gilbert's Well has some large beeches at its north end and a single mature evergreen oak at its north-west end. Coed Cae-bach and the woodland below it are of mixed deciduous trees. The terraced gardens (LB: 13571) adjoin the south-east front of the house, on ground sloping away to the south and east, the main entrance drive winding through the grounds from the east. The gardens comprise the following: a large, square, revetted grass terrace with a low parapet immediately in front of the house, extending from the west end to just east of the front door, and with a small square turret in the south-east corner; to the east, below steps, a smaller square level area and, at the same level, a narrower terrace extending southwards to the south boundary of the garden, with a gazebo in the south-east corner at the end of a central path; the third and lowest terrace lies at the east end of the gardens, to the east of the middle terrace, reached by a wide flight of steps in the north-west corner. The latter terrace, known as the Winter Garden in 1910, is a quadrangular level area of grass bounded on the west and north by high revetment walls. The south side is the boundary revetment wall of the garden with a low parapet. In the middle of the north side is a small pavilion. The second main area of the gardens and grounds is the wooded grounds to the east of the house. A large area, sloping to the east, is laid out informally with specimen coniferous and deciduous trees and an under-planting of evergreen shrubs. Mature trees include cedars, pines and wellingtonia. The third area is the wooded grounds to the west and south-west of the house. Close to the house, development has impinged on the gardens removing much of the historic grounds. Beyond this area, to the north and west, are wooded grounds through which run the west drive, and in the middle of which is situated the kitchen garden. Much of this area has been redeveloped though many large specimen trees survive with evergreen shrub under-plantings, particularly between the house and the kitchen garden. Most former paths have gone. A dovecote that formerly stood near the east end of the woodland has gone (NPRN: 37492). The walled kitchen garden (LB: 21445) is situated in the woodland grounds to the west of the house, just north of the west drive. It probably dates from the early eighteenth century. It is square and enclosed within rubble stone walls 2.2m - 3.5m high. There were entrances in the east wall and in the east end of the north wall. There were brick bothies and a ruined gardener's cottage outside the north-east corner, all of which have now gone as have the remains of glasshouses which once lay along the north wall, together with an outside boiler house. The map depiction of 1875 shows the garden interior with perimeter and cross paths but without glasshouses. The interior has now been built over and the walled kitchen garden is now a walled housing estate. Significant Views: Views southeast and southwest across the park from the house and gardens. Views towards the park and house from a wide area beyond the park to the south. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 24-8 (ref: PGW(Gm)11(CAE)). Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XXXVII.12 (1875).  

PGW(Gt)31(MON)

Cefn Tilla  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Raglan  

340680  

203266  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park, terraced and informal gardens, walled kitchen garden.  

Seventeenth century; 1856.  

Cefn Tilla is registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved mid-nineteenth century small landscape park and garden, with remnants of a formal seventeenth century garden. The site has historical associations with the architect Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (1820-77) who re-modelled and extended Cefn Tilla house in 1856-60 for the 2nd Lord Raglan. The park and garden has group value with the listed house (LB: 24741), coach house and court yard (LB:24751) and forecourt walls at Cefn Tilla Court (LB:24750). The park at Cefn Tilla was created in 1856 when the house and some land were bought for the second Lord Raglan. It is a long narrow strip of land lying mainly to the north and south of Cefn Tilla Court; a landscape park in character, with grassland and isolated trees, the ground rolling on a westward-facing slope with Cefn Tilla situated in a hollow. The park is bounded on the east by the Gwernesney-Llandenny road. Until 1933 this was the main drive, now a public road, but it is still partly tree lined. The main entrance now is at the southern end of the park and the tree-lined drive runs along its western boundary up to the north side of the house. To the north a secondary drive crosses the park north-east/south-west from an entrance on the Gwernesney-Llandenny road. The garden lies to the south, east and north-east of Cefn Tilla Court and was created in two main phases; in the seventeenth century and soon after 1856. The rectangular area enclosed by dry-stone walling south of the house probably represents the extent of the original seventeenth-century garden. The rest of the garden layout - the terracing and topiary walk east of the house, the arboretum, the outer paths and forecourt - belongs to the mid nineteenth-century phase, as does much of the tree and some of the shrub planting. The informal arboretum to the north-east of the house retains some of its Victorian feel with more recent planting of trees and shrubs. Some of the largest trees date from the 1850s and a few Victorian rhododendrons remain, though only a relic of their former extent. A small ornamental pond in this area has been enlarged and deepened. There is evidence that the ground to the north of the house was originally sloping and that it was raised and levelled in the 1850s using a considerable depth of rubble and soil. About 100m south of the house is the walled kitchen garden of nineteenth century date. Square in shape, its brick walls surviving to full height with doorways in the centre of each wall, and lean-to bothies of brick and slate against the outside of the north wall. To the north is an outer garden, also of nineteenth century date, which used to contain hothouses as shown on the 25” Ordnance Survey map of 1882. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, 22-3 (ref: PGW(Gt)31.  

PGW(Gd)23(GWY)

Cefnamwlch  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Tudweiliog  

223511  

335495  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Garden surrounded by plantations, walled garden.  

Probably during the third decade of the nineteenth century.  

Cefnamwlch (NPRN 26236) is located south of the village of Tydweiliog on the Llyn peninsula. The grounds are registered for the well preserved walled garden, probably dating to the 1820s, with informal layout and good plantations alongside the drive and around the house. The grounds have important group value with the principal building, Cefnamwlch house and its associated estate outbuildings and garden structures. The house (LB: 4222; NPRN: 26236) is situated in wooded grounds within which is a walled garden. Cefnamwlch does not have parkland in the accepted sense, and does not appear to have had any in 1888, when the 1st edition 25-in. Ordnance Survey map was surveyed. Early manuscript Ordnance Survey mapping of about 1820 shows the plantations in place but less extensive than they are now and lacking the strips alongside the drives, which were laid out between 1820 and 1888. It also shows the older house still standing, corner-to-corner with the present eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century house, and aligned with the early seventeenth-century gatehouse (LB:19428). By the time the first edition 25-in. map was surveyed, in 1888, the old house had gone and the plantations had expanded. Between 1889 and 1900 there was little obvious further change, but by 1918 the plantations to the west of the main drive extended still further. The overriding concern in an otherwise extremely exposed, plateau location surrounded by open farmland was the provision of shelter, which would have been necessary from the time when the first house was built on the site. The house and garden are enclosed in woodland, and the main drive is similarly protected. The open space around the house (mostly to the north and east) enjoys an improved microclimate created by the surrounding trees, which also offer a backdrop for the rhododendrons and other ornamental shrubs planted on the inner edges of the woodland. The main drive is more than 1km long. It enters the estate at Lower Lodge (LB: 19429; 19430) and approaches the house from the north. The rear drive approaches from the south, via the Home Farm, with Mountain Lodge (LB: 19431) at the entrance. A former drive, with no lodge, approaching from the south-east was disused by 1888. The informal gardens lie mostly to the north and east of the house and are surrounded by the wooded grounds. The original garden area would probably have contained an orchard and kitchen garden, with possibly a formal ornamental garden near the house, but no clear traces of early features can now be identified. The present layout is probably of the early nineteenth century, all more or less contemporary, including the walled garden (LB: 19438). The redesign of the garden likely coincided with the demolition of the older house (NPRN: 26238), probably in the 1820s. The walled garden is used mainly as an ornamental area but with areas reserved for growing fruit and vegetables. It was always, as now, as much a part of the pleasure grounds as a functional food-production area. The garden is sub-rectangular and defined by walls of handmade brick, about 3m high on two sides, less so on the west and south, and now with several entrances. It contains an irregular layout of gravel paths dividing the interior into several unequal sections and a two-storey square plan summerhouse of red brick (LB: 19439) contemporary with the walled garden. Most of the enclosed area is now lawns. The path layout has a focal point near the centre in the form of an octagonal sundial (LB: 19440) which is neither dated nor inscribed, and was probably moved from the lawn opposite the main entrance to the house after 1918. Most of the rest of the garden is lawn with a partially disused path layout which may be of the same date. There are many large, old specimen trees, both coniferous and broadleaved, in the planted areas of the lawn, though fewer than there once were, and they include beech, lime, yew, pine and sweet chestnut. Several appear to be much older, notably an enormous multi-stemmed yew and a very large sweet chestnut. Part of the area to the west of the house has now been made into a sheltered small flower garden with an informal sitting area. Setting: The house and garden at Cefnamwlch are hidden by plantations, which in turn are surrounded by farmland, with further shelter belts along field boundaries, stream-sides and the drives. The site, only two or three kilometres from the north coast of the Lleyn Peninsula, just south of and slightly higher than the village of Tudweiliog, is extremely exposed. Source: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 174-9 (ref: PGW(Gd)23(GWY).  

PGW(Gd)45(ANG)

Cestyll  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Isle of Anglesey  

Cylch-y-Garn  

234550  

393337  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

A small garden exploiting a particular site - the sheltered valley of a small stream, leading down to the sea - with interesting plantings and an intimate atmosphere  

1920s  

Registered as an unusual, small and intimate 1920s garden in a scenic coastal location, informally planted with tender plants, which are well suited to its rocky coastal site. Princess Victoria, a close friend of the garden's owner and principal designer, Violet Vivian (1879-1962) designed part of the garden. The registered area includes the valley garden, the remains of the kitchen garden and Cestyll house site as well as adjoining land. Cestyll is an unusual garden, situated in a small valley running north to the sea, on the north coast of Anglesey, to the west of Wylfa Head. Originally Cestyll formed part of the Carreglwyd estate, but in 1918 the estate was broken up and Cestyll was bought by the Hon. Walter Warwick Vivian (1856-1943) as a gift for his niece, Violet. Cestyll house (demolished in 1991) was situated on the cliff, with a view out to sea. It was approached along a drive from the south. A small garden area surrounded the house, lying mostly in a rough semi-circle to the west and north (open to the view, which is spectacular) but including a high-walled triangular garden area at the front of the house, on the east. The house, surrounding garden and kitchen garden layout is shown in an aerial photograph c.1960. Part of the surrounding wall, iron fence and hedge remains around the semi-circular garden area. The house and kitchen garden are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1900 and are probably contemporary with each other. The kitchen garden lies to the north of the house site. It is rectangular, about 50m by 35m, and surrounded by a rubble stone, lime mortared wall which stands up to 2.5m high. Remnants of borders survive as slate edging. Some original shrub and tree planting survives, including an old variety of apple (Lady’s Finger of Lancaster). An outbuilding is built into the south-eastern wall, but was recently demolished, along with part of the kitchen garden wall. Three further small outbuildings remain within the garden. The valley garden, in a small valley to the west of the house site and divided from it by a field, was laid out by Violet Vivian from 1922 onwards. The layout takes advantage of the geography of the site - a small, rocky valley with a fast-flowing stream, leading down to a sea cove - and of the sheltered conditions, which allowed half-hardy and tender species to be grown. The result is an informal plantsman's garden which has many small, separate but linked areas, in many cases defined by the bends and loops of the stream, which give it a very intimate atmosphere. Being enclosed within a valley, the garden is essentially self-contained, but the view down towards the sea is an important aspect of its design, with the old mill adding a romantic touch in the foreground, and which together with a mature pine, frames the view to the sea. The romance is intensified by the hidden nature of the garden, and the fact that it lies at some distance from the house site and kitchen garden, across an open pasture field. The garden contains a very wide range of plants, concentrating on shrubs and waterside plants. There are also many ornamental trees, mostly smaller varieties which can flourish within the sheltered valley. A large, sloping rock outcrop on the western side of the garden was covered with soil carried there by hand, and carpeted with bedding plants - around 3,000 of them - every year Violet and her twin sister Dorothea, were maids of honour to Queen Alexandra. Princess Victoria, a particular friend and one who was also, clearly, interested in gardening, was responsible for designing one small area of the valley garden. Violet herself designed the rest. After her death, Violet’s ashes were scattered in the garden, as those of her uncle had been, and there is a memorial tablet to them both. Significant Views: From the valley garden, particularly from elevated areas, across the garden and to the sea. Views out to sea from the house site and its rear garden. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, (ref: PGW(Gd)45(ANG).  

PGW(Gt)43(MON)

Chapel House, Monmouth  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Monmouth  

350888  

213223  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal walled terraced town garden.  

c. 1700.  

The garden at Chapel House in Monmouth is registered for its historic interest as a rare example of a substantial terraced town garden dating to the early eighteenth-century and of importance for its group value with the listed Chapel House and its railings, gates and garden walls. The garden of Chapel House lies to its west on the steep slope between the house (Cadw LB: 2309) and the river Monnow. On the street boundary is a small forecourt bounded on the east side by iron railings and entered via double ironwork gates. The railings are flanked by high red brick walls (Cadw LB: 2310). A wide central flagstone path leads to semi-circular steps up to the front door of the house. The garden to the west of the house is bounded by high brick walls, and there are two small garden compartments on either side of the house also bounded by high brick walls. A wide, lawned terrace with gravel path, built out over the slope and revetted by a substantial buttressed brick wall, runs the full length of the garden, parallel with the west front of the house. Steps descend to a path running along the foot of the revetment wall, below which is a steep tree and shrub-covered slope, with two paths running diagonally down it from the steps. Below is more gently sloping ground next to the river, formerly an orchard. A levelled area of lawn, formerly a lawn tennis court, lies at the north end. There are some substantial trees, both deciduous and coniferous, in the garden, and particularly on the slope below the terrace. The garden was described in 1804 (Heath) as spacious with lots of fruit and an extensive lawn. A map of 1835 shows the present layout plus an orangery. The latter was a substantial building the brick footings of which are visible against the boundary wall at the north end of the upper terrace. The map also shows a further area of garden, probably an orchard, to the north. Setting and Significant View: To the west across the water meadows of the river Monnow. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, 96-7 (ref: PGW(Gt)43.  

