PGW(Gm)54(CAE)

Maes Manor Hotel  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Caerphilly  

Blackwood  

317480  

198791  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Terraced Edwardian formal garden; walled garden  

c. 1907  

Registered for its historic interest as a well preserved Edwardian garden designed by T.H Mawson (1861-1933). Maes Manor, originally known as Maesruddud, lies on a south-facing slope above the Sirhowy Valley, on the west side of the river, to the north of Blackwood. The house lies on an ancient site though the present house dates to about 1890 (Cadw LB: 26701; NPRN 414576). The garden was designed by Thomas H Mawson in about 1907, for L. Brewer, a mine owner. The garden lies to the north-east, east and south-east of the house. It is formal and architectural in design with two main axes. The entrance, to the east, is off a narrow lane. Stone walls, side entrances and gate piers flank the entrance and a pair of identical lodges. The drive, flanked by mixed ornamental woodland with an underplanting of rhododendrons and laurels, runs to a small rectangular forecourt on the north side of the house, through high stone walls and gate piers. A raised terrace, with a roughly coursed and buttressed stone revetment wall flanks the north side of the forecourt with dressed stone steps up to it on the main north-south axis of the garden. At the west end the terrace projects out into the forecourt. A wide gravel path runs the length of the terrace and leads to a square pavilion (Cadw LB: 26706). Above the terrace, on its north side, is a rectangular walled garden (Cadw LB: 26706) bounded by high walls of brick and stone on its north, west and east sides. Along the south side is a roughly coursed retaining wall above the terrace. On the central north-south axis are stone steps leading up to iron gates into the walled garden. To the east of the walled garden is a belt of mixed woodland which continues around the grassland field to the east. Early maps suggest woodland with an inner geometric boundary around an open interior, but any former layout within has now gone. South of the forecourt is a series of shallow semi-circular grass terraces leading down to the semi-circular stone revetment wall topped by a box hedge on the boundary of the garden (Cadw LB:26703). Ornamental trees are planted in the upper, level lawn. Informal woodland to the east includes further notable trees and a ruinous revolving summerhouse. The terraces are bounded by grass scarps or drystone walling, with stone steps down the central axis, at the south end of which steps lead down to a gate into the field below. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 92-3 (ref: PGW (Gt)54(MON)). Ordnance Survey, six-inch map: Glamorgan XX.NW (third edition 1916). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton