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)).