PGW(Gm)51(SWA)

Kilvrough  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Pennard  

255830  

189417  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Small landscape park with folly; formal and informal gardens; kitchen garden  

1770s; 1820  

Kilvrough is located in south Gower, just east of the village of Parkmill. It is registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved eighteenth and nineteenth century park and garden, and for its historical associations with the Dawkins family, important in Glamorgan politics and society from the seventeenth century onwards. It has group value with listed Kilvrough Manor (grade II*, LB: 11538), and with the grade II listed lodge and entrance gates, north boundary wall, stable court, garden sundial and tower/gazebo. The manor lies in an area of parkland which occupies a rectangular area to the south and north of the house, on land that is rolling but with a general slope towards the south-west. It is bounded on the north by a stone wall along the A4118 Swansea-Parkmill road (LB:22838), on the south by Pennard Road, and elsewhere by field boundaries. The park also extended northwards as far as Ilston Cwm where it is bordered by woodland to the north, west and southwest. Kilvrough estate Home Farm is also situated to the north of the road. The house is approached from the east, off the A4118, where there is an ornamental entrance and lodge (LBs: 22835-6). The main area of the park is a large rectangular field ornamented with a few clumps of mixed deciduous trees. Towards the south end this is flanked by two woods, the western one called Highway Wood. To its north-west is a further area of woodland and within it a rectangular enclosure and a folly gazebo/tower (LB: 22839). The enclosure was variously a kitchen garden and a tree nursery. The gardens date mostly from the early nineteenth century. They surround the house and occupy an irregular area of rolling ground, bounded on the north by the A4118 road which takes a northwards curve around them from the entrance and lodge. The drive passes through informally planted wooded grounds, with ornamental deciduous and coniferous trees set in lawns, to an oval forecourt on the north side of the house. To the south of the drive the grounds are wooded, the trees being mostly deciduous, and are bounded by a stone wall; to the north it is a more open, ornamental mixed woodland area. To the northwest of the house, are two distinct rectangular areas, the kitchen garden and the Italian Garden. The kitchen garden lies at the north end, next to the road; the Italian Garden is to its south, between it and the forecourt. The Italian Garden is now a large, rectangular, sunken lawn surrounded by trees and shrubs, particularly rhododendrons, partly bounded by walls and banks. Steps lead down from forecourt to lawn. On its north side are two concrete-lined pools, east and west of a central ornament, formerly a fountain. On the south side is an area of mixed woodland with some fine, mature trees under-planted with ornamental shrubs. The former kitchen garden lies at the north end of the site, between the Italian Garden and the road, but is no longer used as such being now part of the ornamental gardens. It is bounded on the north by the curving boundary wall, here brick-faced, but otherwise only walled on the east side 2.7m high with doorway. The interior is mostly a grass slope planted with some ornamental trees. At the north end is a brick base for frames. There is also, on the east wall, a lean-to ruined glasshouse stepped down the slope, probably a vinery. To the west of the house is a large lawn on two levels, separated by a revetment wall, and bounded on the south and west by ornamental trees. On the upper lawn is an ornamental stone sundial. The lower lawn is rectangular and was formerly a hard tennis court. Setting - Kilvrough with its park and gardens lies in a rural area surrounded by farmland. The setting of the park is quite wooded to the west and north but farmland to the south and east. Significant views - From the west side of the house there are views across the lawn and to the Gower coast beyond. Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 176-9 (ref: PGW(Gm)51(SWA)).