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)