PGW(Gd)30(GWY)

Plas Brondanw  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Llanfrothen  

261617  

342194  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal garden, park, woodland walk with viewpoint  

Early to mid twentieth century;  

Plas Brondanw is registered at grade I as an exceptional and very well-preserved architectural garden, set in the spectacular scenery of Snowdonia, designed mainly in the 1920s and 30s by Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) as his own home. It is probably the best and most complete example of his work as a garden designer. The garden is intricately compartmented, with views of surrounding peaks tightly controlled between axial yew hedging. The distinctive hand of Clough Williams-Ellis extends out into the adjacent woodland with walks to a viewpoint, village and beyond, stamping the whole vicinity with his character. The registered area shares important group value with the house and the many associated listed buildings and estate/garden features at Plas Brondanw by Clough Williams-Ellis. Plas Brondanw (LB: 4808) is located to the immediate north-east of the village of Garreg, near Porthmadog. The surroundings of the park and the whole area are full of little architectural touches by Williams-Ellis which take the designed landscape of Brondanw out into the wider estate. The park’s date is uncertain but is much older than the garden and may date to the seventeenth century, like the house. It is small, long and narrow, and consists of pasture with specimen trees. There is also an area of woodland to the south which is not strictly part of the park and was probably more or less natural until fairly recently, but which has been incorporated into the designed landscape by Clough Williams-Ellis. The park is small and sloping, much longer than it is wide, aligned north-east by south-west, lying on a north-west-facing slope. It is sandwiched between two roads, the old road from Garreg to Croesor and the more recent A4085 which crosses reclaimed land to the north. In the seventeenth or early eighteenth-century this road would not have existed but the boundary would probably have been along the same line, as it is at the foot of the slope and all to the north-west would have been estuary and marshes. The house adjoins the Croesor road, thus perched above the park, looking down over it to the mountain view beyond. The main entrance is directly off the Croesor road approaching from the New Lodge (LB: 5248 – dated 1914) designed to appear as a gatehouse. There is an older lodge, Gatws, on the A4085 road, further north. This northern lodge is opposite an entrance to the park, with gates (LB: 19836) through which a well-made path, levelled into the slope, leads up to the north-east end of the garden. Originally this used to come to the end of the terrace along in front of the house. The main area of woodland, probably based on original natural sessile oak woodland, lies to the south of the house on the slopes of the hill crowned by the lookout tower. A path leads from an entrance flanked by a pair of tall stone piers with low iron gates (LB: 19807) opposite the garden into the woodland. A long, straight path leads to the Flaming Urn Monument (LB: 19795) constructed in 1953 to commemorate the rebuilding (after a fire) of Plas Brondanw. The monument is sited on a rock outcrop overlooking a disused quarry, ornamented in picturesque style by Williams-Ellis with a waterfall, a small circular pool at the bottom, a fountain, and a larger, irregularly-shaped pool just beyond, with a stream leading out towards the road. The urn and quarry features are enhanced by an arched gate folly and balustrade (LB: 19794) viewed from below. Just to the south of the urn monument are another set of gates and gate piers (LB: 19796) at the foot of the hill upon which the folly Brondanw Tower (LB: 19793 – built c.1920) is situated. About halfway to the tower is a semi-circular slate and stone-built bench seat set into the slope, built by Clough Williams-Ellis. From it there was a fine view to Snowdon. The folly tower was given to the Williams-Ellises as a wedding present by the officers of the Welsh Guards (Clough's regiment). The garden is in a highly architectural style, with tall hedges, trees and topiary creating compartments and providing axial vistas, and with an emphasis on steps and paving to link the terraces. The effect is to exclude the contrasting rugged scenery from much of the garden, allowing it to appear in well-controlled glimpses, though there are also viewpoints from which the whole landscape can be appreciated. The garden was developed between 1908 and the 1960s, mainly in the1920s and 30s, on a neglected site where nothing remained of any previous landscaping but a few large trees. The entire design is complex for so small a site, with many interesting and beautiful features crammed into a small space. It survives more or less as Clough Williams-Ellis left it. The garden is divided into two main areas. To the south-west, where the slope is less, lies an intricate area divided up by tall, dark, evergreen hedges into small compartments, all interlinked by paths and steps, characterised by vistas through the garden and by controlled glimpses of the view beyond. This part of the garden is extremely varied and contains several structural elements, including an orangery (LB: 19816). Paths are edged with yew topiary. In a shallow pool is a small bronze of a classical warrior on a tall stone plinth. To the north-east there is an open, sloping, lawned area, accessed by flights of semi-circular steps which descend from the house terrace. The scenery forms a backdrop, rather than a contrast, and there are no hedges to obscure the view from the house. This area includes the small pool at the north-eastern end of the garden, located in the circular viewpoint at the far end of the garden, under an alcove with a white-painted roof; this catches the reflection of the ripples in the pool seen for the full length of the walk along the terrace in front of the house, gradually revealing itself as one approaches. At either end of the garden is a circular lookout or viewpoint (LB: 19824; 19813). Significant Views: the garden was designed and laid out to create vistas through the garden with controlled glimpses of the view beyond. There are also viewpoints from which the whole landscape can be appreciated. Spectacular views from the garden and wider designed landscape to the surrounding mountains of Moel Hebog, Moelwyn, Cnicht and Snowdon. Sources: Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 262-7 (ref: PGW(Gd)30(GWY)).