PGW(Gt)35(MON)

Mathern Palace  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Mathern  

352281  

190819  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Arts-and-Crafts garden.  

1894-1914.  

Mathern Palace is registered for the historic interest of its well-preserved Arts and Crafts style garden designed by Henry Avray Tipping (1855-1933). The garden is laid out around the medieval bishop’s palace. It has important group value with the late medieval palace of the Bishops of Llandaff and nearby Mathern estate buildings. Mathern Palace (LB: 2007) stands to the south of the churchyard in Mathern village. Throughout the medieval period it was one of the residences of the bishops of Llandaff. The oldest part of the fabric is fifteenth century, when it is said to have been built by John de la Zouch (Bishop 1408-1423). In 1894, H. Avray Tipping bought the palace and began extensive renovation, rebuilding and additions with the help of his architect Eric Francis. Tipping lived here until 1914, when he moved to Mounton House (PGW(Gt)8(MON). The gardens at Mathern Palace lie to the north-west, south-east and south-west of the house with a small forecourt to the north-east. H. Avray Tipping made the gardens between 1894 and about 1900. He laid out terraces on the south-west facing slope, simply walled with limestone. Level lawns, the kitchen garden and a sunken rose garden were made to the south-east, and the whole structure was linked by paved paths and grass walks flanked by clipped yew and topiary hedges. Much of the mature and structural planting remains. At the end of the main NE-SW axis through the sunken rose garden, is a simple stone pavilion, which looks out over the fields beyond the garden. The steeper slope on the north-west side was made into a rockery. It is now a grass slope. Mature trees and the two extant linear fishponds were incorporated into Tipping’s scheme. To the southeast of the house, the compartment at the northern end of the garden is the kitchen garden. This is bounded by a high stone wall at its northeast end, against which glasshouses formerly stood. Significant Views: Views facing southwest from the house and terraces across pasture fields. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, p.95 (ref:PGW (Gt)35).