PGW(Gd)49(ANG)

Plas Rhianfa  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Isle of Anglesey  

Cwm Cadnant  

257013  

373352  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Terraced seaside Victorian garden offering sheltered environment, views; planting, which has to some extent survived, in a luxuriant style reminiscent of the Mediterranean  

1850s  

Plas Rhianfa is located on the Menai Straight, about 2km north-east of Menai Bridge, on the south side of the Beaumaris to Menai Bridge road. It is registered for its well-documented Victorian terraced garden and for what remains of a rich array of planted flora which took full advantage of the favourable local climate and sheltered conditions. It has group value with the listed gothic Plas Rhianfa (Grade II*, LB 81142) and the garden summer house and dovecot (Grade II, LB 83052). Plas Rhianfa was built between 1848 and 1851. Formal terraces were created dictated by the steeply sloping site, and planted and laid out in a luxuriant style with emphasis on Mediterranean plants. The gardens originally covered some 12 acres but were gradually sold off and are now reduced to three acres which have been little altered. The main part of the garden, as it now is, lies on ground sloping to the edge of the Straight. It consists of a gravelled terrace, with a low parapet wall, in front of the house, a wider, semi-circular, sloping, grass terrace below it with a summer house, to the west two wider grass terraces and below, to the south-west, is the main terrace, reached from above by three flights of steps, cut in half by the new western boundary of the garden. All the terraces run south-west to north-east, parallel with the front of the house. Despite its small size the garden abounds with paths - along all the terraces, along the sea wall and winding around the lower garden. The main terrace was laid out with beds in the shape of fleurs-de-lys and other patterns, and with two small raised pools. These survive intact on the half of the terrace which still belongs to Plas Rhianfa. The lower part runs down to a turreted sea wall at the water's edge and slopes more gently with a more informal style, with winding paths, lawns, trees and shrubberies. Some older rhododendrons survive. At the north-eastern extremity of this area is an unusual dovecote and summer house (‘Ty The’). Built in a style to match the house, it has glass-fronted nesting boxes on either side of the seating in the central summer house portion. On the north side of the main road was the Upper Garden which included the kitchen gardens. This area has been redeveloped. A house now occupies the site of the extensive glasshouses. Much of the rest is overgrown, though the revetment walls of some narrow terraces are still visible. On the opposite side of the road is the opening of a tunnel beneath the road which once linked both parts of the garden. This is now blocked, the opening used as a garden store. Despite the break up of the estate, an idea of the original visual effect can still be obtained. Many plantings shown in an engraving of 1879 survive, in particular fuchsia hedges, a cork tree, ivy and various other creepers. Characteristic plants include palms, cordylines, yuccas, fuchsias, acanthus and myrtle, as well as rhododendrons, hydrangeas, laurel and yew. A large conifer close to the road may predate the gardens. Setting - The gardens lie above the shoreline of the Menai Straight and provide a setting for the house. Significant views - The house was deliberately sited to make the most of the views of the Menai Strait, Snowdon and the Great Orme, and so was built at the top of the steep main garden, very close to the Menai Bridge to Beaumaris road. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 44-7 (ref: PGW(Gd)49(ANG)). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton