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)