PGW(Gt)61(MON)

Chepstow Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Devauden  

349156  

197696  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medieval deer park; seventeenth-century deer park and deer course, with lodge.  

About 1270s; about 1630  

Registered as an unusually well-preserved and well-delineated deer park that belonged to Chepstow Castle. The park has two distinct phases of development. In the medieval period it was a simple deer park bounded by a wooden fence. In the 1630s it was walled and probably used for deer coursing; the one mile track probably ran from the entrance at Pen-y-Parc to the now ruined lodge. The deer park has group value with scheduled monument Chepstow Park Wood Moated Site (MM103) which comprises the remains of a moated hunting lodge situated in a central position in the park. The deer park is situated to the northwest of Chepstow Castle to the west of the Wye valley. The park is bounded on the north side by the Devauden to Chepstow road and on the west side by the Devauden to Itton road. The park is bounded by a more or less continuous drystone rubble wall and the boundary can be traced in its entirety. There are six possible principal medieval entrance points and several further minor ones that may be medieval in origin. The park is largely taken up with commercially managed coniferous plantations but amongst these are pockets of deciduous native woodland. Within the park are a number of built structures. The most significant is the deer park lodge (MM103) situated on high ground in the centre of the park, from which there would have been extensive views south towards Chepstow. The site consists of a circular earthwork, about 50m in diameter, within which are a ruined building and vaulted spring. There are two spring-fed ponds on the higher ground in the middle of the park. A short distance to their south-west is a small reservoir, probably dating to the nineteenth-century. To the southwest of Pen-y-Parc, close to the park boundary, is a substantial raised platform. It is roughly rectangular and faces eastwards, out from the park. The east side is about 4.5m wide and 1.4m high and is faced with a rubble stone wall with splayed ends. The park was established under Roger Bigod (1245-1306). The first references to the park are in accounts of 1283, which refer to the wages of two parkers. It is therefore likely that the park was established shortly beforehand, probably in the 1270s. From the records, which continue until 1303/04, we know that the park was bounded by a tall fence of wooden palings that required frequent repair. There are references to an entrance gate that was fitted in 1288/89 and given a new lock in 1299/1300. No mention is made in the medieval accounts of a park lodge. The second major phase of development came in the 1630s when the fifth earl of Worcester of Raglan Castle, who owned the land at that time, enclosed the park with a drystone wall. The wall followed the medieval boundary. A keeper of the park was included in a list of the earl’s officers, implying the management of deer. The reason for the park’s re-enclosure and stocking by the earl of Worcester may have been to set up a deer course with the lodge in use as a deer coursing grandstand. Source: Cadw 2007: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, additional and revised entries part 1, 39-41 (ref: PGW(Gt)61(MON).  

PGW(Gt)6(MON)

Chippenham  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Monmouth  

350765  

212455  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medieval common; early twentieth-century public park.  

Common - medieval; public park 1909.  

Chippenham is a public park lying on level low ground in the centre of Monmouth in the angle between the Rivers Wye and Monnow. It is registered for its historic interest as an historic common in the centre of Monmouth, later laid out as a public park. Formerly 18ha (45 acres) in extent its area has been curtailed in the twentieth century by the building of the A40, which cuts off the section nearest the River Wye from the rest (this part is now allotments and flood plain pasture) and by the conversion of the part nearest Monnow Street to car parks. The history of Chippenham as a public open space goes back to the medieval period. Horse racing took place on Chippenham throughout the nineteenth century and probably earlier. A map of 1835 shows no paths. The Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (1902) shows five paths crossing it, two roughly in the position of present-day paths. The main part of the park is a large level grassed area crossed by three straight paths lined with deciduous trees; mainly lime with some sycamore. These were laid out and planted initially in 1909 by the Improvement Association. The southern end of Chippenham is occupied by a sports ground, bowling green and tennis courts and Ordnance Survey maps show that it was not used as a sports ground until the late 1960s, when the sports ground, bowling green, tennis courts, putting green and a swimming pool were added. Setting: Located in the centre of Monmouth and within the Monmouth Conservation Area. There are fairly uninterrupted views to the east and south-east towards the rural backdrop of wooded hills beyond. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, p.99 (ref: PGW (Gt)37).  

PGW(C)63(WRE)

Chirk Castle  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Wrexham  

Glyntraian  

326633  

338567  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; terraced garden; informal garden  

Early eighteenth century; 1760s-70s; late nineteenth century to c. 1920  

Chirk Castle is situated on elevated ground to the north of the Ceiriog valley, west of Chirk village. It is registered for its outstanding landscape park, partly designed by William Emes, and its terraced and informal garden which includes remains from the medieval period onwards, all set in a fine elevated position. Outstanding features within the layout include the early eighteenth-century entrance gates and screen by Robert and John Davies, Grade I Listed (LB 1315), the early eighteenth-century statue of Hercules by van Nost, Grade II Listed (LB 20237), and late nineteenth-century yew hedging and topiary in the garden. There is further group value with Grade I Listed Chirk Castle (LB 598) and with numerous Grade II Listed structures and ornaments around the estate. In addition, a section of Offa’s Dyke, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, crosses the park (SAM DE135). The castle dates from the end of the thirteenth century and by 1391-92 a park with a timber fence containing 100 acres of woodland was recorded. By 1675 the park had been extended by Sir Thomas Myddelton to hold 500 deer. By 1742 there was a grand baroque layout of formal gardens with axes extending into the park as avenues, the park itself bounded with paling. It contained a lake and, near the Ceiriog river, a 'Cold Bath' building. This layout was mostly swept away in the 1760s and 70s when an ambitious scheme of landscaping was undertaken by William Emes for Richard Myddelton. Some earlier features survive though the present configuration of woodland and pasture in the park was created at this time; some of the woodlands were already established before landscaping. The castle lies in the centre of its medium-sized landscape park which consists of rolling grassland dotted with deciduous trees, the ground rising to a ridge in the west, and dropping steeply to the river Ceiriog in the south. It is a roughly oval shape, bounded on the south by the Glyn Ceiriog to Chirk road, and elsewhere by woodland and farmland. The great earthen bank of Offa's Dyke cuts across the park from north-east to south-west, passing just to the west of the castle being interrupted by the larger of two ornamental lakes which lie to its north. There are two main entrances, both on the east side. The present main entrance is west of Chirk village, through the ornamental wrought-iron gates and gatescreen of 1712-19 by Robert and John Davies of Bersham. On the north side is the Grade II Listed Llwyn-y-cil Lodge. The drive veers south to join the old public road, converted into a carriage drive in 1767, which runs north-westwards along the wooded edge of the valley before swinging round northwards to enter the castle from the north. In the south-east corner of the park is a ruined, disused, entrance, from which the former drive, flanked by oaks, runs westwards to the present drive to the Grade II Listed Deerpark Lodge (LB 20272). The lodge stands at the eastern end of the Old Deer Park, situated above the Ceiriog valley to the south-east of the castle. It is now an area of scrub, bracken and light woodland, with a Grade II Listed wall along its east side (LB 20273). The second main entrance, now the service access, is at New Hall on the north-eastern boundary. It is flanked by curving stone walls and two Grade II Listed classical pavilions of 1770 by Joseph Turner (LBs 622 & 20227), the previous location for the Davies gates. The drive winds uphill through grassland dotted with trees, past the lake, to the north side of the castle. Another former entrance lies on the south side of the park, at Castle Mill, marked by a ruined entrance. A track from here leads up the slope to the west side of the castle and may date from the 1760s. Within the park there are several mixed woodland areas: the slopes of the Ceiriog valley to the south; Mynattyn Wood, Deershed Wood, Baddy's Wood and The Belt in the eastern part of the park; and coniferous Gwyningar Wood, Mars Wood, Warren Wood and Top Plantation on the west side. In the north, the two lakes have woodland around them. Open areas of the park are dotted with isolated deciduous trees and clumps, mainly of oak. Very little of the planting is earlier than the 1760s, but from that era some oaks and beeches survive, though most of the oak planting dates from 1800-40. The oaks lining the west end of the south drive were planted in 1953 to commemorate the Coronation. The garden lies to the east of the castle, entered through wrought-iron gates made of redundant parts of the Davies gatescreen. It has a complex history and elements remain from a number of periods. There was a formal garden here in the seventeenth century but the planting dates mostly from the late nineteenth century onwards, into the 1920s. The garden forms three main component parts: the formal terraces, the informal area, and the woodland. Immediately in front of the castle the garden is formal, the sloping ground carved into a series of terraces laid out to lawns, with a wide gravel path running southwards from the entrance and with steps between the terraces. To the east is a series of three smaller terraces, with a tennis court on the lowest. A feature of the formal area is the sculpted yew hedging around its edges, and the yew topiary flanking the path. The informal part of the garden is to the east of the southern end of the terraces, on a gentle slope leading to a terrace that bounds the garden on the east. This is laid out as a long lawn flanked by a mixed border and rockery slope on the north and on the south by a large shrubbery with fine specimens. Within it is a Grade II Listed statue (LB 20242) next to a lily pond. On the lawn is a Grade II Listed sundial (LB 20246) and, within the rockery, the Grade II Listed Hawk House (LB 20243). To the north is an area of woodland, Pleasure Ground Wood, on ground rising to a small summit, and divided by a straight ride flanked by rows of limes on the main axis of the castle. Within the ride is the statue of Hercules and near its southern edge a Grade II Listed medieval font (LB 20245). Further north is a Grade II Listed gazebo (LB 20244). The woodland and terraces are bounded by a Grade II Listed ha-ha (LB 20247) which follows a line from the terraces to the north curving around grassland north of the castle. The south side of the garden is bounded by a Grade II Listed revetment wall at the top of the steep slope on the edge of the Ceiriog valley. Setting - Chirk Castle, with its park and gardens, is located on elevated ground in a rural area on the north side of the Ceiriog valley. Significant views - From the north front of the castle and from the terrace at the east end of the garden there are magnificent views over the park, with rolling grassland dotted with deciduous trees and punctuated by woodland and the large lake. There are also fine views of the castle and grounds from the north-east approach at New Hall, and from the north-west at Tyn-y-groes. Source: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 38-42 (ref: PGW(C)63(WRE)).  

PGW(Dy)17(PEM)

Cilwendeg  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Boncath  

221827  

238729  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscaped park, with formal gardens associated with the house. Shell grotto and elaborate farm buildings. Small arboretum and walled kitchen garden.  

Late eighteenth century; c. 1830's & 1880's.  

Cilwendeg is registered for its landscape park, formal terraced gardens, small arboretum and walled garden associated with the mansion. The registered area includes a rare and beautiful shell grotto, to the west of the mansion and an extraordinary series of farm buildings, including a flamboyant pigeon house. The registered park and garden has group value with these structures and the other estate buildings at Cilwendeg. The mansion, park and gardens at Cilwendeg occupy part of the gently south-facing plateau above the north side of the Dulas valley at an average height of about 145m AOD. The park lies to the west of the late eighteenth-century mansion (LB: 13020) and is separated from it and the formal gardens by planting. The house is approached by drives off the B4332 between Newchapel and Boncath. The main drive, from the west through the double Boncath lodges, built c.1830 (LB: 15390; 15391; 13027; 13028) bisects the park. An earlier drive, now a track, approached from the northeast at New Chapel. Also with twin lodges, built c. 1835-40 and raised a storey c.1910, (LB: 15136; 15137; 15138; 15139) it approaches in a westerly and then southerly arc, following the 120m contour line. Both drives are over 1.5km long. The flat open park is kept grazed by sheep retained by temporary fences. Shelter plantations of mixed native conifers and hardwoods, almost completely surround the 79 or so acres of park, retaining nearly the same configuration as those shown in 1848. Recent satellite imagery indicates that two `island' clumps of trees to the north and south of the drive, shown in 1887, survive. But most of the lone parkland trees have gone. Separating the shelter belts from the open park is an estimated 2,414m (1.25 miles) of ha-ha, the wall mostly of slate and the ditch still surviving. The wall stands to an average of 1m high and the ditch varies from 0.75 - 0.5m deep. To the north of the park the ha-ha is almost continuous, but to the south it is discontinuous having been built to protect specific areas of trees. Towards the east, where the drive passes through a plantation before sweeping northwards to the house, the ha-ha has been replaced with iron park railings. North and east of the house, around the walled garden, nineteenth century maps suggest it may once have been parkland traversed by the east drive. Plantations remain but clumps of trees and individual plantings have now gone. The garden was probably created in the 1830s. The principal feature of the garden is a series of seven terraced lawns to the south-east of the mansion, extending some 127m from the house. They are reached by small paths to either side of the house, or via the conservatories. This area, known as the South Garden, was described in sale documents of 1906 as having ‘…. wide-spreading lawns and flower parterre leading to four sunk croquet lawns and tennis lawns of full-size, and being divided from the main lawns by an apple pergola. Gently sloping grassy banks and lawns lead to a picturesque thatched summer-house'. There was also a `sunk' rose garden. The apple pergola and thatched summer-house have both gone, as have the flowers. Terraces are no longer used for tennis and croquet but the overall scale of the landscaping works undertaken remains impressive. The lowest lawn area was used as a formal planted area until recently; geometric patterns in the grass indicate that it may have been the rose garden mentioned above. To the north-east of this area is a substantial laurel hedge. Terraces rise towards the house with the uppermost terrace surrounding the house. Terraces are partly bounded by banks, and vary in heights and area, with flights of steps between the lower lawns. To the south-west of these lawns is the area of informal plantings, a mix of woody exotics and shrubs. The small `sunken' garden across the forecourt from the porte cochère, also survives, created c.1830, it consists of an embanked semi-circular area. Into this bank are set flights of five stone steps. Mapped evidence indicates that there was a circular depression to the north-west of the area, but this has since been filled in. Today this area is lawn into which have been set three small formal beds. To the east of this small garden is the drive that leads towards the walled gardens through the woodlands, and to the west is the path, off the main drive, that leads to a rare shell grotto (23118), restored during 2003-4 by the Fountain Trust following excavation by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust. There is also an arboretum with woodland paths. The kitchen garden is located to the north-east of the house and was probably created in the 1830s. The garden is sub-rectangular on plan, long axis north by south, and has an area of about eight acres within perimeter stone rubble walls capped with slate, standing to 2m high on the west, 4m on the east. Overall dimensions are some 130m long by 75m wide. In the north-west corner of the garden stands the Gardener's Cottage. In the south-west corner is a pedestrian arched entrance of carved slate. To the east of this area is a brick-lined bathing pool. All the internal paths shown on early surveys have now disappeared. Along the north wall, facing south, were some 35.5m of glass, now gone. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 186-90 (ref: PGW(Dy)17(PEM)). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire VII.SW (1887). Additional notes: C.S. Briggs; D.K.Leighton  

PGW(Gm)47(SWA)

Clyne Castle  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Sketty  

260913  

191452  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Public park; pleasure grounds; ornamented woodland  

1800-30; 1860-1912; 1912-52  

Clyne Park is a large and very attractive public park registered for its historic significance as the former private estate of the wealthy and locally prominent Vivian family. The park was developed from the early nineteenth century but mainly from the 1860s onwards by William Graham Vivian and Admiral Walker-Heneage Vivian. The public gardens contain an outstanding assemblage of choice and rare mature trees and shrubs, in particular rhododendrons, some of which are original introductions. Its importance is further enhanced by its group value with listed Clyne Castle (LB: 14931) and Clyne Chapel (LB: 14932), various listed ornamental structures and several Scheduled Monuments [GM464 & GM475] and other archaeological sites. The grounds fall into three distinct areas: the wooded Clyne Valley, the bulk of the park, to the north; Clyne Gardens at the south end of the park (NPRN: 265686); and the grounds in the immediate environs of Clyne Castle (NPRN:18354; LB:14931), which include walled gardens. Clyne valley is occupied by mixed oak woodland within which are extensive archaeological remains. Woodland here has a long history but the named wood - Clyne Wood - only followed its enclosure in the early eighteenth century (NPRN:91899). Several earthwork platforms scattered across the wood may be related to early woodland management and/or charcoal burning. There is also possible evidence for late-medieval assarting (NPRN:54516) and for post-medieval rabbit farming (NPRN:54514). A number of hollow trails in the wood attest to its long land-use history. The woodland was adapted for shooting purposes by the Admiral with the planting of coverts of rhododendron. Rhododendron and ornamental trees and shrubs, including conifers, were planted throughout the wood. Several trial beds for the then newly-introduced hybrid rhododendron were also established. Most of the tree growth is otherwise of twentieth century date. The northern half of the wood was cleared felled during the Second World War. The wood is accessed, from the castle, through a simple entrance on Mill Lane opening onto two tracks leading northwards, upper and lower. The upper one passes the Ivy Tower (NPRN:41109; LB:22562), a former chimney stack of the copper and arsenic works below (NPRN:85177; GM475), but later adapted as a gazebo. The track runs on to a small tributary valley running west-east, once planted with many ornamental species, some of which remain. The track continues to Keeper's Cottage. The lower track passes through an area of 'bell pits' dug from at least the fourteenth century onwards to exploit a near-surface coal seam (GM455). Below the track in the valley bottom, and also at the far north end of the wood, are remains of nineteenth-century mining (NPRN:275876; 275878). In the floor of the valley, by the winding Clyne river, a cycle track now follows the line of the old railway formation. Towards the south end of the wood is a leat which served Blackpill Mill (NPRN:308221). South of the Clyne valley are the ornamental Clyne Gardens which are centred on Brock Hole valley which runs the full length of the gardens. The entire area is accessed by a network of paths with simple bridges crossing the stream. In the heart of it a cylindrical 5m high stone tower, built by the Admiral, provides a viewing platform (LB:22563). The valley tree canopy is mostly mixed oak and conifer woodland but within it are distinct areas of exotic planting: specimen conifers and ornamental shrubs including rare rhododendrons with their own irrigation system; a plantation of specimen conifers; a bog garden around several springs; and an area of bamboos on the south side of the valley. A Japanese area lies at the head of the valley with a Japanese bridge (LB:22561) which takes the main path over the stream, a nearby rectangular pond feeding cascades and pools below the bridge. High above the pond is Joy Cottage, a pavilion built by the Admiral as a playhouse for his daughter. Archaeological evidence for earlier land-use history comes in the form of a split-level medieval house platform that appears to have been re-purposed for plant beds (NPRN:260028). A leat of Blackpill Mill is also still present (NPRN:300108). North of Brock Hole are open, grassy, and tree-grown areas which include an area of woodland surrounded by a ha-ha. Trees are mostly deciduous but with conifers and some ornamental species. Towards the west boundary is a pet cemetery and the earthwork remains of kennels (NPRN:260029). To the north of the open grass area, west of the house, is a sloping area planted with many specimen trees and shrubs, once part of an arboretum. Within it is an octagonal gazebo (LB:22552) dating from the period 1921-52. To the east, immediately south of the house, a formerly enclosed area was once an Italian Garden; an Italian Bridge survives on its boundary (LB:22551). The northern side of the park, towards Mill Lane, is planted with a mixture of ornamental trees and shrubs, and includes a double row of old oaks, the ground between them slightly sunken. The grounds immediately around the house were once part of the main gardens. They are entered from the north through the stone wall alongside Mill Lane. They were laid out informally to the south, east and west of the house. The north and west sides have now been largely landscaped and developed away for residential accommodation and car parking, leaving only small areas of lawn adjacent to the house. The west side had been planted with choice trees and shrubs, including rhododendrons for which it was famed, but these have now mostly gone. The grounds on the east side of the house are now dominated by a turning circle. The remnant is now mostly lawn to the south of the house. The kitchen garden is located to the west of Clyne Castle (NPRN:18354). It lies on ground sloping to the east. It is bounded on the north and west by 4m high brick walls and on the east by a high, curving rubble stone wall with a blocked arched entrance. The interior has now been built over with residential accommodation. A partially walled area to the west remains in use as a council nursery. Against the north wall is a line of four glasshouses running downslope, built by William Richardson & Co., Darlington. These survive along with the partially sunken boiler house (LB:21389). The entire parkland estate, with its woods and gardens, was broken up in the 1950s. Setting – Clyne Park is located on the neck of the Gower peninsula, to the south-west of Swansea. The woodland park is located in steep-sided Clyne Valley, bounded on the south by residential accommodation and Mill Lane, and on the north and west by farmland. The gardens remain more or less intact though the grounds immediately around the Castle have been mostly developed for residential accommodation. Significant view – the open areas of Clyne Gardens offer spectacular views across Swansea Bay. Source: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 224-7 (ref: PGW(Gm)47(SWA)).  

PGW(Gt)15(MON)

Clytha Park  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llanarth  

336439  

209013  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medium-sized late eighteenth-century landscape park, ornamental garden (part twentieth-century) and kitchen garden.  

1790s; 1821-28.  

Clytha Park is registered grade I as a very fine late eighteenth-century landscape park with well-preserved castellated eye-catcher folly, the structural remains of an ornamental garden and walled kitchen garden. It has historical associations with the eighteenth century architect and garden designer John Davenport. The registered park and garden shares important group value with Clytha Park house and its associated estate buildings and structures. Clytha House (LB: 1966) is a two-storey neo-classical building of Bath stone, built for William Jones the younger by Edward Haycock of Shrewsbury between 1821 and 1828. Clytha Park is a medium-sized landscape park, to the south of the village of Llanarth, just to the east of the river Usk. The northern part lies on low-lying gently undulating ground in the river valley, the southern part on higher ground above it, culminating in the knoll on which the folly, Clytha Castle, stands. The main entrance to the park is at the lodge (LB: 23003; 1967) on the north side of the A40 road and a winding drive leads north-eastwards to the house. The present park was largely made by William Jones the elder in the 1790s. A considerable amount of work was carried out for William Jones on the grounds and garden in the early 1790s by John Davenport, a landscape gardener from Shropshire. He provided both plants and plans, including that for the walled garden. William Jones's work includes the Gothick gateway, screen (designed by John Nash) and lodge at the entrance to the park, and Clytha Castle (LB: 1968), a fine Gothick castellated, largely two-dimensional eye-catcher folly on the top of the hill at the south end of the park, built in memory of his wife (designed by John Davenport). Jones also did a considerable amount of tree planting, some of which survives. It is assumed that the haha was built at the same time as the new house in the 1820s. Further tree planting took place in the nineteenth century, many of which survive as fine, mature specimens. The gardens lie immediately around the house. To the south and west of the house are lawns sloping gently down to the ha-ha, as it was laid out when the new house was built in the 1820s. Apart from the removal of a central path to the ha-ha and fountain (shown on OS first edition) on the south-west side of the house, and a curving path to the north-west of the house, this area is unaltered. To the north-west of the house is an area of mostly informal tree and shrub planting around a roughly rectangular small lake. To the east of the house a ridge of higher ground is planted with deciduous trees and evergreen shrub understorey (the 'shrubbery'). The gardens were laid out in several stages. William Jones the elder, with the help of John Davenport in the early 1790s, is known to have laid out gardens which went with the previous house, but there are no discernible traces of them, except possibly one or two trees. A lake is known to have been in existence in the eighteenth century (and probably earlier) on the site of the present one, but it was dug out further and given a more picturesque outline in the 1820s, when material from it was used to build up the mound that the house was built on. Various alterations were made to the gardens under the direction of H. Avray Tipping in the 1930s. The basic structure remained unchanged, but some more formal elements were added near the lake. The D-shaped walled kitchen garden (LB: 22998) lies to the north-east of the house. Its brick walls stand to their full height and there are entrances on all sides. The garden was designed and built by John Davenport in the early 1790s (including hot-houses). The internal layout, however, with its curving cross paths, may date from the 1830s Significant Views: Views overlooking the park in a northwest to southwest arc from the house and gardens. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 25-26 (ref: PGW (Gt)15). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map, sheet: Monmouthshire XIII.10 (1882).  

PGW(Gd)56(CON)

Coed Coch  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Betws Yn Rhos  

288411  

374076  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; informal pleasure grounds.  

Eighteenth and nineteenth century  

Coed Coch is registered as a good example of an eighteenth and nineteenth century landscape park incorporating an artificial lake and informally planted pleasure grounds. The registered park and garden provides an attractive setting for the house and has important group value with it and its associated estate buildings. Coed Coch is located about 4km south of Colwyn Bay, on the south side of the B5381. The house (LB:172; NPRN: 27031) lies within a small landscape park on gently rolling land lying in the folds of the surrounding hills, rising gently towards the west where the house is situated on a small knoll. The River Dulas flows through the park and pleasure grounds. The park is a small eighteenth and nineteenth century landscaped park bounded on all sides by lanes. The park is separated from the pleasure grounds by a ha-ha. The house is approached by a drive which sweeps gently through the park from the north-east boundary through an entrance with wrought iron gates flanked by stone gate piers, erected in 1928 in memory of Lt. Edward Wynne of Coed Coch, d.1916 (LB:20090) and a small nineteenth century lodge (LB: 20089). The parkland planting is probably mid to late eighteenth-century in date and consists mostly of scattered isolated oaks with a few groups of beeches. Some nineteenth-century perimeter planting consists of Scots pine, sycamore, oak, larch, beech, hazel and field maple along the east boundary. Close to the south boundary of the park is an artificial lake, with a planted island and a plain brick boathouse on the north shore. To the north of the house, built into a bank near the former kitchen garden, is a turf-covered brick ice-house (NPRN: 405460). A ruinous hexagonal tower, once the kennelman's cottage, stands in a copse to the north of the ice-house, near the north boundary of the park; it may have been a converted folly tower, or have served a dual purpose. The pleasure garden falls into two distinct physical areas. The area immediately surrounding the house is separated from the park by a ha-ha. This area is informally planted with deciduous trees and has a circuit path. At the north end a path to the former walled kitchen garden passes in a tunnel under the farm road. Secondly, to the south-west of the house, is an area of informally planted garden following the River Dulas, with informal paths winding through it. It is planted with specimen conifers underplanted with yew, holly, laurel and rhododendron. Most of the planting and layout of both is nineteenth century except for some mature deciduous planting which dates from the eighteenth century. The area next to the house was laid out with formal rose beds that are no longer extant. The walled garden lies to the north of the gardens. It is small with well-preserved brick walls about 4m high. The garden interior was once divided into four by paths and an inner perimeter path, with entrances in the east and south walls. The garden was also surrounded by orchards and other planted areas. This arrangement is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map (1880). Setting: The park at Coed Coch is a small landscape park lying to the south of the B5381, and bounded on all sides by lanes. The land is gently rolling lying in the folds of the surrounding hills. The ground rises gently towards the west where the house is situated on a small knoll. The River Dulas flows through the northern part of the park and pleasure grounds. Significant Views: from the house and gardens across the park and towards the lake and surrounding countryside. Source: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 80-1 (ref: PGW(Gd)56(CON)).  

