PGW(Dy)50(CER)

Hafod  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Ceredigion  

Ysbyty Ystwyth  

276374  

273160  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Picturesque landscape with walks; kitchen garden.  

1780-1816; 1832-46; 1872-90  

Hafod is located in the Ystwyth valley, occupying a five-kilometre stretch of the valley between the villages of Cwmystwyth at the east end and Pont-rhyd-y-groes at the west. It is registered for its exceptional historic interest as one of the most important and influential Picturesque landscapes of the late eighteenth century in Britain. There is also important group value with several Grade II Listed buildings, in particular: stables, coach house and haybarn, ice house, Hafod Lower Lodge with gate piers and gates, kitchen garden and associated buildings, Hawthorn Cottage, the Bedford Monument, and Grade II* Hafod Church (Eglwys Newydd). The registered area includes also the following Scheduled Monuments: cavern cascade; chain bridge and Gothick arcade, Nant Bwlch-Gwallter, and Peiran Cascade. The area lies partly within a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Hafod became a byword for the Picturesque - well known, visited and written about. Between 1780 and 1816 a large area of the Ystwyth valley - already well wooded - was landscaped by Thomas Johnes in an understated, unobtrusive way, to portray the natural landscape and its spectacular features to best advantage, in a style dubbed the ‘wilderness Picturesque’. This was achieved through planting, clearing and a carefully contrived system of walks, viewpoints and rides from which to view picturesque scenes. Built structures were few and were mostly simple. The focal point of the demesne, the mansion house above the north side of the river (Hafod-uchtryd, NPRN: 5577), has now gone (demolished in 1958). The character of the demesne has been altered by conifer plantations but the natural landscape, so important to this style of landscaping, is largely intact. The natural features that formed the focal points of Thomas Johnes’s walks remain much as they were in the late eighteenth century. The landscaped area is essentially one of an upland river valley and several important smaller tributaries, the ground rising more steeply on the south side of the valley but more varied on the north. At the eastern end is a more open, gently-sloping part of the valley below the village of Cwmystwyth. The scenery then changes dramatically as the river plunges through a deeply-cut, narrow gorge which extends for about 500m. At the end of the gorge the river is joined by several tributaries, in particular Nant Gau, Nant Melyn and Nant Bwlchgwallter, which play an important role in the picturesque landscaping. They and their tributaries cascade down narrow, steep-sided valleys, their pools, waterfalls and smaller gorges contributing to the drama of the landscape. Below the house the flood plain disappears, the ground to the north sloping gradually down to the river. The western boundary of the site, south of the river, is another steeply dropping tributary valley, that of the Nant Ffin, which includes a spectacular waterfall. The land around the mansion site is mostly meadow with some specimen trees. An oval pond to the north-east is the former menagerie pond (NPRN 24412). Nearby is Hawthorn (or Pendre) Cottage (LB 22278), roughly the site of the 1780s menagerie, and Pendre farm. Historically there were four approaches to the Hafod mansion, one from Pont-rhyd-y-groes to the west, one from Cwmystwyth (now defunct) to the east and two from the Cwmystwyth road, by Hafod Church, Eglwys Newydd (LB 9867). The three remaining are in use as forestry and access tracks. The west entrance is notable for Hafod Lower Lodge (LB 10708) dating to the 1870s with two contemporary square gate piers flanking the entrance (LB 10709). The original gates are also listed but are in poor condition and have been removed and are now kept in storage by the owner. The site of an earlier lodge lies nearby, and further east the site of the first lodge here, possibly designed by John Nash, in place by 1796. The drive runs along the flood plain of the river Ystwyth. The former public road, converted to a drive between 1790 and 1796, runs north-eastwards from the house, along the side of a steep south-facing slope, opening out onto the B4574. Here there are no gates or lodge at the entrance. The site of the lodge (‘Arch Ucha’) is that of Old Rose Cottage, opposite the present Rose Cottage, surviving as some garden walling and foundations. Adjacent, close to the church, is Upper Lodge. The track from here follows the line of one of the earliest carriage drives, established by 1796, running south-west and passing over a stone bridge on a tributary stream (LB 84247), before dividing to the house and to join the west drive. The last drive built by Johnes (1814) is from Cwmystwyth with an entrance