PGW(Gm)7(BRI)

Court Colman  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Bridgend  

Newcastle Higher  

288646  

181832  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Victorian formal and informal garden with small park; walled garden  

1830s-40s; 1870s-90s  

Court Colman is a large nineteenth-century house situated on elevated ground in the Ffornwg valley a few miles to the north-west of Bridgend. Its surrounding grounds provide a setting for the listed house (Grade II, LB: 19057). The grounds are registered for the historic interest of the eclectic Victorian garden with its many features, including conifer and rhododendron planting, an informal woodland area with artificial waterfall, ferns and bamboos, and some formal features including Italian marble ornaments of the 1830s-40s and 1870s-90s. The property also has important group value with its listed iron-gated entrance and twin lodges at the former east entrance to the park at Pen-y-fai (LB: 19054; 19055; 19056). The 1st ed. Ordnance Survey map (1885) shows the house surrounded by its garden and park with entrances from the lanes to the west and east. By the time of the 1921 OS map, the park has been extended to the east with its main entrance via the pair of lodges at Pen-y-fai (LB: 19054; 19055). The long tree-lined drive approached from the east and enters the forecourt in front of the house. The house is no longer accessible from this direction. From a lane west of the house a second, now main, access enters the estate at West Lodge. There are some specimen trees in the park and there are further isolated trees and a fenced clump of trees and rhododendrons below the house. Along the west and north boundaries are some large conifers and deciduous trees. To the south-west of the house a fishpond was converted into an ornamental lake with a concrete dam, and fringed with thick banks of shrubs within an iron-fence boundary. Below, a stream runs southwards under a stone-arched culvert, to join a mill race on the far side of the railway line. The garden lies all around the house. South of the house, steps from the terraced forecourt lead onto a sloping lawn bounded by a curving ha-ha on the south and by the wall of the kitchen garden on the east. It is planted with ornamental trees, a stone sundial set below the drive, and an oval marble bowl near the house. East of the house the garden is highly ornamented and formal. A narrow lawn is flanked by a revetted raised terrace on which are the remains of an elaborate pergola. Sloping ground is laid out with flights of steps, a pool and an ornamented marble fountain, and to the east a sloping lawn is backed by deciduous woodland. The garden north of the house is lawn partly planted with specimen trees and shrubs, partly converted to a carpark. Near the north end is an ironwork arbour with an arched superstructure. Other features include an Italian marble wellhead on a circular plinth, and an octagonal stone pier. West of the house is an informal woodland area of garden, partly now in separate ownership. A continuation of the front terrace is revetted with a former building against it above a valley of mixed woodland below. It is accessed by a narrow path. Below the building is an artificial waterfall descending the steep slope in a series of steps and pools, the stream passing beneath the drive. To the south-east of the house is the walled garden, situated on ground sloping to the south. It is square, with walls about 2m-3m high made of stone except on the south which is brick. The east and west walls were later extended southwards. The interior is grassed over. Along the north side of the south wall is a range of lean-to outbuildings, and along the south side is a long lean-to glasshouse. A stone house in the east corner was probably the gardener’s cottage. Setting - The house and grounds at Court Colman are located in the rural Ffornwg valley, largely unchanged since the later nineteenth century. Significant views - The garden is bounded to the south of the house by a ha-ha, giving a wide-ranging view from the house and garden across the park to the countryside beyond. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 6-9 (ref: PGW(Gm)7(BRI)). Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XL (editions of 1876-1919).