PGW(Gm)40(GLA)

Coedarhydyglyn  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

St. Georges-super-Ely  

310343  

175089  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; pinetum; informal Dell with Japanese features; terraced garden; walled kitchen garden  

1820s; early twentieth century; 1940s-50s  

Registered for its historic interest as a good example of an early nineteenth century landscape park surviving in its entirety and forming an attractive setting to the house. Edwardian development of the gardens included a woodland Dell with Japanese features, possibly designed by Alfred Parsons and partners. The woodland contains notable planting of conifers and rhododendrons, and includes a pinetum planted in the 1940s and 1950s. The registered park and garden has group value with the house and contemporary estate buildings, including the coach-house and stables (LB: 14865), gate and gate piers (LB: 14866; 14867) and late nineteenth-century entrance lodge. Coedarhydyglyn (formerly Coedriglan) is a neo-classical Regency villa (LB:14864) beautifully situated on elevated ground in the Vale of Glamorgan, 2km south of the village of St George's. It is set on a level platform on a west-facing slope, overlooking a secluded valley which forms part of its park. The park was laid out at the same time as the house was built, in the 1820s or soon after. The house is set centrally in rolling parkland, laid out with broad expanses of pasture and ornamented with single trees and clumps, to the north, east and south of the house. The steep slope below the house is pasture but the entire western flank of the valley, to the west of the stream, is wooded, adding to the sense of seclusion of the house. The woodland, threaded with paths, occupies the whole of the north-west quadrant of the park, on ground sloping to the east and north. It is divided into distinct areas of planting, with an original canopy of oak, beech and sycamore in parts, particularly the eastern half. The eastern half is the most ornamental part with deciduous woodland with under-planting of hybrid rhododendron at intervals along the path an in glades. At the southern end a small tributary valley runs down from the south-west. On its north side a path runs to an open glade, plantings include a monkey puzzle tree, rhododendrons, cut-leaf beeches, two Irish yews and variegated holly. This is the ‘garden in the wood’. It is partly surrounded by a ruinous, low stone wall. Just above it, near the woodland boundary, are two springs, one with a stone-edged pond, below it. A stony path, with stone steps on the steeper slopes, leads back down the south side of the valley, flanked by a tall stand of oaks. To the north of the side valley, further up the slope, is the pinetum. This is an area of the wood cleared and planted in the 1940s and 1950s with rare conifers and rhododendrons by Lady Traherne. Many trees have grown into fine specimens and the pinetum has won several prizes. Below is an area of unusual cypresses, the ‘Cypress Garden’, also planted by Lady Traherne, before the Second World War. A small stream runs northwards down the eastern side of the woodland. Just to its west, to the north-west of the house, is a small, oval, stone-lined pool or well. This is of some antiquity, being shown on the 1878 25 in. Ordnance Survey map. Above it is a path and to the north the stream runs into a roughly circular pond, with the path, skirting its west side and running along the flat top of the dam on its north side. This is a substantial, curving, earthen structure, with a large drop below it. At the west end is a stone built sluice and overflow channel, splayed on the north-west side, with a parapet wall running from it westwards next to the path. The east and south boundaries of the park are mostly screened by belts of beech trees which are prominent features of the park. The highest ground is the ridge at the south end of the park, where Old Coedarhydyglyn and the walled garden are situated (NPRN: 265811). On the ridge top a belt of beech trees runs westwards along the south boundary. The slope is planted with lime, clumps of pines, and a clump of sycamore. The entrance lies in the south-east corner at South Lodge. The drive winds down a dry valley, running north-westwards and then turning north below the house and wooded garden grounds. Further north, a former drive now a farm track, runs south-west to the stable block (LB: 14865) from an entrance and (later) lodge (North Lodge) on the east lane. To the north of the house and garden, on the north-west facing slope of the valley, is a belt of mixed deciduous woodland. The south-west corner of the park is bounded by narrow lanes with belts of deciduous trees next to them. A band of mixed woodland, including oak, ash, beech, pine, yew, cypress and copper beech, runs east from the west boundary along uneven quarried ground. The gardens lie to the north, west and south of the house and fall into two distinct areas: those immediately around the house established in the 1820s; and those in the valley to the south, developed in the Edwardian period. There are expansive lawns immediately around the house. A levelled lawn is cut into the slope on the south side and on the west a steep grass slope descends to the boundary with the park below. A large cedar of Lebanon stands on the bank above the south lawn. The garden around the house was made at the same time as the house was built in the 1820s. The 1878 25 in. Ordnance Survey map shows a lozenge-shaped area, bounded probably by fencing, enclosing the house, lawns, stable block and wooded area to the east of the house. The cedar to the south of the house is shown on the map, as is another, now gone, at the south end of the lawn. The second area, is in the valley to the south forming a wooded approach and an informally planted valley known as the Dell. The Dell is a woodland and water garden with a small stream running northwards through it from springs at its south end. The ornamental planting has an oriental flavour, including rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and acers. There is a canopy of oak and large ornamental trees include acers, a copper beech and a Chusan Palm. A gravel path leads down into the Dell from the south end of the lawn, crossing the stream on a single-arched stone bridge, below which the stream runs over a small cascade. Various branch paths run up both sides of the valley with rough stone steps on the steeper slopes. On the south side a slatted arched bridge in Japanese style takes a path over a side rill. Above this path, on the south-west side of the garden, is a wooden Japanese tea-house, moved from its original position lower down the slope, overlooking the stream, where it stood on wooden stilts, canted out over the slope. On the west boundary is an original Japanese covered gate, with double slatted wooden gates set underneath a ridged fish-scale tile roof. In 1904-05 Alfred Parsons, together with his partners Captain Walter Partridge and Charles Tudway, undertook garden design and planting work for a 'Mr Traherne'. This could either be at Bryngarw, near Bridgend, or Coedarhydyglyn. In a letter of 29th May 1905 Partridge wrote to Tudway: 'Traherne arrived here yesterday afternoon & has given us the job which he wants done bit by bit, & the valley part first - I am afraid he will want it much overplanted ...'. Whether or not Parsons, Partridge and Tudway were involved, the Dell was developed into a woodland and water Japanese-style garden in the Edwardian period. Real Japanese structures were installed, some of which survive. Two shallow terraces, bounded by low dry-stone revetment walls, with interconnecting flights of steps, were made in the upper part of the south lawn in this period. These were removed in the late 1990s. The walled garden is situated on the ridge on the southern boundary of the park, to the south-west of the house. It lies immediately to the west of the site of Old Coedarhydyglyn. The walled garden is trapezoidal, with rubble stone walls. There are doorways in the east and west sides. On the north side is a wider modern opening. The inside of the north wall has a brick lining and once had glasshouses against it. The north end of the east side is occupied by a two-storey rendered house (Hengoed House). This was converted from bothies and was raised to two storeys after the Second World War, when it was damaged by a bomb. The walled garden was probably built in the late eighteenth century as the kitchen garden for Old Coedarhydyglyn, built in 1767 and demolished in 1823. Of the old house all that remains is a block of stone cottages, converted from the coach house, to the east of the garden. The 1878 25 in. Ordnance Survey map shows the garden laid out with perimeter and cross paths, with two pools or wells in the eastern half and with a glasshouse next to the north wall near the west end. As there is no kitchen garden near the new house it is assumed that this one continued in active use after the new house was built. The 1878 map shows a path, now gone, leading north-eastwards across the park to the main drive. Significant Views: Coedarhydyglyn is situated on a west-facing slope, overlooking a secluded valley which forms part of its park. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 216-19 (ref: PGW(Gm)40(GLA)). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XLVI.NE (1877).  

PGW(Dy)26(PEM)

Coedcanlas  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Martletwy  

200928  

208709  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Earthworks of a compartmented garden.  

Late seventeenth century.  

Coedcanlas is situated to the south-west of Haverfordwest, on low-lying gently-sloping ground west of Martletwy, overlooking Beggar's Reach on the Daugleddau. It is registered for the survival as earthworks of an elaborate and sophisticated formal garden of the late seventeenth century. There is group value with Grade II Listed Coedcanlas farmhouse (LB 14872) which also has historical interest as the former home of the jockey and author Dick Francis who spent his childhood here. The garden earthworks are a Scheduled Monument (PE455). Garden earthworks lie to the north and south of the farm, pointing to once substantial formal gardens associated with the house. The earthworks are shallow but traceable and, on open ground, best seen on air photos; their subsoil remains have also been surveyed by geophysical methods. In 1362 Coedcanlas was in the ownership of Sir John Carew and down the ages it passed to several different owners including the Owens of Orielton in the mid-seventeenth century (PGW(Dy)38(PEM)). The lost gardens were revealed through historical research and follow-up aerial photography. North of the house is the Old Garden, the smaller of the two parts. It lies under grass, partly wooded, but earthworks of a former water garden survive. The southern half is a D-shaped area bounded by a dry moat on the west and south. A cross ditch runs north-south down the middle of the area. A watercourse, probably to feed the moat, enters the site at the north-west corner and runs in a broad embanked ditch along the north-east side of the moated area. To the north is a further garden area, now tree-grown, with smaller earthworks and some former water features within it. Fruit trees on the north side of the house are the remains of a former orchard. South of the house is an area known as the Hop Garden, within a large pasture field sloping gently down towards the estuary, the garden earthworks here covering an area of about 1.5 ha. Superficially, the field appears to be open pasture bisected by a stream with an oval pond running north-south through the field. However, these features cut across the formal layout of the garden represented by faint grids and squares. A larger, square enclosure on the east side of the central stream is flanked on the west side by a series of six `box-like’ terraced enclosures along the edge of the field. These appear to be the footings of former enclosed gardens, surrounded by moats or ditches, and once contained paths, plants and trees. Stylistic similarities to earthworks at nearby Landshipping suggest the same designer was involved in their layout (PGW(Dy)35(PEM)). Setting - Coedcanlas lies in a sheltered, estuarine location surrounded on all sides by farmland. The enclosures containing the garden earthworks are currently under pasture with some woodland overgrowth on the north. Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 192-3 (ref: PGW(Dy)26(PEM)).  

PGW(Dy)70(CER)

Coedmore  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Ceredigion  

Llangoedmor  

219463  

243651  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Terraced garden; informal garden; wooded pleasure grounds; kitchen garden.  

Late seventeenth-early eighteenth century; 1816-33.  

Registered for the survival of a picturesque, early nineteenth-century layout of paths, steps and bridges within the extensive woodland grounds on the steep flanks of the dramatic Teifi valley. There is also a fine view of Cilgerran Castle from the house and garden. Within the woodland is a curious, older enclosed garden with a ruined gazebo. The registered area has group value with the country house (LB: 14778) and service court range (LB: 14779) to which it provides the setting. Coedmore is located above the east bank of the Afon Teifi on the opposite side of the river from Cilgerran Castle (LB: 14491; scheduled monument PE002). There are two distinct areas of garden and grounds at Coedmore. First, there is the garden in the immediate vicinity of the house and secondly there is the large area of wooded pleasure ground beyond it, to the north-west. The house is approached from the north-east by a long drive, which winds through the woodland from the Home Farm. To the north of the house is a gently sloping lawn, crossed by the main drive and bounded by a straight ha-ha. Beyond the ha-ha is an old orchard. An iron gate to the south-west of the lawn opens to the woodland beyond. On the south-west side of the house the ground drops increasingly steeply down to the river Teifi. A narrow strip in front of the house has been terraced and retained by a massive revetment wall. From the garden terrace next to the house, to the north, there is fine view across the Teifi valley to the ruined Cilgerran Castle. At the south end of the garden a flight of ten stone steps leads up to a small stone paved platform, with a stone bench on it. A grass path continues around the edge of the garden. On the immediate south-east of the house and garden in a circular pond lined with herringbone stonework. The wooded pleasure grounds differ in character from the garden, being a large area of deciduous, largely beech, woodland with some conifers nearer the garden. Within it is an intricate network of winding, unsurfaced, picturesque paths enhanced by streams crossed by stone bridges, with steep-sided ravines and a precipitous drop to the river on the west. On steeper slopes there are stone steps. To the north-west of the house, on an elevated bluff overlooking the Teifi ravine, is an irregular, oval enclosure surrounded by a partly-ruined rubble stone parapet wall up to 1.3m high, reveted on the west, and with a ruined gazebo built into its north side. The enclosure was built as a garden feature, probably of late seventeenth century or eighteenth century date during the first phase of the garden development, pre-dating the path network. Early investigations below it, on the banks of the Teifi, by RCAHMW staff during the First World War suggest the survival of early earthwork terracing. It is probable that the garden and grounds took on their present form around the time that the present house was built by Thomas Lloyd in 1816-33, following the destruction by fire of its predecessor. No remains of an earlier garden adjacent to the previous house have been detected. About 500m north-west of the house is the nineteenth-century walled garden. It lies on ground rising gently to the north, above the east bank of the Afon Teifi. It was built some time before 1830, when the present house was being built by Thomas Lloyd in 1816-33. The garden is rectangular, long axis roughly north-east by south-west, and is divided linearly into two compartments. The upper bay is bounded by mortared stone wall 3.5m high, low doorway in it, but 4m high on the south (the dividing wall) which is brick-lined on its south face with a modern entrance gap in the middle. The west wall is formed by the gardener’s cottage and bothies. This compartment now forms the garden of the converted cottage and bothy. The southern bay has a higher quality wall, of coursed cut stone with slate top and 2m high, with an arched entrance on the east side, possibly the family entrance. Inside, the wall is of rubble stone, dressed stone doorway in the centre. The south end of the east wall curves round to the south-west, now partly fallen. In the middle is a low, stone cross-wall retaining a break in the slope, but no wall along the south side of this bay. Against its north wall is a lean-to glasshouse with wooden superstructure on a stone base, working slate water tank in front of it. West of the glasshouse is a large boiler pit and then a dilapidated vine house of earlier date and now ruinous. This compartment also contains a stone-lined cold frame. The garden underwent changes but by 1890 it had achieved its present-day shape and layout. Significant Views: Situated in a prominent picturesque location above the Afon Teifi with views from the gardens towards the ruins of Cilgerran Castle. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 100-104 (ref: PGW(Dy)70(CER)). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire III.13 (second edition 1904).  

