PGW(Gd)57(CON)

Hafodunos  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Conwy  

Llangernyw  

285767  

366307  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Terraced garden; informal garden with collection of coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs; picturesque walks.  

1861 onwards  

Hafodunos is registered as a good example of a nineteenth-century garden with a notable collection of trees and shrubs and incorporating picturesque woodland walks in the neighbouring valleys. Hafodunos Hall and estate entrance lodge were designed by the influential architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-78) between 1861- 66. The gardens may also have historical associations with the important nineteenth-century botanist, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who is said to have advised on planting. The registered area shares group value with Hafodunos Hall (LB: 262), lodge (LB: 258) and entrance gates (LB: 21480), estate farm buildings (LB: 16844) and the former bailiff’s office and attached cartshed (LB: 16843). Hafodunos, a large Victorian Gothic style mansion, is situated on a south-east-facing slope in rolling countryside to the south-west of Llangernyw. The house was originally approached by drives from the south-west and north-east, each with an entrance lodge, but the estate is now entered at the north-east lodge and the drive from the west is unused. The land around Hafodunos is not laid out strictly as a park, although it is depicted as such on the 1st and 2nd edition Ordnance Survey maps, which show the extent of parkland at this time. There are some mature oaks in the field north-east of the house, otherwise little parkland planting seems to have been carried out. The emphasis appears to have been on the woodland areas which break up this linear tract of land running south-west from the house. The drive is situated along this length of land, and has monkey puzzles lining parts of it. It is known that an older garden was attached to the previous house, but the layout of the garden today, except for the walled garden, is of nineteenth-century date. The ornamental planting is mostly of the nineteenth century and relates to the time when the Sandbach family came into possession of Hafodunos in 1831, and planting continued into the turn of the century. Much of the planting was carried out by Henry Robertson Sandbach in the latter half of the nineteenth century, it is said with help from the prominent botanist J.D. Hooker (1817-1911) and many of the plant introductions are thought to have been suggested by him. The pleasure garden at Hafodunos falls into two distinct areas. The first area is the terraces and borders immediately to the south of the house, the second being the woodland walks of the Nant Rhan-hir to the south-east of the house. Looking south from the terrace of the house the ground drops gently to a tributary of the Elwy and then rises into a bank on the south-west which has a walk along the top with glimpsed views back to the house. Apart from the terrace and borders the whole area is luxuriantly planted with rhododendrons and other shrubs as well as a collection of exotic conifers. The stream and woodland walks which lie to the south-east of this area are reached by informal walks, now heavily overgrown, from the terraced garden. Two stone bridges cross the stream of the Nant Rhan-hir, making a small circuit walk. A path leads north-eastwards along the valley side to the walled garden. This area of woodland is also planted with exotic species. The walled garden lies beyond the pleasure garden to the north-east of the house close to the estate entrance. It dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The enclosed garden is of sub-rectangular shape, long axis north-west by south-east, regular on the south-east but widening into a triangle on the north-west. It is situated on two slopes running down to a stream which flows through the centre of the garden and then continues into the pleasure garden. The stream is bridged with slab stones in two places. On the south side of the stream a wall divides the garden into two. Early maps portray the entire garden area as being partitioned along its main axis. Only the north-west end partitions survive. Here were extensive glasshouses and potting sheds including a range along the inner north walls. These now survive in a derelict state. The south side of the garden still retains a good quantity of fruit trees. Significant View: From the south front of the house and garden terraces across the gardens and surrounding scenery of the Elwy Valley. Setting: Situated in rolling countryside to the south-west of Llangernyw in the scenic Elwy valley. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 116-8 (ref: PGW(C)9). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: Denbighshire X.IV, (third edition 1910); six-inch map: Denbighshire XI.NE (second edition 1900). Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheets Denbighshire X.IV, (third edition 1910); XII.1 (third edition 1913). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton