PGW(Dy)51(CER)

Llanerchaeron  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Ceredigion  

Ciliau Aeron  

248609  

259676  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Picturesque parkland; woodland pleasure grounds with walks & lake; kitchen garden.  

The present landscape was probably completed by 1803. There have been minor alterations since that time.  

The registered area represents the modest, picturesque park and garden at Llanerchaeron, which are little changed since laid out at the turn of the nineteenth-century. The present landscape was probably completed by 1803 and there have been minor alterations since that time. The registered park and garden has historical associations with the architect John Nash, who was commissioned to design the house in 1794 and shares important group value with the listed house (LB: 10715) and numerous associated estate buildings and structures. Llanerchaeron Park is located in the Aeron valley between Aberaeron and Ciliau Aeron. The main elements of the designed landscape comprise the parkland, the walled gardens (LB: 10719), the pleasure grounds, and the woodlands across the river to the north, in addition to Llanerchaeron House itself and the church of St Non, to the north-west of the house, which lies within the designed landscape (LB: 9764). The landscape and the buildings within it were manipulated in a sophisticated way to achieve a picturesque quality, with particular views, the chief of which was that from the house to the church. Also part of the estate is Ciliau Park, a separate enclosure, located about a mile to the south-east. There are some 61 acres of park at Llanerchaeron most of which are grazed pasture planted with individual specimen trees and clumps. The eastern and southern boundaries are deliberately planted with ‘scallops’ of trees - Scots pine, chestnut, sycamore and oak - which serve to break and soften the margins of the park. Within a former meander bend of a tributary to the Aeron, on the west side of the park, is a stand of beech. The pleasure gardens, walled gardens, drives and the lake occupy some 12 acres around Llanerchaeron; with most of the garden area being to the east of the house. They were laid out at the same time as the house was rebuilt and were probably largely complete by 1803. The early maps indicate that the layout has changed little in 150 years. The 1889 survey shows mature trees to the small area to the west of the house with further plantings of trees, winding paths, walled gardens, associated buildings and the working, utilitarian buildings to the east. Small flower gardens were later established to the east and west of the house and in the early twentieth-century, a croquet lawn was levelled to the south. The house is approached from the Llanerchaeron lane to its north. There are two recessed entrances to the drive to the east (LB: 17515) and west (LB: 10718) of the house from the lane. The entrances, each consisting of two matching sets of four rubble stone piers, low outer rubble walls and spearhead iron railings and iron gates, are very similar in construction, but not quite identical. The grounds to the east of the house have a canopy of mixed coniferous and deciduous trees, including beech, cedar and wellingtonia. To the south-east of the garden, within the pleasure grounds, is the lake. At the western end are the sluices which control the water levels and, originally the flow of water to the rill which bisects part of the pleasure garden. The two walled gardens (LB: 10719), which were completed by 1803, measure overall 150m east to west by 44m, and bound the south edge of the complex of buildings of Llanaeron Home Farm (LB: 10721 to 10727). The west garden walls are brick with clay tile coping and stand to over 3m high. The south-facing north wall was heated by a system of flues. In contrast to its neighbour the east garden wall is of brick with a rubble stone outer facing, and the south wall is entirely of stone. Ciliau Park is part of the Llanerchaeron parkland estate and is located on the south side of the A482. It is an enclosed area lying some 2 km to the south-east of Llanerchaeron House. It was probably the site of a (long abandoned) Tudor gentry house from about 1500 when it was part of the lordship of Cilcennin. It was bought by the Lewis family after 1609 and became part of the Llanerchaeron estate in 1735. Ciliau park has relatively few internal boundaries and a substantial perimeter wall though the latter has deteriorated in places to resemble a hedge bank. It was probably emparked and enclosed in the late eighteenth century by William Lewis though there is no documentary evidence confirming its status as a deer park. A blacksmith’s bill of 1801 lists the purchase of hinges for ‘Kilie Gate’. In 1822 William Lewis paid for the construction of a pond here. A survey of 1864 provides a detailed description of the condition and agricultural potential of Ciliau Park. For most of the last 120 years the Park has been managed as part of Pontfaen, a tenant farm, and is characterised by grassland with mature oaks. Few of the oaks are large enough to be remnants from the sale of the park’s timber in 1839, with the exception of two specimens with girths exceeding 5m and 6m respectively. A leat traverses the park following an old field boundary; a mill is recorded here in 1500. A series of ponds, now breached, on the Nant Faen formerly served another mill at Pontfaen Farm. Visually, the rolling parkland character with fine specimen oaks and enclosing wall is best appreciated from the A482 (turnpike) road. Significant Views: From the house and gardens towards the church of St Non and across the park. Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire (ref: PGW Dy51(CER)), p.124-9. R.Laidlaw & C.Palmer 1998, Historic Park & Garden Survey: Llanerchaeron