PGW(Dy)62(PEM)

Haverfordwest Priory  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Haverfordwest  

195704  

215203  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medieval monastic gardens.  

About 1200; thirteenth century; mid-fifteenth century.  

Haverfordwest Priory is located on the south-east side of the modern town, above the west bank of the western Cleddau. It is registered for the exceptionally rare and outstandingly important survival of its medieval monastic gardens. The layout was discovered during archaeological excavations in the 1980s and 1990s and subsequently preserved. There is important group value with the associated Grade I Listed remains of the Priory of Saint Mary and Saint Thomas the Martyr (LB 12240). The entire area of priory and gardens is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SM PE017). There are two areas of garden: the cloister garden and the extensive area of raised beds to the east of the priory buildings. The thirteenth-century cloister, remodelled in the fifteenth century, was fully excavated. It has a small square garden area in the centre, surrounded by alleys protected by pent roofs. These were floored with a pavement, tiled on all but the stone-slabbed west side. Between the alleys and the garden ran a substantial drain, for both utilitarian and ornamental functions. In the middle of the east side was a lower section of walling and stone supports, probably the remains of a bridge giving access to the garden. Around its edge ran a stone-slabbed path, along the inner side of which was a narrow trench, perhaps a planting trench for a hedge. A gap on its west side perhaps indicates a formal planting design. In the garden centre was an octagonal depression, interpreted as the footprint of a stone plinth to support a decorative object. No formal beds were discovered and the rest of the garden may have been grassed. Deeper areas of subsoil within the area may represent informal tree planting. Between the priory buildings and the river is an extensive formal garden, dating to the mid fifteenth century. It spans 50m x 20m and consists of a grid pattern of ten raised beds, separated by narrow paths, orientated north-south and east-west, and created by cutting paths into the building platform rather than by building up beds. The beds are revetted with low stone walls, about 45 cm high, their exteriors rendered and lime-washed. They are rectangular or square except one with a chamfered corner and another with a dog-leg, layouts which respected existing features. In the main area of eight beds is a central axial north-south path running south from the presbytery and three east-west cross paths, and paths skirting the buildings. Little soil remained within the beds due to periodic flooding and general degradation. The most elaborate bed, set centrally next to the east range, has on its west side a narrow opening to an internal rectangular path around a small central raised bed. A narrow mortar and stone-filled bed close by may have been a turf bench, familiar from medieval accounts. The remaining raised beds, which are wider, were evidently for planting. The central bed showed evidence for trelliswork, also familiar from medieval gardens of this kind. The bed was overlooked by a two-storey extension to the dormitory block on the east, possibly private accommodation for the prior or for guests. This and the more elaborate bed are possibly referred to in a surviving lease, of the 1530s, of a room along with the garden belonging to that room. Setting – Haverfordwest Priory is situated on the banks of the river Cleddau. The gardens are set within and around the priory buildings which are now surrounded by the expanded town of Haverfordwest. Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 224-6 (ref: PGW(Dy)62(PEM)).