PGW(Dy)29(PEM)

Colby Lodge  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Amroth  

215741  

207871  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Late nineteenth-century garden of woodland walks with later additions of plant material.  

The drives & the ha-ha appear to be extant by 1889; the network of paths within the woodland is probably post 1918. The walled garden was developed in mid-1970's & revived from the mid-1980's.  

Registered primarily as a woodland garden and walks with exotic trees and shrubs, developed by various owners from about 1894 onwards. There is an unusual gazebo within the walled garden which was designed by Wyn Jones and completed in 1975. The collection of semi-hardy herbaceous and woody material within the walled garden is the work of Mr and Mrs Scourfield Lewis during the 1990s. Colby Lodge woodland garden is mainly a late Edwardian and twentieth-century creation, developed after 1894. The Lodge LB:6042) is approached by a drive from the south and lies at the north end of the grounds which occupy a small, 'U' shaped valley that runs south from the Lodge to the coast at Amroth. The grounds consist of three main elements: the more intensely cultivated areas of garden around the house and the pentagonal walled garden (NPRNs 21809 & 418185); the woodland gardens which occupy the west and east-facing slopes of the valley; and finally the flat, somewhat park-like meadow on the valley floor. The walled garden and the garden surrounding the house date to about 1803, the landscaped gardens evolving after the mid nineteenth century; the woodland garden being created at the end of the nineteenth century. Between 1965 until 1984 the gardens were restored and embellished by Mr and Mrs Chance. The house, gardens and the woodland gardens are all now owned by National Trust. Much of the garden associated with the house has evolved from part of a former south drive. The borders surrounding the drive to the north of the house are mainly planted with hardy shrubs, laurels, hydrangeas and such; whilst to the south, the plantings are very much more exotic with a huge Yucca gloriosa, cistus, phormiums and palms. Within the lawn area, which was the turning circle of the previous drive, is a lead fountain installed by the Chances in the late 1960s. There is woodland with walks and paths on both the east and west-facing slopes of the valley. On the east it is mainly oak and exotic conifers; on the west it is more varied with a range of exotics, including eucalyptus, Japanese Red Cedar, and a range of shrubs including many rhododendron. On either side of the valley are memorials to the Chances. Also in the grounds, in the far south-west corner, is a small wooden Swiss chalet-style summerhouse, above and overlooking the valley, which dates from 1932. The walled garden lies to the east of the Lodge, at the north end of the woodland gardens. It dates from about 1803. It occupies an area of about one acre enclosed by a stone wall 3m-4m high, of uncoursed mortared stone with neat capping which appears to be a recent addition or restoration. It is pentagonal on plan, built on a sloping site facing west. Access is by a gate just across the lane from the lodge via a flight of six steps through an arched entrance in the west wall, and there is a further gate on the south side. The interior is laid out with herb and plant beds divided by paths. The garden was restored by Tony & Cynthia Scourfield in the period 1986-2010. At the change of ownership in 1986 the garden still had the remnants of a grid plan of paths but was essentially overgrown and featureless except for the octagonal gazebo in the north-east corner. This was designed by Wyn Jones and was completed in 1975. A lion’s-head spout at the base of the gazebo platform feeds a rill 8.5m long which terminates in a small pond to the west. The remainder of the garden is informally divided into areas of varying formality. The collection of semi-hardy herbaceous and woody material within the walled garden is the work of Mr and Mrs Scourfield Lewis during the 1990s. Significant Views: Views of the grounds and meadow from the lodge. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire (ref: PGW Dy29(PEM)), p.195-7. Additional notes: C.S.Briggs; J.Latham  

PGW(Gm)58(GLA)

Cold Knap Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

Barry  

310148  

166372  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1920s  

Registered for its historic interest as a well preserved urban public park of the 1920s with a unified and distinctive style. The design of the park takes good advantage of its seaside position and includes a magnificent promenade from which there are fine views of the shore and Bristol Channel. The park was created from open farmland in the mid-1920s, when funding for it was obtained from the government (Unemployed Grants Committee). The park falls into three sections: the main area, which is dominated by a boating lake, a small sunken triangular area to the west, and the site of the former lido; the whole flanked on the seaward side by a broad, tarmac promenade, the main axial feature of the park. The sunken area (built post-Second World War) lies at the west end of the promenade, its sloping grass sides cut into narrow terraces with ribbon beds, flights of brick steps leading down to the floor of the garden at each corner. The main area of the park is dominated by a boating lake, fed by a small, canalised, stream at its north end, which occupies most of the southern, wider, half of the park. Built in the shape of a Welsh harp, the lake is straight-sided with a curving north-west side and a tarmac path all the way around its edge. The north end and west side of the park have more the character of a standard urban park. Aside from the canal which is flanked by paths and an iron drinking fountain, and crossed by bridges, the area is laid out informally with lawns, curving paths, informally planted trees and some island beds. The lido was located at the east end of the promenade and formed an integral part of the park. It was opened in 1926 and until 1929 was tidal. It consisted of a rectangular concrete-lined swimming pool. A paddling pool was added after the War, with a dolphin statue in the middle. The semicircular arrangement of changing rooms was added in 1937, designed by the borough surveyor, Major Hinchsliff. The lido closed in 1996 and the pool has since been filled in, the buildings demolished and the area landscaped. Two pavilions are built against the promenade. Three wide flights of concrete steps are built between, and at either end of, the pavilions and link the promenade with the park. The flat roofs of the pavilions are bound with concrete balustrading and form two wide viewing platforms extending out into the park from the promenade. Plantings in the park are mostly post-War and include pine, Cupressus macrocarpa, poplar, lime, sycamore and elm, and salt-tolerant shrubs. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)58(GLA)).  

PGW(Gt)30(MON)

Coldbrook House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llanover  

331333  

212678  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park of 18th and 19th centuries, with origins as medieval deer park; partial remains of 16th/17th-century terraced gardens, early nineteenth-century pleasure grounds and Edwardian terraced gardens; eighteenth-century walled kitchen garden.  

Sixteenth/seventeenth centuries (terracing); eighteenth century (park planting, kitchen garden); early nineteenth century (pleasure grounds); late nineteenth to early twentieth century (terraced gardens).  

The registered area at Coldbrook represents the development of the park and garden associated with Coldbrook House (demolished 1954) from the medieval period to the early twentieth-century. The eighteenth and nineteenth-century landscape park has origins as a medieval deer park. The gardens include the partial remains of sixteenth/seventeenth-century terraced gardens, an eighteenth-century walled kitchen garden, early nineteenth-century pleasure grounds and Edwardian terraced gardens. Coldbrook House had its origin in the medieval period, and was one of the most important houses in the county. It was owned by the Herbert family until 1720, when it was sold to Major Hanbury of Pontypool Park. In 1889 it was sold to Lady Llanover, of Llanover House, thus bringing it back to the Herbert family. Coldbrook House was demolished in 1954, and nothing of it remains. It stood in a small valley to the south of the Ysgyryd Fach hill, with a steep slope behind it (to the southeast). The main front was to the northwest, which looked out over the park. The approach was up a drive from the north front of the house to the Abergavenny-Raglan road to the west. The house was surrounded by parkland which was disparked sometime after 1749 when it still had a herd of deer. The stone boundary wall along the south west side of the park is possibly medieval. Trees were planted in the mid eighteenth-century after the park came into the hands of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. New plantations are recorded and late eighteenth/early nineteenth-century visitors talked of the 'well wooded park, and grounds beautifully diversified, and richly clothed with oak, beech, and elm'. Older park features, such as avenues, remained. A 1753 drawing by Meredith Jones shows avenues leading off all four fronts of the house and they survived in part until the early twentieth-century. Planting also took place in the 1820s and 1880s. By 1849 (survey map) the main clumps to the south of the house were in existence, and by 1888 (sale particulars) the park to the north was shown dotted with trees, with part of an avenue, and with the main drive lined with trees. Apart from the avenue these features remain. The park is now rolling pasture dotted with mature clumps and individual trees, mainly deciduous. The main drive is flanked by limes, probably planted in the 1880s, but the early nineteenth-century Gothic lodge at the entrance, on the line of the old road, has been demolished. The gardens and pleasure grounds lie mainly to the east and west of the house site, in the small valley in which the house stood. A stream runs through this valley augmented by springs on either side; to the west of the house, it is dammed to form a small elongated lake. The gardens were developed in three phases. First, probably in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, the steep slope behind (to the south east of) the house was formed into several narrow terraces with stone revetment walls. These survive along with a small cold bath nearby. Later came the development of the pleasure grounds to the east and west of the house on either side of the stream valley, either in the mid eighteenth century when 'new plantations' were planned in 1754, or from the early nineteenth century. But by 1849 the pleasure grounds (‘shrubberies and plantations’), lake and kitchen garden were in existence, with an open lawn area north-west of the house, with the stream running along the boundary between lawn and park. The pleasure grounds were planted with mixed deciduous and coniferous trees and shrubs but most were destroyed in gales during the early 1990s. Other features present include an artificial waterfall and two small ponds. Finally, after the gardens passed to the Llanover estate in 1889, the area to the east of the house (north of the stream) was formalised into terraced gardens with paved walks and steps by Lady Llanover. The stream was canalised with revetment walls and a mini waterfall. An overgrown yew tunnel walk remains. A chapel was built to the south of the stream (LB: 87654). It is thought to be on the site of an earlier, medieval chapel, which was converted into a grotto/bath-house. Bradney reported this ruined in 1906 and turned into a bathing place. The walled kitchen garden is situated north of the lake, between the lake and the stream. The garden was made by Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is a four-sided irregular rectangle, long axis east-west, with stone walls faced with brick on the inside except for the south side which is open to the lake. The east wall is the best preserved with a round-arched doorway in the centre. The north wall has a two-storey brick and stone house against it (now a private house) and nearby a ruined glasshouse. Significant Views: Views over the park from the house site (northwest front). Views over the park to the east from the house site. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 6-7 (ref: PGW (Gt)30(MON)).  

PGW(C)70(DEN)

Colomendy  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Llanferres  

320158  

362299  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; informal garden and pleasure grounds; walled garden.  

Late eighteenth century to mid nineteenth century; 1874-75.  

Colomendy is located to the west of Mold, above the Alun valley. It is registered for the historical interest of its small late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century park and garden, with its picturesque woodland walks, rockwork tunnel, and walled garden, and for its association with the eighteenth-century artist Richard Wilson. There is also group value with Grade II Listed Colomendy Hall (LB 16444) and its associated hay barn (LB 16445), and with ruined buildings of a farm within the estate (LB 82670). It is now an outdoor education centre. By 1839 a park had been laid out to the west of the house, probably by Catherine Jones who lived here from at least the 1770s until her death in 1786. It occupies a roughly rectangular area of rolling ground to the south of the Mold to Llanferres road (A 494) and the river Alyn, and bounded elsewhere by woodland and farmland. During the nineteenth century the surroundings were considered 'romantic' and picturesque, with the park described as 'pleasing and homely’. The main drive was from an entrance and lodge off the A494. The drive runs south and curves eastwards to arrive at the west front of the house. A back drive ran from an entrance and lodge further east to farm buildings, stables, and the back of the house; this is now a track and the lodge has gone. A third drive (the ‘Lilac Drive’) from a nearby entrance ran to the west side of the kitchen garden to join the main drive but this, too, is out of use and its lodge gone; this was part of the picturesque layout, as from it there were views west to the Clwydian Range. Aside from the drives the park was little ornamented. There were some isolated trees dotted about, and a small deciduous wood near the south-west corner. The wood survives but most of the isolated trees have gone. A small garden lies to the south of the house, with pleasure grounds to the west and north. The latter date from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In front of the house is an area of sloping lawn with some isolated low shrubs and clipped yews flanking a branch of the drive. Beyond is the mixed woodland knoll with some ornamental trees. The west end, near the house, is laid out with several winding contour paths climbing to the top of the hill. In some places they are built up over the slope, in others they are rock-cut, the steepest parts with rock-cut steps. Together with occasional rock outcrops they appear highly picturesque. On top of the knoll is a modern bird hide with stone footings of an earlier building nearby. To the north and north-west are areas of screening woodland, isolated conifers, and open spaces with some outlying school buildings. A short path and shallow rustic stone steps lead through an ornamental gateway and on to the former central path of the walled kitchen garden. Alongside its south wall is a sunken alleyway or walk, a filled and overgrown trench running west from its south-east corner. At the far end, at the south-west corner of the garden, is a short tunnel with a curving entrance and exit, and from is a fine view of Moel Fammau.; the tunnel was perhaps a device for obscuring and then revealing the view dramatically. Along the west side of the kitchen garden the Lilac Drive is lined on its outer side by a low wall with a steep drop below. The small garden, added by 1871, is enclosed by a low wall and a hedge, laid out with an informal lawn and flowerbeds, a rockery, and with a central square pillar memorial to a dog, dated 1865. The walled kitchen garden has a more complex history but probably dates from about 1839. It is a rectangular area in two unequal compartments, the southern one being the larger, with farm buildings along the east side. The walls stand to their full height of c.2.5m on the north and west sides. The cross wall is c.3.5m high and was heated; on the south side are the brick footings of a former glasshouse. In the middle of the west wall in the southern area a blocked doorway leads to the 'Lilac Drive'. The south wall, only c.1.3m high, shows signs of rebuilding, perhaps in the late nineteenth century. The interior is largely grass and there is no obvious sign of the former layout of paths, though vague traces can be seen from the air. The northern part had a glasshouse in 1871, and it may partly have been the frame yard. Setting - The park, pleasure grounds and gardens provide a setting for the house. The park lies in an essentially rural area though road improvements have encroached on the north, and an education centre has been built over the south-east corner. Significant views - From the grounds there are fine views westwards across the park to Mill Wood on the ridge beyond, and north-westwards to Moel Fammau mountain and the Clwydian Range. In particular, the Lilac Drive would have afforded magnificent views across the Alyn valley. Jubilee Tower on Moel Fammau, built at the same time as the house was remodelled (1810-12), would also have been visible. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 48-51 (ref: PGW(C)70). Google Maps (Infoterra) imagery (accessed 13.09.2021).  

