PGW(Dy)12(CAM)

Plas Dinefwr  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Llangathen  

261542  

222506  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscaped park; small formal garden; walled garden; walled kitchen garden & utilitarian structures including ice house, dovecot & service quarters.  

About 1660; about 1757-1779; 1856-1858.  

Plas Dinefwr is located just outside the town of Llandeilo. It is registered as an outstandingly beautiful and picturesque eighteenth-century landscaped park incorporating the remains of a medieval castle. The site also includes a small lake, two walled gardens and fine sweeping drives. Lancelot (Capability) Brown is known to have visited the site and to have admired it. There is group value with Grade II Listed Newton House (‘Dynevor Castle’), a mid-seventeenth century and later mansion with its courtyard ranges (LBs 11098 & 11102-3) and with a number of structures related to the gardens and the outer parkland area. In addition, within the park is the Scheduled site of two overlapping Roman forts together with roads and a vicus, all confirmed through excavation (Sheduled monument CM367). The mansion of Dinefwr is set in rolling parkland just to the north-west of the small market town of Llandeilo. The park is approximately oval in shape and occupies some 970 acres with the height varying from about 30m AOD to 60m AOD. On the south boundary is the steep bluff above the Towy flood plain on which the Grade I Listed and Scheduled medieval castle stands as a conspicuous feature in the landscape (LB IIII7; SAM CM029). To the west, north and east, substantial walls, completed c.1774, de-limit the area of the park; housing has masked and destroyed some of this boundary to the east. The more picturesque landscape is to the west of the house, with the tree-covered, horse-shoe-shaped outcrops that make up the Rookery and the castle mound contrasting with areas of interspersed grassland. To the east the land has been moulded into gently rolling open land with the occasional clump of trees or individual specimens. There are fine deciduous trees within the park, some conifers to the south and more recent plantings in the centre of the park. There are notable clumps of beeches associated with Pen Lan-fach and form local landmarks. In the western half of the park is a small lake, used to rotate a turbine in the pumping house, the flow being controlled via sluices in the dam. The main approach is from the east, off the A40 road, from an entrance to the south of which is East Lodge. The drive winds gently above the river terrace until it sweeps to the east forecourt of the house. There was also a drive from the north side of the park, approaching via the King's Lodge, now on the opposite side of the A40. The drive crossed farmland and entered the park via a gated entrance. The south drive entered from Llandeilo bridge, passing in front of the South Lodge. It follows a north-west course to the house, traversing the escarpment above the river. A branch to the south leads to Grade II Listed St Tyfi’s church (LB 11108) at the wooded south edge of the park. This small medieval church is built on, or near, the possible site of a Roman temple. To the south of the house is a Grade II Listed octagonal stone dovecote, now roofless (LB 11105) and, next to it, a silted pond, once one of four. To the north of the house, built against a north-facing slope, is a well-preserved and restored Grade II Listed icehouse (LB 11107). Immediately to the west of the house there is a small formal garden, probably constructed in 1856-58. This, together with the garden area to the north and east of the house, is separated from the park by a substantial Grade II Listed stone ha-ha and low parapet wall (LB 11100). The garden is rectangular and symmetrically laid out with formal paths and beds. In the centre is an elaborate stone fountain, Grade II Listed, set in a small square fishpond (LB 11101). On the south side of the garden, built against the wall that separates the garden from the service courtyards, is a small Grade II* Listed open-fronted pavilion, or summer house (LB 11099). To the south-west of the courtyards are the walled enclosures that used to be a kitchen garden and flower garden. The two garden areas are divided by a stone and brick wall (brick on the south-east face) in which are five arched entrances and two un-arched entrances. The upper, northern, garden has been used for horticultural and recreational purposes. The centre of the garden is now down to lawn but the perimeter path remains. In the north-west corner is another summerhouse or pavilion. The southern garden is still partly used for vegetables and there are also some ornamental trees. Between these enclosures and the courtyards is Grade II Listed Dairy Cottage (LB 11104) and its garden with some specimen trees. A large, walled, rectangular kitchen garden is situated about 400m to the north-east of the mansion, on the north-eastern edge of the park, adjacent to the buildings of Dinefwr Home Farm. Its area of just over four and a half acres is shown on early maps divided into three sections that decrease in size from west to east. The internal layout of partitions, paths, cross paths giving access between the sections, and areas of glass have now gone, though the Gardener’s Cottage and a range of buildings against the west wall remain. The interior of the former garden is now used as a campsite and caravan park. Setting - Dinefwr is set in rolling countryside to the north-west of Llandeilo. Urban expansion has has encroached on the east boundary of the park while road improvements have affected its north boundary. Significant views - The landscaping and natural topography within the park have afforded complimentary views from within. From the house there are wonderful views of, and towards, the medieval castle, and from the castle the house itself can be seen to best advantage. These views are framed by plantings, possibly the original intention. The old castle provides splendid views from many vantage points within the park. Additionally, the clumps of beeches at Pen Lan-fach are a landmark in the countryside, being particularly noticeable from the southern and eastern approaches, and also from many miles around, including from Taliaris mansion (PGW(Dy)13(CAM). Sources: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 68-73 (ref: PGW(Dy)12(CAM)). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton