PGW(Gt)59(MON)

Linda Vista Gardens  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Abergavenny  

329534  

214096  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Small urban public park, formerly a private garden  

1875; 1957-64  

Registered for its historic interest as a well-preserved, richly planted, urban public park with origins as a private garden. This is illustrated in the intricate layout of the formal part of the garden and in the exceptional nature of the planting which includes some fine specimen trees and shrubs. Linda Vista Gardens is a small, urban public park situated on the south edge of Abergavenny, on ground sloping southwards down to the flood plain of the River Usk. The park was formerly the gardens of a private house, Linda Vista, built in 1875, which is situated near the north boundary. The earliest evidence for the appearance of the garden is on the 1880 25in Ordnance Survey map; later editions show its development over the following 30 years. After the gardens passed to the local authority in 1957 they were extended to include land to the west (part of the lawn) and south (Castle Meadows, now part of the lawn) and were further developed. Landscaping was largely completed by 1964. Below the house is a small, roughly rectangular, gravel forecourt with drives leading eastwards and westwards from it to the two park entrances on Tudor Street. The west drive is flanked on the south side by a border of mixed trees and shrubs including a tulip tree, copper beech and a maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba). The park itself can be divided into two main areas. The upper and eastern part is densely planted and laid out as formal and informal gardens. This area is divided into two sections of different character by the drives: to their north are sloping lawns planted with specimen trees, including London plane, evergreen oak, and cypress; and to their south are formal and rock gardens laid out on a steep slope through which runs a network of narrow paths. Features here include a wide variety of exotic plantings around the rockery; and a rose garden, a semi-circular area laid out in a radiating pattern of box-edged rose beds. The second area of the gardens is mostly informal and occupies the lower west and south-west part. This is largely open lawn dotted with specimen trees, including weeping birch, corkscrew hazel, dawn redwood, corkscrew willow, foxglove tree, and a monkey puzzle, amongst many others. Other features are an oval bed planted with several trees in the middle of the lawn, and two round tree-planted island beds towards the west boundary. Significant Views: Views south over Castle Meadows and towards the Blorenge. Source: Cadw 2007: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, additional and revised entries part 1 (ref: PGW(Gt)59(MON).