PGW(Gd)50(CON)

Condover House  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Llandudno  

280602  

382263  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Modern style formal and terraced gardens; pavilion.  

c. 1936.  

Condover House (formerly Villa Marina Cadw LB: 17095) is located on North Shore Beach, Llandudno Bay. The site is registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved and unusual 1930s garden in the modern style which complements the house. The use of contrasting materials and the high quality of the design by Harry Weedon has produced a very sophisticated garden which, like the house, has echoes of ocean liners. The garden has important group value with the house and garden pavilion. The gardens lie to the north and west of the house, and present different design styles each bounded and separated by stone walls. To the north the garden is modern in style and descends in terraces to the shore, with a pavilion (Cadw LB: 17096) on the foreshore and wide-ranging views over shore and sea. To the west, by contrast, the character is less modern, more formal and more enclosed with a sunken lawn and pool. A feature of the gardens is planting holes and strips in the tops of drum piers and walls, planted mostly with salt-tolerant evergreen shrubs. The gardens were constructed at the same time as the house was built in about 1936. Their style, with many design elements and details common to both house and garden, points to Harry Weedon, the architect of the house, as their designer. The entrance is on the south side of the house on Colwyn Road. Along the north side of the forecourt a low balcony curves around the north-west of the house to the north front where steps descend to a paved terrace and beyond it to a lawn terrace, its upper half a sloping lawn, the lower half a rockwork bank. Further steps lead down to a lawn at the east end of the garden. In the north-east corner is a circular pavilion on a bastion extending out over the shore, and widely visible from it. Below the bastion a path along the north boundary to the west is flanked by a low parapet wall and towards its west end steps ascend southwards between parallel walls. An opening on the west leads to a small lawned terrace in the north-west corner of the garden, above it a small, steeply sloping lawn. The garden west of the house is formal with a central north-south axis centred on a long, narrow pool with a central circular section and curving ends. A sunken lawn west of the forecourt has raised beds and cross random stone paths, and along the south, boundary, end is a shrub border. At the north end of the lawn a pebbled area supports a small sundial. Setting: Condover House, formerly known as Villa Marina, is a striking modern building situated right on the sea front in a row of villas at the east end of Llandudno, just to the west of Little Ormes head. The long, gently curving shore stretches out to east and west below the house, from which there is a panoramic and uninterrupted view of shore and sea. Significant Views: Panoramic and uninterrupted view of shore and sea from gardens and gazebo. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 112-114 (ref: PGW(Gd)50(CON).  

PGW(Gd)27(GWY)

Cors-y-Gedol  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Dyffryn Ardudwy  

259624  

322627  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Woodland, park, formal and informal garden areas, kitchen garden, former gardens and formal plantations with intersecting paths.  

Eighteenth century or before; nineteenth century.  

Cors-y-gedol is registered for the historic interest of the remains of its grounds dating to the eighteenth century, or earlier, around the sixteenth-century house. The kitchen garden area may be contemporary with the house and there is an intact lime avenue of around 1735-40. Further developments occurred in the nineteenth century with the construction of the lodges. Cors-y-gedol has historical associations with the notable Vaughan family and later passed to the Mostyns. The registered area has group value with the house and the many associated listed estate buildings and structures. Cors-y-gedol Hall, a late sixteenth-century gentry house (LB: 4709), is situated to the south of Dyffryn Ardudwy, on the western slope of Snowdonia about 2.5km from the sea. It lies at the north-east end of wooded parkland which is bounded on the south by woodland, on the east by enclosed moorland, on the north by farmland and woods, and on the west by the villages of Llanddywe and Talybont. The park was laid out in the eighteenth century if not earlier. The main approach is between two lodges on the A496 road, through iron gates on stone piers (LB: 84343). The drive here is now a public road climbing straight and steady from the west, about 1.5km long. It crosses open fields, formerly part of the park, until it reaches woodland west of the house. It continues flanked by a lime avenue (c.1735-40) towards the house, passing a nineteenth-century lodge (LB: 84369) and late seventeenth or early eighteenth century gatepiers (LB: 4724), the public road diverting south. The main driveway up to the house and grounds formed part of the ambitious programme of development and remodelling of the house and grounds under the direction of Richard Vaughan, who inherited the estate in 1797. The main area of woodland, to the west and south-west of the house with an arm to the north-west and extensions west-south-west and east-north-east along the Afon Ysgethin, was probably originally natural woodland, extra species being added from at least the eighteenth century, though only a few trees survive from this period. The park in 1764, as shown on an estate map, and again in the nineteenth century was, as now, chiefly wooded with open areas. But there is no indication that specimen trees were ever scattered about these enclosures though trees of both eighteenth- and nineteenth-century date are to be found alongside paths, roads and tracks and on the field boundaries. On the south side of the drive the 1764 map shows several further areas with formal layouts of which little now remains. Several areas near the house were also laid out formally, with straight walks intersecting or in regular patterns, and there was also a network of curving rides in the further woodland. By 1889 the latter had been increased; many of the original routes were retained but several of the straight paths were lost. A few tracks still used are on the line of routes shown on the 1764 map. Paths in the woodland are said to have been stone-paved but most of them no longer seem to be. Terraces which are visible in the park farm enclosures are more likely to relate to prehistoric or Romano-British farming land use than to any later phase of parkland design; the park is superimposed on a landscape full of early features, including burial chambers, huts, fields and trackways (e.g. NPRN: 89047-68; 93724; 401827). Like the park, the gardens were laid out in the eighteenth century if not earlier. It is possible that the kitchen garden represents the original late sixteenth or early seventeenth century enclosed garden and the forecourt must have come into existence at the latest when the gatehouse was built in 1630. Aside from the kitchen garden, the surviving garden areas are small and lie close to the house, mostly on the south and west. A further area of garden south of the drive, extant in the eighteenth century, would have nearly trebled the garden size but this area is now a paddock. The original formal layout of the eighteenth century had been redesigned by the late nineteenth century to give a more natural effect. On the south front of the house is a walled forecourt (LB: 4723) in which the gatehouse (LB: 4722) stands. This forecourt, once occupied by flower beds, is now lawned. East of the forecourt is shrubbery with the remains of a glasshouse and boiler house, an area also bounded by a wall beyond which are farm buildings (LB: 4719; 4720; 84365; 84366). To the west, at a lower level, is a lawn, walled and partly revetted, with a large, oval, drystone walled pond on its west side; a water feature originally, but redesigned by 1901 to give it an informal shape. Large specimen trees which once dotted the lawn have now gone aside from a few near the north-west corner of the house. The large kitchen garden lies to the immediate north of the house. It probably represents the original formal garden layout being in place by 1734 but cartographic depictions show that it changed considerably between 1764 and 1901. The garden is rectangular and covers an area of about 2.5 acres. It has stone walls on the north, east and west but is bounded by a box hedge on the south. The east drystone wall is probably the only survivor of the original walls. Against the west wall, on the inside, is a raised walk, known as the 'Ladies' Walk' on a raised terrace running the entire length of the garden. An entrance to the garden on the west crosses this walk, with steps up and down. Aside from this there is very little trace of the path layout as shown on the early OS maps, though aerial images show parts of it. The main part of the garden is grazed by sheep, and there is now a large wooden barn, probably used for lambing. In the south-east corner an area fenced off with a cypress hedge has become a garden for the farmhouse. In the south-west corner an area has been fenced off which has been used as a tree nursery. Sale particulars of 1908 describe the kitchen garden as having 'fine ancient yew hedges and grass walks', and it was well stocked with fruit trees and had fine views (still the best in the garden, perhaps the reason for the construction of the 'Ladies' Walk'). There were a garden tool house, potting shed, oil shed, boiler house, saw shed, greenhouse and hothouse, vine house, glass peach house and glass frames, rose house and bee house. Nothing more than footings of any of these structures remains. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 180-5 (ref: PGW(Gd)27(GWY)). Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Merionethshire XXXII.NW (1887). Additional notes: C.S.Briggs; D.K.Leighton  

PGW(Gm)67(CDF)

Coryton House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Whitchurch  

314082  

181155  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal & informal town garden  

1900-1940  

The grounds at Coryton House are registered for the survival of most of the formal and informal gardens of an important town house, and for historical associations with shipowners, the Cory family (John Cory & Sons Ltd). The house was built in 1900 and was home to James Herbert Cory. The garden was laid out in two phases. The first, contemporary with the building of the house (pre-1915) was a small, informal garden around the house. The drive, which had a lodge on its north side, was lined with conifers. To the south and east were fields and a small orchard. To the north was a walled kitchen garden with glasshouses at its north end. This arrangement is shown on the 1922 Ordnance Survey map. Between 1915 and 1940 the garden was expanded to its present extent. The 1940s OS map shows much of the current layout and also the lodge, orchard, kitchen garden and glasshouses. The house is situated on the highest part of the grounds, with the entrance front on the east side. The formal garden consists of two terraces on the south and west sides of the house, each backed by a verandah; and a large lawn beyond, on the south side. The upper, balustraded, terrace, on the south front, is of grass with an Irish yew at each end, and at each corner is a small open-sided brick pavilion. The terraces are linked on each side by tree and hedge-lined flights of steps. On the west side of the house the upper terrace, has four Irish yews set along its outer edge. The lower terrace also has Irish yews along its outer edge. Flights of steps lead down on each side to the lawn, a large rectangular level area, extending to the south and south-west of the house and terraces. On the west side it is flanked by conifers, including a tall pine tree, on the edge of the informal woodland area below; on the south it is flanked by yews and mixed trees and shrubs, including pine, monkey puzzle, aucuba, holly, laurel and mahonia. Its east side is lined by an overgrown yew hedge on a steep bank beyond which are modern buildings. Flights of steps lead down to the informal gardens which lie on the slopes and in the valley floor below the terraces and lawn. Most of the ornamental layout lies to the south of the lawn, planted with light woodland of mixed evergreen and coniferous trees and shrubs including wellingtonia, box and cryptomeria, weeping willow and extensive bamboo. It features winding gravel paths, pools and cascades. To the west of the house the informal area is more or less unornamented aside from a little planting on the upper slope, including conifers and holly, below which the woodland is mostly of scrubby deciduous trees, with some aucuba at the south end. To the south-west is an area of conifers, particularly pines. Many of the trees in the grounds of Coryton House are covered by a Tree Preservation Order. Direction of Significant Views: South and south west from the garden terraces across the lawn and formal garden to the informal garden beyond. Sources: Cadw 2007: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, additional and revised entries part 1, 8-10 (ref: PGW(Gm)67(CDF). Ordnance Survey 25-inch map: sheet Glamorgan XLIII.1 (edition of 1940).  

PGW(Dy)30(PEM)

Cosheston Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Cosheston  

200486  

204394  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

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

Walled garden was extant in the early nineteenth century; landscaping to complement the mid-nineteenth-century rebuild with further alterations during this century.  

Registered for its historic interest as a garden and park established to complement a rural country residence, although somewhat altered during the last century to reflect changing landscape and gardening trends. The small park occupies an area of about 13 acres, whilst the garden area around the hall (NPRN: 21818) is some 3.5 acres. The sweep of parkland, now to the east and south of the house, was created at some time between 1864 and the turn of the century, although earlier documents point to a 'Cow Park' at Cosheston. In 1864 this area was divided into two large fields, the field boundary running from the southern edge of the formal garden, south of the hall, towards the dell to the east of the park. By 1908 this division had been removed, aside from a small stretch at its eastern end. In the mid-nineteenth century there was only one main entrance to the property, which was a drive off the small lane towards Home Farm. This drive is still extant. By the early twentieth century a further drive is shown sweeping across the park. The drive approached a southern forecourt from the east; it then continued to the west and north to the utility area of the stables and garages. This drive, which bisected the park longitudinally, was removed between 1906 and about 1940. Today, the small park is under pasture, with the drive skirting its western edge, separated from the parkland by iron park fencing. Set within the park are several mature oaks that appear to be much the same age, probably about a century or so old. There are oaks and other native trees in the small valley or dell to the east. A lake has been created on the eastern side. Like the parkland beyond it, the garden area has been reshaped and remodelled over time. In the mid-nineteenth century, when the property was called 'Woodfield', the main area was a rectangular block which extended to the east and south of the hall. It was separated from the house by a field boundary to the east. A sundial is shown on early surveys. After 1908, the garden area was extended further east into the parkland when a ha-ha and other features were also constructed, and the sundial removed. The drive was replaced by a new one built to pass through the garden area. Today, the garden is separated from the drive, now to the west, by a wall a little over 1.5m high. Within, the garden has been constructed on several levels, linked by flights of steps, reflecting its gradual development. To the east of the house, a stone retaining wall 1.5m high built into the north-south slope is probably the eastern limit of an earlier house platform. The lawn surrounding the house is linked by a flight of steps to the south garden below. To the north-east are two different levels divided by a stone retaining wall. Set within the upper lawn is a circular bed and two tiered, circular platforms with a stone urn at centre. Originally there were two such beds, one of which may have been the site of a fountain present in 1906. The lower lawn accesses the park via a flight of steps. To the east the entire garden area is separated from the park by a ha-ha 1m-1.5m deep. Adjacent to the house is a 2m square summerhouse. A walled garden lies to the west of the house. At the time of the tithe survey (1840s) a garden enclosure was portrayed west of the house. The present garden development post-dates the 1860s though some of the east wall may date from the earlier garden. By the 1860s part of the former garden area had been taken up with the cottages that are now known as the gardener's cottage. By the beginning of the twentieth century, a small rectangular, double-walled (on three sides) garden, of about an acre, has appeared to the west of the gardener's cottage. Small structures, including glass, are shown both within the garden and between the walls. After 1908, the southernmost wall was rebuilt further to the south and the western walls realigned so that now there are two small walled gardens of equal size. Setting: Cosheston Hall is set in gently undulating land just over 100m north of the village of Cosheston, about 3km to the east of Pembroke Dock. The whole area is one of established settlement with the medieval castle and town of Pembroke to the south-west and the castle at Upton to the east. To the south of the village of Cosheston surveys show a pattern of strip fields that may have survived from the late medieval period. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 322-4 (ref: PGW(Dy)30(PEM)). Ordnance Survey County Series six-inch plan: sheet Pembrokeshire XL.NW (editions of 1864, 1906 & 1948); 25-inch plan Pembrokeshire XL.2 (second edition 1906. Additional notes: D.K. Leighton  

PGW(Gd)60(CON)

Cotswold, Brackley Avenue  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Colwyn Bay  

284428  

379026  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Arts and Crafts town garden; Japanese garden  

1911 - c. 1920.  