lodge that became a school. It retains its original built formation, running down valley from Cwmystwyth. It crossed the river Peiran at Pont Newydd, now only two massive abutments (LB 3882), then continued westwards around the contour of a steep slope to join the Upper Lodge drive at an acute angle. A notable feature in the appreciation of the landscape are several Picturesque walks laid out through the demesne by Johnes. Paths were generally well drained and surfaced with stony material found nearby. The two main walks are the Ladies’ Walk and the Gentleman’s Walk, much of which survive. They adopt a range of formations according to local topography. The Ladies’ Walk, a circular walk from the house site (c.3 miles) was confined to the north side of the valley. It took in the main (Upper Lodge) drive, the former estate sawmill (NPRN 40859), Pont Dologau (LB 84264), the Peiran valley with its cascade (CD 174) and bridge (LB 84248), Eglwys Newydd churchyard (LB 84252), and Pendre Farm, Johnes’s new model farm (LB 83219). The Gentleman’s Walk (c.6 miles) runs south from the house to the south side of the valley, across the Alpine Bridge over the Ystwyth (NPRN 23874). It takes in the Nant Bwlchgwallter valley (CD 173), the rocky Nant Gau valley with its cascades, rapids and pools, Pant Melyn hill, and on to the Cavern Cascade above the Nant Gau, a rock-cut tunnel terminating in a curtain of water plunging into a deep, cauldron-like pool (CD 171). The walk then returns to Pant Melyn before it descends the Nant Bwlchgwallter valley, crossing the Ystwyth at a suspension bridge (now gone), and on to the kitchen garden and the house. A number of former estate cottages, mostly of nineteenth-century date, are scattered across the Hafod demesne, and would have formed incidents of interest in the picturesque landscape. Within the demesne, to the east of the mansion site on the north side of the valley, are two small, detached, gardens, dating from the late eighteenth century. The closest to the house is Miss Johnes’s Garden, initially laid out by Mariamne, Thomas Johnes’s only daughter (1784-1811). The garden is situated on the southern end of the Cefn Creigiau ridge, on a south-facing rocky slope. It is a small triangular area, slightly hollowed out of the hillside, surrounded by a reconstructed stone wall up to 1.3m high, and approached from both east and west. It was originally laid out with gravel and quartz-surfaced paths. Internal structures, including a summerhouse, have gone. Just to the south of the garden is the Bedford Monument (LB 22280), a sandstone column erected to commemorate Francis, fifth Duke of Bedford (d.1802), a prominent agricultural improver. Behind it is a level viewing platform. The second garden, Mrs Johnes’s Flower Garden (the ‘American Garden’, NPRN 5580), is situated on low-lying, level ground to the south-east, above a bend in the river. It is a sub-triangular area surrounded by a restored drystone wall about 1.2m-1.5m high with arched gateways on the east and west sides. Its original layout is unknown but early Ordnance Survey maps show winding paths, now gone. A single holm oak is the only remnant of ornamental planting. Internal structures mentioned by early writers have also gone. The kitchen garden (built 1784-94) is situated on level, low-lying ground on the north bank of the Ystwyth, below the West Lawn, 200m south-west of the mansion site. It remained in productive use until 1932. It is about 1ha in size and trapezoidal, long axis north-west by south-east, walls up to 3.5m high (LB 10703). Against the north wall are the remains of late nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century glasshouses, and on its north side three stone bothies, one of which was a boiler house. Outside the east end of the garden is the former head gardener’s house. To the north of the garden, on slightly higher ground, is an irregularly-shaped walled enclosure, the former orchard, present by 1864. Other notable structures in this landscape include a well-preserved ice-house to the east of the kitchen garden (LB 22279). North-east of Pont Dologau is a restored chain bridge across the Ystwyth gorge and, nearby, an eye-catcher Gothick Arcade, now ruinous (CD 172). Setting - The Hafod landscape is located in the rugged upper Ystwyth valley, and extends to more than 350m ASL in places. The house was set within the landscape in a sheltered position on the north side of the valley. Significant views - The house faced south-west from where there are fine views down the valley, still visible from the site. The location and unobtrusive landscaping afforded many other views, in particular the view south and south-west from the Bedford Monument, views from the north side of the valley above the house, and views to the house and gardens from the south side of the valley. Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 114-23 (ref: PGW(Dy)50(CER)).