PGW(Dy)64(PEM)

Manorowen  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Scleddau  

193347  

236373  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Walled & compartmented garden with gazebo.  

Late seventeenth century; late eighteenth century; about 1830.  

Manorowen, located to the south-west of Fishguard and Goodwick, is registered for the survival of its walled garden, believed to have originated in the late seventeenth century, with its unusually intricate layout. Built into it is a fine late eighteenth century gazebo from which there is a panoramic view to Fishguard Bay. Both garden and gazebo are Grade II Listed structures (LBs 15199-15200) and there is further group value with Grade II Listed Manorowen House (LB 13029). The gardens of Manorowen lie in two distinct areas, separated by the A487 road. To the west of the road lies the late Georgian house, with a simple, informal garden in front of it. To the east is the main, walled, garden. The garden west of the road consists of a sloping lawn east of the house, bounded on the west by a scarp up to the drive and house, and on the north by the drive. Flanking the lawn, at its north and south ends, are ornamental trees and shrubs. Behind the house is a triangular area of woodland, which may originally have been part of the pleasure grounds. It contains an old mill pond, remnants of its leat and former field banks. East of the road is the 1.5 acre walled garden (LB 15199). It is entered by a doorway opposite the entrance to the house drive. To the south is the former road to Goodwick and the church and churchyard (LB: 15205). The garden is roughly rectangular, aligned east-west, with segmented walls giving it eight sides. The mortared rubble walls are largely intact and variable in height, maximum between 3m-3.5m high. The west wall runs parallel with the road, with a slightly arched entrance near the north end. There are also entrances in the north and south walls. The north wall is in two segments, the main one running from the north-east corner then another to the gazebo at the north-west corner. The interior is laid out in response to the slopes. At the west end is a grass terrace along the wall, the slope below planted with shrubs and in the middle a small pool. Below this slope the ground, except for the north side, levels out to a gentle slope towards the lowest east end. This area is largely laid out as lawn, with a few trees and a shrub border along the south side, and in the centre are three small formal, hedged, compartments; below them is a lawn planted with a few trees. A narrow path with a modern pergola runs east to a north-south path with a similar pergola. To the east another path, flanked by pairs of 1m high ornamental cast-iron pillars, runs downslope to steps down to the pond. The pond lies on boggy ground at the east end of the garden. The steep north side of the garden at its east end is a lawn planted with trees and shrubs through which a path winds west to a small revetted terrace at the top of the garden near the gazebo. Below it another terrace, known as the Bee Garden, is enclosed by low and high walls up to 2m-2.5m high. The south side is a low parapet above a high revetment wall against which are the now-derelict glasshouses. The interior, laid out to lawn, narrows on the west to a grass path towards the steps up to the gazebo which start just inside the entrance in the west wall. The gazebo is built on bedrock. It is square, single-storey, with a pyramidal slate roof and mortared rubble stone walls with window openings of which the north one is the largest (LB 15200). Setting - Manorowen is set in an elevated position in the north Pembrokeshire countryside to the south-west of Goodwick and Fishguard. Significant views - From the north window of the gazebo there is a panoramic view towards Goodwick and Fishguard Bay beyond. Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 250-3 (ref: PGW(Dy)64(PEM)).