The gardens at Cotswold are registered as the remains of a spacious Edwardian town garden with Arts and Crafts elements contemporary with the house and with a slightly later intricate Japanese garden surviving in its entirety and retaining many of its original trees imported from Japan. Cotswold is a substantial detached town house built by Manchester architect Alfred Steinthal in 1911 for Mrs Bengers (LB: 14669). It is situated on the east side of Brackley Avenue in Colwyn Bay. Its garden, mainly to the south and east of the house, was laid out first in 1911, contemporary with the house, and much of this layout remains, with further development between 1911 and c.1920 when a Japanese garden was established. Also contemporary is a single-storey building, originally housing motor vehicles and boiler house but converted to a two-bedroom cottage in the early 1950s. The garden is set mostly on level ground. The original entrance, now disused, was on Pwllycrochan Avenue with a winding drive leading to the garage. The present entrance is on Brackley Avenue. The central part of the garden, to the south and east of the house, consists of a large lawn, the south and west sides of which are bounded by low stone revetment walls. It is fringed on the east by an area of large mature beech in rough grass, with oak and lime along the east boundary. A pergola of round stone columns supporting a wooden superstructure runs south-east/north-west from the end of the path leading from the original entrance to the east side of the house. The former rose garden lies to the north of the house. Immediately to the south side of the house is a square parterre of box-edged small flowerbeds set in gravel, with stone sundial at the centre. To the south is a small upper lawn with steps down to the main lawn. The Japanese garden lies along the south-west side of the garden. It constitutes a number of rockwork 'islands' between narrow winding paths of random laid local limestone, stone steps, and a winding stream. Crossed by bridges the stream is led through rockwork channels into small pools and over shallow falls. Setting: Cotswold lies between Brackley Avenue and Pwllycrochan Avenue to the east. The area is one of a grid of wide roads and well-spaced substantial houses in large gardens. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 82-3 (ref: PGW (Gd)60(CON).  

PGW(Gm)7(BRI)

Court Colman  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Bridgend  

Newcastle Higher  

288646  

181832  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Victorian formal and informal garden with small park; walled garden  

1830s-40s; 1870s-90s  

Court Colman is a large nineteenth-century house situated on elevated ground in the Ffornwg valley a few miles to the north-west of Bridgend. Its surrounding grounds provide a setting for the listed house (Grade II, LB: 19057). The grounds are registered for the historic interest of the eclectic Victorian garden with its many features, including conifer and rhododendron planting, an informal woodland area with artificial waterfall, ferns and bamboos, and some formal features including Italian marble ornaments of the 1830s-40s and 1870s-90s. The property also has important group value with its listed iron-gated entrance and twin lodges at the former east entrance to the park at Pen-y-fai (LB: 19054; 19055; 19056). The 1st ed. Ordnance Survey map (1885) shows the house surrounded by its garden and park with entrances from the lanes to the west and east. By the time of the 1921 OS map, the park has been extended to the east with its main entrance via the pair of lodges at Pen-y-fai (LB: 19054; 19055). The long tree-lined drive approached from the east and enters the forecourt in front of the house. The house is no longer accessible from this direction. From a lane west of the house a second, now main, access enters the estate at West Lodge. There are some specimen trees in the park and there are further isolated trees and a fenced clump of trees and rhododendrons below the house. Along the west and north boundaries are some large conifers and deciduous trees. To the south-west of the house a fishpond was converted into an ornamental lake with a concrete dam, and fringed with thick banks of shrubs within an iron-fence boundary. Below, a stream runs southwards under a stone-arched culvert, to join a mill race on the far side of the railway line. The garden lies all around the house. South of the house, steps from the terraced forecourt lead onto a sloping lawn bounded by a curving ha-ha on the south and by the wall of the kitchen garden on the east. It is planted with ornamental trees, a stone sundial set below the drive, and an oval marble bowl near the house. East of the house the garden is highly ornamented and formal. A narrow lawn is flanked by a revetted raised terrace on which are the remains of an elaborate pergola. Sloping ground is laid out with flights of steps, a pool and an ornamented marble fountain, and to the east a sloping lawn is backed by deciduous woodland. The garden north of the house is lawn partly planted with specimen trees and shrubs, partly converted to a carpark. Near the north end is an ironwork arbour with an arched superstructure. Other features include an Italian marble wellhead on a circular plinth, and an octagonal stone pier. West of the house is an informal woodland area of garden, partly now in separate ownership. A continuation of the front terrace is revetted with a former building against it above a valley of mixed woodland below. It is accessed by a narrow path. Below the building is an artificial waterfall descending the steep slope in a series of steps and pools, the stream passing beneath the drive. To the south-east of the house is the walled garden, situated on ground sloping to the south. It is square, with walls about 2m-3m high made of stone except on the south which is brick. The east and west walls were later extended southwards. The interior is grassed over. Along the north side of the south wall is a range of lean-to outbuildings, and along the south side is a long lean-to glasshouse. A stone house in the east corner was probably the gardener’s cottage. Setting - The house and grounds at Court Colman are located in the rural Ffornwg valley, largely unchanged since the later nineteenth century. Significant views - The garden is bounded to the south of the house by a ha-ha, giving a wide-ranging view from the house and garden across the park to the countryside beyond. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 6-9 (ref: PGW(Gm)7(BRI)). Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XL (editions of 1876-1919).  

PGW(Gm)65(BRI)

Coytrahen House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Bridgend  

Ynysawdre  

289518  

185120  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape Park; garden and walled garden  

1772-97; 1843-59  

Coytrahen is registered for the survival of a late eighteenth-century & mid-nineteenth-century landscape park, contemporary with the building of an important country house. Group value is further provided by its important late eighteenth-century walled and terraced gardens, unusual in their large-scale and good preservation. Coytrahen House (NPRN: 18438) is located to the north of Bridgend in the Llynfi valley. The house lies on the east side of the valley, towards the upper north-west boundary of a small landscape park. The site has a long history but the present house is identified with the ownership of John Popkin, between 1772 and 1797, and it is from this time that the park and gardens were developed. The park once had two drives, from north and south, neither with a lodge. The original, south, drive from Tondu, crossing the railway and river and on through deciduous woodland, is now out of use. The north drive enters the park off the Coytrahen to Brynmenyn lane, just east of the railway line, approaching the house from the north-west with a branch (the former service drive) to the Home Farm, before looping around the house. The park was originally laid out as areas of woodland interspersed with open grassland dotted with trees, clumps, and boundary belts, reaching its present layout before 1877. There has been much felling of mature trees but the broad pattern of woodland and boundary trees remains. There are two main areas of open grassland: to the south-west, the house overlooking pasture fields and the river beyond; and to the east where open parkland (to some extent created by more recent boundary removal) is partly fringed by deciduous woodland, rhododendrons and Scots pines, with hanging woodland to the north. The garden lies mainly to the south-west and south-east of the house. It is mostly twentieth century in date but overlies an earlier layout traces of which survive. The garden is now laid out mainly as lawns and shrub beds below the drive which circles the house. The south-west lawn overlooks the park and is bounded by a revetment wall with steps down to the park below. Within the drive loop, on the south-east side of the house, is a small lawn with paved area bounded by a low parapet wall and behind it a bank of rhododendrons and azaleas. The south-east lawn has undergone many changes but once supported a serpentine lily pool, now grass with ornamental plantings. A ha-ha south of the pool site carries water flowing westwards, culverted beneath the drive. Beyond the pool site, to the east, the haha turns north bounding a grass track which continues north to the park boundary. On the north-west side of the house is a shrubbery, enclosed within the north end of the drive loop. House and garden are flanked on the north-east by deciduous woodland. The kitchen garden lies a short distance to the north-west of the house and is laid out as five conjoining stone-walled compartments on ground sloping down north-south; those at the west and south ends are on the natural slope while the other three are terraced. The uppermost compartment, west of the farm courtyard, is now laid out out as an ornamental garden but the others below it are variously used. The two longest are, at least in part, under cultivation. Evidence of their former use as orchards and a Victorian nuttery survive. The westernmost bay is partly wooded and overgrown but footings of cold frames are visible. The easternmost is the former stable yard and contains outbuildings still in use. Setting – the park lies in an attractive wooded setting in the Llynfi valley, north of Bridgend between the villages of Coytrahen and Tondu. The ground slopes down to the west, with a steep drop to the flood plain at the north end of the park and gentler slopes elsewhere. The park is largely intact though some urban encroachment has occurred on the south by the expanding village of Brynmenyn. Significant views - beyond the river is a wooded slope which forms the background to the park and provides views to the south-west from the house. Sources: Cadw Historic Assets database (ref: PGW(Gm)65(BRI)). Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XXXIV.11 (1875).  

PGW(Gd)21(GWY)

Craflwyn  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Beddgelert  

260090  

349083  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Ornamental garden with ponds, plantings of trees and shrubs in sheltered dell; two drives lined with trees; kitchen garden; orchard; woods.  

Nineteenth century  

Registered for its historic interest as a nineteenth-century park and garden laid out probably as a whole, with good survival of plants, extensive plantations and a good use of a steep hillside site. Craflwyn lies at the lower end of Nantgwynant, not far from Beddgelert, in a dramatic setting at the foot of a steep, craggy hillside, in the shadow of the hillfort of Dinas Emrys. Most of the house (NPRN 26335) visible at present was built by Llywelyn England Sidney Parry in 1877-78, shortly after inheriting the estate, but there may be an older core. The present park was laid out in the 1870s at the same time that the house was built. It was developed as a gentleman's residence with farm, park and gardens by Ll.E.S. Parry, but its heyday was short-lived. The park lies mostly to the south and east of the house, facing south-east towards the Afon Glaslyn. There are also extensive plantations on the hillside behind. These are based on natural oak woodland to which conifers have been added. Sweet chestnuts are planted around the edges. The house is approached by two tree-lined drives, both approaching the house from the main road (A498). The longer (with lodge) comes in from the south-west, the shorter (without) from the south-east. The long drive divides south-west of the house, one branch going north to the stables and the other north-east into the garden and to the house. The south-east drive divides the parkland into two areas of different character. The triangular area to the south and west is low-lying, level meadow with a row of trees along the road boundary, but otherwise uninterrupted. The larger area to the north and east of the house reflects to some extent the rugged hillside above, being uneven, with rocky hillocks, and sloping from north to south. Groups of oaks with under-planting of rhododendron and other shrubs, have been planted on the hillocks; and there are single large trees dotted about, including a monkey puzzle in the middle of the main view from the house. A stream in a natural rocky channel runs down the eastern boundary. The gardens and pleasure grounds lie mostly to the west and north of the house. The focal point is a large pond with an artificial island, encircled by a walk from which the best view of the plantings can be enjoyed (NPRN 414022). A second pond, now overgrown, was built lower down in 1889 and may once have been the focus of a Japanese garden. A rectangular, walled, kitchen garden (NPRN 414057) lies about 100m away to the north of the house, probably contemporary with the present house. A similar-sized walled orchard lies adjacent to it. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 186-9 (ref: PGW(Gd)21(CON)) Ordnance Survey second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Caernarvonshire XXVIII.1  

PGW(Gm)6(CDF)

Craig y Parc  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Pentyrch  

309333  

180776  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Arts-and-Crafts garden  

