PGW(Gt)9(MON)

Abergavenny Castle  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Abergavenny  

329962  

213948  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Picturesque walk and landscaping at medieval castle ruins.  

c. 1800; late nineteenth century.  

Abergavenny Castle is registered for the early nineteenth-century landscaping around the medieval castle ruins with Picturesque walks and gardens and affording extensive views over the Usk Valley. Further landscaping took place in the later nineteenth century when the castle grounds became a public park. The registered park and garden has important group value with the castle (scheduled monument MM056; LB: 2376), the early nineteenth-century shooting box (LB: 86811), late nineteenth-century lodge (LB: 86897) and the entrance gate, gatepiers and boundary wall (LB: 86805). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, c.1800, the grounds were landscaped with Picturesque walks created within the curtain walls. The walk around the south end of the castle was created at this time and possibly the winding walk ascending the motte. Mavor (1806) describes ‘a terrace walk, conducted round the site it occupied, commanding the charming vale through which the Uske meanders, shews much taste, and must be an agreeable promenade for the inhabitants.’ In 1818/19 a shooting box was built on the castle motte by Lord Abergavenny. It was later used to provide refreshments when the grounds became a public park and is now the home of Abergavenny museum. A formal garden was laid out in the later nineteenth-century when works were carried out by William Nevill, 5th earl and 19th Lord of Abergavenny, as a 'place of recreation' for the general public. The entrance lodge probably dates to this phase of development. The grounds were taken over by the Abergavenny Improvement Commissioners in 1881 and became a public garden. Early photographs show an elaborate layout of winding paths and beds outside the northwest curtain wall, also shown on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map (1920). The curtain wall and towers were embellished with rustic fence-work, lookouts and gazebos, including a walk lined with rustic fencing along the top of the curtain wall. This is all now lost. The OS map shows further walks through the outer ward. The bailey bank appears to have been modified and terraced as part of this layout with a walk along it giving views back across the town against the backdrop of the Sugarloaf. The castle grounds remain in use as a public park. Setting: Situated above the river Usk and to the southwest of the historic core of Abergavenny. The registered park and garden is located with Abergavenny Conservation Area. Significant Views: Views to the south and west across Castle Meadows and the River Usk, and towards the Blorenge. Views to the north across the town and towards the Sugarloaf. The castle and shooting lodge are also prominent landmarks in the local landscape. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, p.3 (ref: PGW (Gt) 9) Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Monmouthshire, sheet VI.15 (1901). RCAHMW air photos 945076/46-7; 965104/57-8.