PGW(Gt)48(NPT)

Tredegar Park  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Newport  

Graig  

328605  

186107  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Restoration period, formal walled gardens and part of park; late eighteenth-century landscape park with later planting.  

c. 1680-1720; 1790s; 1870s  

Tredegar Park lies to the west of Newport, Gwent. It is registered for the survival of parts of grand late seventeenth-century layout, including garden walls, gatescreen, inorganic parterres and avenue. Recent fragmentation of, and encroachment on, much of the site has precluded Grade I status. There is important group value with Grade I Listed Tredegar House (LB 2902) and with numerous Listed outbuildings together with a range of Listed features related to the park and gardens. To the north-east is the Scheduled Iron Age hillfort (Tredegar Fort) which formed an element of landscape design (MM084). Tredegar Park lies on the western edge of Newport, on low-lying ground in the Ebbw Valley, and also on higher, rolling ground to the east and west. It was first created after about 1664 by Sir William Morgan, who built the present house. To the north-west of the house it was later referred to as the 'New Park', perhaps added later, with the area to the north of the house called the 'Old Park'. The park incorporated part of an earlier medieval park, Cleppa Park; within Gwern-y-Cleppa wood, to the west of the park, are the ruins of a medieval house (NPRN: 37011). The park layout by the later eighteenth century, over an area of 1000 acres, included great axial avenues with branch avenues. These included double avenues focused on Tredegar Fort to the north-east. Developments from 1790, by the designer Adam Mickle, involved the removal of most avenues, most walled gardens, and the creation of a sinuous lake, 'Great Pool', to the north of the house. The house is approached from the north-east through an entrance with Grade II Listed gates and a pair of lodges (LB 2911). Fragmentation occurred during the twentieth century. The original park is now severely truncated, built on and transected by roads, most notably by the A48, the M4 and the A467. The main remaining areas of open parkland are to the north and north-west of the house. Mickle's lake remains, surrounded by later planting, including wellingtonias and rhododendrons planted in the nineteenth century. The area east of the lake has been mostly developed and only fragments of the park remain. To the north, between the A48 and the M4, is an area of Recreation Ground bounded on the north by the River Ebbw with a few clumps of trees remaining. To the north, still open ground rises to Tredegar Fort. North-west of the M4, the area of the 'New Park' is rolling agricultural land with two areas of woodland and the great oak avenue to the north-west of the house but now cut through by the M4. West of the house, the park has been developed for office accommodation though a stretch of avenue flanks the track leading to the 'New Park' area. South of the house, most of the park is covered with housing development. The gardens developed mainly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They lie on level ground to the south-west, north-west and north-east of the house. They consist mainly of three large walled compartments and a smaller one at the north-west end, aligned on a north-west/south-east axis to the south-west of the house. The Grade II Listed high walls are of brick and on the central axis are ornamented openings (LBs 17098 & 17100). Each compartment is laid out differently. The smallest, on the north-west, is now a yard devoid of garden features. The next, the Orangery Garden, has been restored (following excavation in 1991) to its early eighteenth century formal layout of inorganic parterre with central and perimeter paths plus a small mount in the west corner. Along most of its north-east side is a Grade I Listed brick orangery attached to the stable block (LB 2910). The square 'Cedar Garden' compartment lies next to the house with a wrought iron gate through into the forecourt. It is largely laid out to lawn with a wide perimeter gravel path, wall borders and a large cedar tree. In the centre is the Grade II Listed grave of the horse Sir Briggs surrounded by yew hedging (LB 17099). The southernmost compartment is the largest, with central axis path, grassed and planted informally with specimen trees and shrubs, and with glass houses and Grade II Listed potting shed and bothy towards the north corner (LB 17108). To the north-west of the house is a forcourt, laid out with grass squares and wide gravel paths, enclosed on the north-west by brick walls with a pair of Grade II* Listed wrought-iron gates (the Edney Gates, LB 17097). Beyond is an outer court enclosed by modern brick walls and the stable block (on the south-west side). In front of the house is a wide turning circle with a grass centre, with a central circular stone basin, the gravel drive enters through the Grade II Listed wrought-iron ‘Ruperra’ gates (LB 17109). To the north-east is a small restored Italianate sunken rose garden dating from the 1920s. A large walled kitchen garden once existed east of the house but has now gone. Setting - Tredegar Park lies on the western edge of Newport, on low-lying ground in the Ebbw Valley, and also on higher, rolling ground to the east and west. The original park is now severely truncated due to the encroachment of housing estates and other developments and the passage of major roads. Most of the gardens around the house, however, are well preserved and subject to restoration and conservation. Significant views - From the north-west front of the house there are views down the great oak avenue. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent, 146-9 (ref: PGW(Gt)48(NPT)). Ordnance Survey Third Edition 25-inch map, sheet: Monmouthshire XXXIII.7 (1916).