PGW(Gm)15(BRI)

Tythegston Court  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Bridgend  

Merthyr Mawr  

285640  

179175  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Small landscape park; informal and compartmented garden; walled kitchen garden  

Late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century; c. 1900  

Registered for its historic interest as a small landscape park contemporary with the remodelling of the house from the 1760s to the early nineteenth century and for which the park and garden provide the setting. Tythegston Court is situated on level ground on the northern edge of the hamlet of Tythegston, to the north-east of Porthcawl. The small landscape park occupies a triangular area of rolling ground to the north of the house (Cadw LB: 11216). It was simply laid out with belts of beech trees on the boundaries and a few isolated trees and clumps. Most of those beeches have now gone and been replaced, but the general configuration of the park remains as it was. The park is bounded by the A4106 road on the east and south, the lane to the kitchen garden on the west, and by a narrow belt of deciduous trees (the Long Belt) on the north. The ground dips in the centre to a shallow dry valley near the west end of which is a well. The park has few internal boundaries and is ornamented with a few isolated trees and a young clump of beech, planted in 1962 to replace an original beech clump. The Long Belt is also planted with beech trees dating to the late eighteenth century, though many have since died and been removed. The west end of the park is bounded by Home Wood, a largely deciduous woodland. Trees have been planted along the south-west side of the park, between the house and the kitchen garden in an area of former woodland of large beech trees and a few limes. A footpath, now grassed over, runs across the park from the north boundary of the garden to the kitchen garden, which is set against the south-west edge of the park. The gardens lie in three main areas to the west, south and east of the house, bounded on the west by a small lane, on the south by the A4106 road, and on the east by iron fencing on the boundary with the park. The present entrance is in the north-west corner, off the lane. Just north of it are tennis courts. The tarmac drive leads eastwards to the court at the rear of the house, with a gravel branch south-eastwards through the garden to a gravel forecourt on the south side of the house. A further short stretch runs parallel with the west wing linking the two drives. West of the house the drive winds through an informal shrubbery. A laurel hedge bounds the garden along the lane and yew hedges along the road on the south side and along the east side. To the east is a small lawn with two pairs of Irish yews flanking a former drive, now under the lawn. To the south of the house, in the centre of the garden, is a forecourt bounded by yew hedges. Aerial views show that this area has been developed (before 2013) with a turning circle around a central feature. To the south was a narrow strip of ground up to the boundary, planted with ornamental flowering cherries and two large copper beech trees planted in about 1900. Along the boundary is a stone wall, with a blocked entrance, tall ornamental gate piers remaining. Another drive, to the north-east off the turning circle, exits on the A4106. To the east of the house is a large lawn reached by stone steps down from the forecourt. The garden is bounded on the east by iron fencing and by a stone wall at the north end. The kitchen garden is situated at some distance to the north-west of the house, on the south-west edge of the park next to a small lane leading to the Keeper's Lodge. The kitchen garden consists of three conjoining compartments. Those on the west and south-east are the largest. The smallest is on the north-east. The south-east one was formerly partitioned. Walls are of rubble stone (brick-lined on the west) rising to 3.5m-4m high. Between the south-east area and the road are the gardens of two cottages, that to the east being Gardener's Cottage. In the west compartment the former east-west central and perimeter paths are no longer visible and the sundial has gone. There is a door in the west wall and a wider one in the north wall. The north-east compartment is still in productive use and retains its 1877 layout. In the centre is a circular pool with stone lining topped with a brick surround protruding just above ground level. To the north is a modern glasshouse behind which an Edwardian lean-to glasshouse is against the north wall. To its east are the brick footings of a former vinery, removed in 1950. A door in the north wall leads into an enclosure bounded on the north by a low stone wall. This area contains some stone outbuildings and lean-to bothies against the garden wall. A small brick-lined furnace with a stone slab top is situated against the wall behind the former vinery. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 20-22 (ref: PGW(Gm)15(BRI)). Ordnance Survey first-edition 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XL.5 (1876). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton