PGW(Gt)49(MON)

The Argoed  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Trellech United  

352292  

208454  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Informal gardens of lawns, woodland and shrubberies, and walled garden.  

Seventeenth century; late nineteenth century.  

The Argoed is located above the steep west side of the Wye valley, about 4km south of Monmouth. Its gardens are registered for the survival of a seventeenth-century layout with late nineteenth century alterations in a magnificent position overlooking the Wye valley. The Argoed was originally owned by the Probert family. In about 1865 it was bought by Richard Potter, chairman of the Great Western Railway. His daughter, Beatrice Webb, was a social reformer and founder member of the Fabian Society. It was visited by George Bernard Shaw, amongst others. Between 1985 -1990 The Argoed was owned by the singer and songwriter Robert Plant. The garden has group value with Grade II* Listed The Argoed, a house with origins in the mid seventeenth century (LB 2892), and the Grade II Listed stable block and Garden House (LBs 2893 & 24949). The gardens lie just south of the village of Penallt, occupying a roughly triangular area with the house located on its east side. The gardens are bounded on the west by two minor roads, on the east by a wall and fence north and south of the house and by a ha-ha to the east of it. The rectangular gravel forecourt on its west side is approached by a straight drive from the south flanked by pairs of ancient sycamore trees. The forecourt is now subdivided and access to the north drive is blocked. This drive is flanked by Wellingtonias, planted in the late nineteenth-century, and runs past the former coach house to an entrance and lodge at Penallt. Much of the present-day appearance of the gardens is due to the late nineteenth-century alterations carried out by the Potter family. Most of the gardens are laid out informally with specimen trees, shrubberies, and lawns. Immediately around the house there is more formality with wide gravel paths and two large grass terraces to the east of the house. These are separated by a low scarp, and the lower one is bounded by a curving ha-ha. In the field below the ha-ha are traces of at least one further terrace. To the north of the terraces is a large rectangular walled garden with roughly coursed stone walls and arched doorways on the south and east sides. Both this and the terraces are probably seventeenth-century in date, laid out in the time of the Probert family who then owned the estate. In the south-east corner of the walled garden is a small raised decorated stone pavilion built into the walls. In the north-east corner an iron armillary sphere stands on a tall squared pillar of the same stone and construction as the walls and pavilion with which it may be contemporary. To the south of the house is a small paved area with an open rustic loggia at the south end, called the 'Italian garden'. A narrow channel runs down the middle with three circular millstones set into it at intervals and a raised millstone at the south end. To the west of the Coach House is a small roughly circular pond with a stone revetted dam along its east side. The western boundary of the garden is planted with a belt of mixed coniferous and deciduous woodland and an underplanting of specimen shrubs including unusual rhododendrons. The rest of the area to the west of the house is grassed, with specimen conifers and deciduous trees. Evergreen shrubs flank the east end of the south drive. Setting - The Argoed is located above the west side of the Wye valley, in a rural area south of the village of Penallt. Significant views - The ha-ha east of the house allows magnificent views of the Wye valley and the countryside beyond from both house and garden. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 8-10 (ref: PGW (Gt)49).