PGW(Gd)33(GWY)

Dolmelynllyn  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Ganllwyd  

272530  

323923  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Park with lake, woodland, formal terraced gardens, disused walled kitchen gardens.  

Nineteenth century.  

Registered as a good example of well-preserved and well documented formal gardens and unspoilt park with interesting features including a picturesque walk to Rhaeadr du. The site also includes a terraced kitchen garden with bee boles. Dolmelynllyn has historical associations with William Madocks (1773-1828) who briefly owned the estate (Madocks purchased the estate in 1798) and helped to popularize the picturesque walk. The grounds have group value with the estate buildings including the grade II listed hall (LB: 15151) and game larder (LB: 15153). Dolmelynllyn (LB: 15151; NPRN: 28349) is built on a natural shelf on the western side of the Afon Mawddach valley. It lies in parkland, towards its western edge, overlooking its gardens and the park. The greater part of the park now lies to the south but it was originally less than two-thirds of its present size having been extended on both sides of the road (now the A470) between 1860 and 1889, probably after the acquisition of the adjacent Berth-lwyd estate in 1873. The house is approached by two drives, both off the west side of the A470. The north drive, currently in use, has an entrance lodge (built between 1860 and 1889) now a farmhouse, the entrance flanked by curving stone walls with balustrading and square, flat-topped gate piers. The drive is flanked by an avenue of beech trees, with some oak and birch, replacing a former avenue of conifers. The south drive, now used only for access to the Observatory and a barn, was at one time the main approach to the house. To the south of the observatory, the drive has an avenue of limes. The south lodge is smaller than the north. The park is divided up into several areas by roads and drives, all with slightly different characters, though all share the basic similarity of pasture with scattered planted trees. The area east of the Porthmadog to Dolgellau road, bounded by the river, is the best agricultural land. The main parkland area is west of the road, east of the south drive and south of the north drive. Planting includes two giant sequoias, one of which is the largest in Wales, a group of beech trees and a horse chestnut. The south-west area is the roughest and has few trees, never seeming to have had many. The lake, small and roughly oval in shape with an artificial island, was created by damming the stream, Nant Las, and is partly surrounded by ornamental plantings. The foundations of a boathouse are still visible. Close to the lake, on the far side of the path along its west side, is the site of the ice-house, a hollow, with a little stone walling remaining. The rather steep, wooded slope above the lake and stables was once part of the pleasure grounds but now falls into the park, since being cut off from the garden by the south drive. This remains more or less modified natural woodland. In the woods to the north-west of the house is an extensive system of footpaths, and two or three natural streams. They are all shown on the 1889 Ordnance Survey map and some on the estate map of 1860, and were presumably originally all recreational paths and rides belonging to Dolmelynllyn. The post-1860 paths were clearly laid out by Charles Williams, but some are certainly old routes and the main path from the garden linking up with the system, giving access to the Afon Ganllwyd and the Rhaeadr Du, was probably laid out by William Madocks, who often entertained guests in search of the picturesque. The walk up to the waterfall was a favourite with visitors to Dolmelynllyn in Madocks' day and later. Charles Reynolds Williams purchased the estate in 1860. He conveyed it to his son, Romer Williams, in 1892, and in the intervening 32 years Charles Williams completely redesigned, rebuilt and refurbished the house and grounds, as well as considerably enlarging the estate. It is clear from the series of photographs which is kept at the house, covering this period, that Charles Williams enjoyed altering and adding to his property, and scarcely a year went by without some improvement to house or garden, or both. He must also have planted the many large exotic conifers and other trees which survive in the park, as well as the lost conifer avenue of the north drive and the largely surviving avenue of limes along the southern part of the south drive. The gardens surround the house on all sides but cover only a small area compared with that occupied by the park. They consist of terraces, lawns and shrubbery which were carved out of former wooded 'pleasure grounds', mostly after 1860. There are two fairly narrow formal terraces which run round the south and east of the house, with a much larger third terrace on the south, with linking flights of steps. Beyond this is a lawn, crossed by a small stream, and then a triangular area of shrubbery. A photograph taken in 1862 shows the top terrace south of the house, with no steps leading down, but a small gate. By 1867 the second terrace had been constructed, and the steps leading down to it built; the third terrace had been levelled and was in use as a croquet lawn. The upper two terraces were gravelled, and a plain, relatively narrow, flight of steps led down to the croquet lawn from the second terrace. In 1870 the upper terrace on the east was gravelled and had no parapet wall. By 1873 the wall and steps between the upper and lower terraces on this side had been constructed; on the south side there was a delicate iron fence along the edge of the second terrace, and the croquet lawn below appeared to be disused. By 1890, however, the second flight of steps down to this level had been built to match the upper flight, and the pool and fountain, with a rose garden around, occupied the site of the croquet lawn. The main terrace wall on the east was as it is today, and the cranes at the bottom of the steps down to the fountain terrace were in place, one already being headless. The layout today is very similar to that shown on the 1889 25-inch O.S. map. The kitchen garden, which predates the ornamental gardens, lies just behind the house, on the west. It is basically square with irregular extensions to south and east. It slopes steeply up to the west, the slope necessitating terracing of the northern part. It is surrounded by a drystone wall. There are several entrances, some blocked up. Six terracing walls are shown in the northern part of the garden on the 1889 OS map. Setting: Situated in the Snowdonia National Park at the southern end of the village of Ganllwyd. The registered area slopes gently to the east to the Afon Mawddach. To the west Coed Ganllwyd and Coed y Gamlan provide the wooded backdrop with footpaths to Afon Gamlan and Rhaiadr Ddu. Significant View: From the park and garden to the east towards the Afon Mawddach. Views south down the valley from the Observatory. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 190-4 (ref: PGW(Gd)33(GWY). Ordnance Survey first-edition County Series 25-inch map: Merionethshire XXXIII.3 (1889).