1913-15  

Craig y Parc is registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved example of an Arts and Crafts garden designed by the English architect and garden designer C. E Mallows, who also designed the house. The house and garden are integrated into a strongly axial design, taking full advantage of the southward slope. The grounds have group value with the listed house, lodge, walls, gate piers and garden loggia, all designed by C.E Mallows. Craig y Parc is a large Arts-and-Crafts house (LB: 22816) built in Tudor-vernacular style on a ridge top to the south-west of the village of Pentyrch in the Vale of Glamorgan. It was built in 1915 for Thomas ('small coal') Evans, a colliery owner who began his career as a railwayman, and made his fortune collecting coal that had fallen from coal trucks on the railways. He eventually became the owner of Ocean Colliery. To the south and west of the house the ground drops quite steeply, giving fine views out over the Vale from the south side of the house. The house is set in the middle of a strong north-south axis, with the gatehouse (LB:22820) and entrance drive to the north, and the main garden to the south. The garden is largely formal, with a strong north-south axis centred on the house. Beyond it to the south and west is an area of mixed woodland. To the north is an entrance drive and forecourt; to the south are two parallel series of terraces. The garden was designed with the house by C.E. Mallows in 1913-1915, and laid out soon afterwards. The two drawings in the house by Mallows dated to 1913 show slight differences to the existing north and south fronts, with grand rusticated side gates to the forecourt and arcading and pavilions flanking the top terrace south of the house. A plan by Mallows dated March 1913 shows a rather different layout to that actually carried out, with a large kitchen garden north of the house, with curving entrance drives either side of it, and a circular entrance court. South of the house the terraces in front of the house appear more or less as built, except that they are flanked by pergolas on the plan. Below, the plan shows a large lawn with semi-circular ends, whereas only a semi-circular west end was made. The east terraces do not appear, and the area south of the lawn is different from the layout built, showing two small circular lawns, a tennis court, and a circular wild garden at the end. The garden south of the house can be divided into two main areas: the terraces immediately south of the house and the smaller series of terraces to their east. At the top of the first area is a long stone-flagged terrace which stretches beyond the house to the east and west ends of the garden. On the west side, the terrace, and that below it, are bounded by a stone revetment wall. Below the upper terrace are two narrow stone-paved terraces edged with narrow borders. Below is a large square lawn, reached by a series of central steps, bounded by a border and the revetment wall to the east terraces on its east, and by yew and laurel hedges on the south and west. A clipped arch leads through to a cross path on the south side. To the west, the lawn extends in a semi-circle, bounded by a tall yew hedge. In the centre is a stone-paved circle, with a narrow flagstone path leading from it to an arch in the hedge on the north side. Beyond this a tarmac path below the revetment wall of the terraces leads northwards, with a flight of steps off it to the lower paved terrace. A matching opening on the south side of the yew semi-circle leads to a semi-circular projection in the revetment wall. This has the appearance of a former seat or viewpoint. The cross axis below the lawn consists of a stone-paved path, with two flights of steps down to the woodland at its west end and two flights at its east end up to the east terraces. It is backed on the north side by the revetment wall to the lawn, a battered random rubble dry-stone wall. On the south side is a stone revetment wall with a low flat-topped parapet. In the centre is a projecting platform with side steps down to a curving grass terrace above a large grass amphitheatre. Below the amphitheatre and to the west of the garden is an area of mixed woodland with some ornamental planting of evergreen oak, holly and laurel on its fringe on the west side. A sloping gravel path leads into the woodland from the west side of the house. Parts of the woodland are now conifer plantations. The east series of terraces comprises eight small lawns with stone retaining walls leading down from the east end of the top terrace. The first six are linked by flights of stone steps on a north-south axis towards their west sides. All the retaining walls are low, projecting only a little above ground level, with flat coping stones. On the west they are bounded by a revetment wall topped by a yew hedge. The top terrace wraps around the next two at its east end, and on this extension is an open-fronted loggia (LB:22817). The eighth, and last, terrace is bounded on the south side by a low crenellated wall with a semi-circular projection in the centre. From here there are wide-ranging views out over the Vale of Glamorgan. The former kitchen garden lies to the north-west of the house, and is now partly occupied by modern school buildings. Setting: Situated on a ridge top to the south-west of the village of Pentyrch in a rural, agricultural setting of fields, woodlands and hedgerows. Significant Views: Fine views over the Vale of Glamorgan from the south of the house and the garden terraces. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan  

PGW(Po)16(POW)

Craig-y-Nos Castle and Country Park  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Tawe-Uchaf  

284217  

215413  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Castellated house; conservatory; terraced garden; parkland with pools; walled kitchen garden  

House c. 1841 and earlier; Patti extension and theatre c. 1890. Gardens from at least c. 1878.  

Craig-y-Nos occupies a spectacular and romantic setting in a secluded upland valley. It is registered for its historic interest incorporating important elements of a high Victorian garden. It was bought by the internationally famous opera singer Madame Adelina Patti (1843-1919) in 1878. The gardens were initially laid out for the singer by the noted designer William Barron (1805-1891), and development was continued by Constantine Hibbert, who was head gardener from 1889-1933. The historic park, now the Country Park, lies to the north and south of the castle and its gardens, and opposite the castle (Cadw ref:7491; NPRN25344) on the western bank of the river Tawe below Carreg-lwyd. It covers approximately 40 acres (16.2 ha) and includes the fish pond, the far lake, a pavilion lawn, grassy terraces, pine woods, gardens, beech woods and three meadows; the Main, the Small and the Hay in addition to the walled kitchen garden. The river Tawe bends through the centre of the area in a south-easterly direction, following its confluence with the river Llynfell, itself a feature, about 12m to the east of the kitchen garden. Between the Far Lake and the Tawe within the Beech wood, to the south of the Small Meadow, is an overgrown series of leats and simple, stone features, believed to have been laid out after 1905, possibly as some kind of wild garden. A rustic summer house in the Beech Woods has now gone. In the area of the walled kitchen garden there is an abandoned rock garden, quite extensive, and includes empty pools among the large stones. To the north of the rock garden there is a rectangular fish hatchery. By 1895 the garden was credited with being a model of the Victorian style, combining the formal and the wild, moving away from the intricacy of the high Victorian period. The addition of the rock garden, as well as the area of leats and stone structures and the introductions of Asiatic exotics such as rhododendrons and azaleas may show this. Soon after 1878 a conservatory, an aviary and, by 1890, a winter garden were also constructed. The latter was re-erected in Swansea as the Patti Pavilion (Cadw ref:11734; NPRN31848). Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys (ref: PGW(Po)16). Rosate-Lunn, E. (1961). 'My recollections of Madame Patti', Brycheiniog 7, 179-186.  

PGW(Dy)31(PEM)

Cresselly  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Jeffreyston  

205972  

206868  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; pleasure gardens; walled kitchen garden.  

Some features, such as the walled garden, were extant about 1840. Substantial remodelling of the park and garden was undertaken in about 1869 and again between 1875 & 1907.  

Registered as an example of a nineteenth century landscape park with some fine entrances and a large and well-preserved example of a kitchen garden. The registered area has group value with Cresselly House (LB: 15933) built c.1770 with subsequent alterations, and associated estate outbuildings. The house and gardens at Cresselly are situated near the summit of the west-facing slopes of a small hill, at some 70m AOD, in rolling Pembrokeshire countryside. The undulating slope to the west of the house is occupied by parkland which slopes gently away from the house to the north-east. Woodland areas around and in the centre of the park remain. The area of park is much the same as in the tithe survey (when it was recorded as ‘lawn’) and first edition Ordnance Survey, which is the two parcels to the west of the house, about 23 acres. A parcel of land east of the house, shown as park in 1869, is now farmland. The areas of woodland at the margins of the park appear to have changed little in extent between the tithe survey and today. The Ordnance Survey map of 1875 shows no grand sweeps of drive or lodged entrances. A modest drive or path is shown giving access from the site of the present North Lodge through to the walled gardens, from here small paths link to the house. Access to the front of the house was from a recessed entrance (LB: 15916) just above the stable courtyard (LB: 15917; 15918). However, by 1907 there had been several changes: just beyond the smithy, is a recessed entrance and the start of a former drive which would appear to have been constructed post 1875 and prior to 1906 (2nd edition OS). Some four metres from the road, on the line of the south drive, stands an ornate pair of gate piers (LB: 15928). From this imposing entrance, the drive curved westwards across a 9-acre field to the site of the West Lodge (LB: 15926. However, the drive was obviously constructed some time before the lodge, as the only lodge shown on the 1907 survey is the North Lodge (LB: 15921; 15922). The West Lodge is very much more modest than the North Lodge, but is stone built in a similar style. From the lodge the drive crossed the lane that leads towards Cresswell and entered the park through a further imposing double gateway (LB: 15927) which is recessed from the lane. From this entrance the drive curves eastward towards the house. To the south-west of the house, the drive splays with one fork curved north in front of the house and terrace and eventually linking with the north drive. The other fork links the drive with the service area. There is a little ornamental planting within the park. In the Belts, a linear area of native deciduous woodland, are two fishponds, now largely overgrown. The Belts still links to the perimeter woodland belt at Cresselly Wood, as it did in the nineteenth century. The boundary between the road, to the east, and the estate, is marked by a substantial rubble wall which continues, in part, around the park. The garden was established and developed during the mid-late nineteenth century, and occupies the terrace which surrounds the house, though mostly to the west. The garden is mostly lawn surrounded by plantings of hardy plants and shrubs. The terrace appears to have been re-modelled several times since the tithe survey. Photographs from 1871 show the terrace with formal circular and semi-circular beds planted with annuals, revealed as parchmarks during summer aerial reconnaissance in 2004. To the south of this terrace, at the end of the last century, was what appears to be a small circular tiered sunken garden, similar to one at Lawrenny. By the turn of the century a fountain is shown in this area, close to the circular garden. This feature has now gone but a slight circular sunken depression remains within the grass at the same location. The stone eastern boundary wall, which separates the garden area from the road, is of variable height, but mostly just over 1m, with an irregular capping giving a castellated (cocks and hens) effect. Around the house and between the house and the North Lodge are mature examples of Rhus typhina (Staghorn sumach), Lawson's cypress, Scots pine and rhododendrons including R.'Boddaertianum'. To the north of the house are the walled kitchen gardens; these are the elements of most historical interest remaining in the gardens at Cresselly. They are two conjoining gardens, long axes east by west, which cover nearly 1.5 acres. In about 1840 the garden is shown on the tithe map as a single sub-rectangular area but by 1875 it became two separate gardens and this division remains. Perimeter and cross paths shown in the 1860s are no longer visible. The enclosing walls stand mostly to just over 3m and the internal west and south-facing walls are lined in brick. The entrance from one garden to the other is through an arched doorway in the centre of the wall. Either side of it on the south are two brick walls at right angles to the central wall, possibly buttresses as well as support for ornamental climbers. Within the south garden are old fruit trees and the base of a cold frame or glasshouse. Glasshouses also existed along the inside north garden north wall; one smaller range of glass remains although traces of more extensive foundations are still visible. They were possibly designed by William Hoare who worked at nearby Slebech and Lawrenny where he was a tenant. He was responsible for the original peach house at Cresselly which was likely located along the north wall. An arched entrance formerly linked the gardens with the boiler and service buildings which were situated in a range outside (to the north) of this wall. In the western section of the north garden is an iron hand pump on a crumbling stone and brick base, the site of a well. Significant View: Views west across the park from the terrace. Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 202-5 (ref: PGW(Dy)31(PEM)). Ordnance Survey six-inch maps: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXIV.SE (editions of 1863-4 & 1906); second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXIV.12 (1906). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton  

PGW(Gm)48(SWA)

Cwmdonkin Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Uplands  

263791  

193243  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1874  

Cwmdonkin Park is registered as a well-preserved Victorian urban public park retaining much of its original layout. It also has historical associations with Dylan Thomas. The park is medium-sized (13 acres), constructed on land which was then on the western edge of Swansea but now situated in a residential area, to the west of the city centre. It is elongated east-west and lies on a south-facing slope, the northern end steeply sloping down to a more level central area. Both layout and planting were informal in character, with areas of ornamental tree and shrub planting, open lawns, and sports facilities - tennis courts, pavilion and bowling green. The park was laid out in 1874 on land bought from Mr James Walter. Its layout is shown on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map and most of the original paths survive today, although their surfaces have mostly been replaced by tarmac. A reservoir in the south-east corner treated as an ornamental feature with a path running all the way around it, has since been filled in to form a play area. Informal planting led to boundary tree and shrub belts and borders, an area of woodland in the centre of the south side, and the beginnings of the wooded bank along the north side. The tennis courts, pavilion, bandstand and bowling green were later additions, the bowling green being built in 1908. The octagonal bandstand, now gone, stood in a lawn with a gravel path around it. The narrow winding paths at the west end of the park are shown on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map, but the wall and archway were subsequent additions as they are not shown. The park was much loved by the poet Dylan Thomas, whose poem ‘The hunchback in the park’ was written about Cwmdonkin. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)48(SWA). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, XXiii.8 (1899)  

PGW(Gm)60(SWA)

Cwmgelli Cemetery  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Mynyddbach  

265678  

196511  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban landscaped cemetery  

1895  

Cwmgelli Cemetery is registered for its historic interest as a small Victorian garden cemetery, dating to about 1895, the date on its chapel (NPRN: 13570). On the 1881 Ordnance Survey map (surveyed in 1876-77) the area is shown as open space. The second edition map of 1899 (surveyed 1897) shows the cemetery with its present layout but with a perimeter belt of mixed deciduous and coniferous trees around the north half only. By 1913-14, when revisions were made for the third edition (1919) Ordnance Survey map, the perimeter belt was complete. The cemetery is bounded by high rubble stone walls on all but the north side, where there is a modern concrete wall. The main entrance is on the west side. This has simple iron gates flanked by tall square stone piers with pyramidal tops. On either side are pedestrian gates flanked by similar piers. Inside, two horse chestnuts flank the entrance. The tarmac drive runs north-eastwards and reaches a circular lawn with rose and shrub beds and one grave, of Edward Rice Daniel (1829-1905). Pines are planted around the circle. On its east side is a chapel, built out above the slope, with the entrance porch at the west end, on the circle. The chapel is built of random stone, with sandstone dressings and a red tiled roof. At the east end is a small octagonal tower of dressed sandstone, with louvred windows and a battlemented top. Over the round-arched doorway in the porch is the date 1895. Evergreen shrubs, pines and cypresses are planted around it. The remainder of the interior of the cemetery is laid out informally, with winding tarmac paths, which follow the original layout, giving access to all areas. The graves are in a mixture of styles, the oldest ones, dating to 1899-1915, being near the chapel. The cemetery is planted with a mixture of trees, evergreen and flowering shrubs and roses. Pines are the predominant trees, planted both around the perimeter and in groups within the cemetery. There is a second entrance, similar to the main one, on the east boundary of the cemetery. Setting: Cwmgelli Cemetery is situated on an east-facing slope in the Treboeth district of northern Swansea. It is bounded by streets and housing on all but the east side, where there is a short road, Pontyshwt, leading to scrubby ground at the southern end of Llewelyn Park, which occupies the valley to the north. Sources Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, p.171 (ref: PGW(Gm)60(SWA)).