PGW(Gm)63(GLA)

Romilly Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

Barry  

310177  

166951  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1898-1911  

Romilly Park is registered as a good example of a small, Edwardian urban public park retaining most of its original framework and features, including an attractive rockwork and water garden. The park is situated near the western end of the town of Barry. It is surrounded by residential roads and by the Barry railway along its south side. To the south of the railway is Cold Knap Park (PGW(Gm)58(GLA)). To the north of the main park is a small, triangular detached section planted with trees and shrubs and with a Gorsedd circle, constructed for the 1920 National Eisteddfod. The north end of the park is steeply sloping and wooded, with mixed mature trees on a grass slope. A zig-zag tarmac path, with stone edging, runs down the slope from the entrance off Romilly Park Road. Near the east side of the north end is a well preserved water garden landscaped with much natural rockwork, and a series of small cascades, pools and bridges. The water garden is an original feature, illustrated in the 1911 guide. To the south of the water garden, on the east side of the park, is a bowling green. Tennis courts lie to the south of the bowling green. Between the bowling green and the tennis courts is the main walk leading to a double-gate entrance on the east side. The main axial walk of the park forms a boundary between the wooded slope to the north and the more open, gently sloping area to the south. It is a wide tarmac path running from the east entrance past the bowling green and tennis courts and then turning to run south-westwards across the remainder of the park to an entrance on the west side. Construction of the park began in 1898 on land which belonged to the Romilly family. The family had carried out a certain amount of tree planting in the area in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The Barry Urban District Council became interested in making a park on the area in 1894, at which time it was already used for agricultural shows. The Romilly family agreed to donate the land on condition that a public road was built around the park and that none of the trees were cut down. In 1897 the well-known landscape architect Thomas Mawson agreed to design the park but the council overturned the decision of the parks committee to employ Mawson and the job was given to the council’s surveyor, Mr Pardoe, who produced plans in January 1898. Paths were being laid out in 1903. The bowling green had been laid out by 1907 and by 1911 the park was mostly complete. The Barry guide of that year mentioned ‘attractive parterres ... tennis courts, croquet lawns and bowling greens’. The layout is shown on the 1915 25 in. Ordnance Survey map. Original features that have gone are the winding paths on the slope at the north end of the park and the bandstand. The bandstand was a central focal point of the park. From old photographs it appears to have been hexagonal, with a two-tiered ogee roof. A semi-circular gently sloping lawn, with four triangular radiating beds cut into it marks the location of the former bandstand. The 1915 25 in. OS map shows that at that time a drinking fountain stood on the opposite side of the main walk. The only changes to have survived that took place between the First and Second World Wars were the replacement of the eastern shelter on the main walk with a bungalow, further tree planting, and the erection of the Gorsedd Circle in 1920, when the National Eisteddfod was held in the park. When Cold Knap Park was developed in the 1920s the tunnel under the railway, previously only used for farm traffic, was developed as a public road in order to link the two parks. During this period the roads to the east and west (Romilly Park Road) were gradually built up. After the Second World War the park underwent a certain amount of simplification. The bandstand was removed and a new bowls pavilion was added. The path layout was reduced and the zig-zag path made. The remaining paths are original. Setting: Romilly Park is an urban public park located in the west of Barry. It is surrounded by residential roads and by the Barry railway along its south side. To the south of the railway is Cold Knap Park. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, PGW(Gm)63(GLA) Ordnance Survey, 25-inch Glamorgan L.8 (1920)