PGW(C)32(DEN)

Foxhall Newydd  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Henllan  

302972  

367613  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Garden enclosures, walled garden and semi-ancient woodland  

Early seventeenth century  

Registered for the earthwork remains of an early seventeenth-century formal garden associated with Foxhall Newydd house. The remains of the garden lie around the ruins of the house. The registered gardens have group value with the scheduled and grade I listed house ruins (DE054; LB: 1055), the scheduled and grade II listed dovecot (DE055; LB: 1056) and the grade II listed former domestic range. The house was begun in 1592 by John Panton, Recorder of Denbigh. It is thought to have been part of an ambitious project for a massive H-plan house, but only one wing was built. Although the house was reputed to have never been finished fragments of interior plasterwork have been found, suggesting a project that was well advanced. A walled garden, now partly occupied by a tennis court, is attached to the south-east side of the house. The walls stand up to 2.5m high. A ruined stone dovecote is built into the south-east wall of this garden. The house lies within mixed woodland known as Foxhall Woods, sometimes referred to as the Warren. It appears to be a continuation of Coed Coppy, an area of semi-natural ancient woodland to the south-east. The name Warren suggests rabbit farming though this is unlikely due to the rocky ground. There are the remains of a lane once bounded by stone walls in the Warren and it is possible that this may have been the approach to the house of Foxhall Newydd. It runs from the southern boundary of what was the pleasure garden south-east to the boundary wall of the Warren. Shallow earthworks, probably the remains of a formal garden, are sited on the north-west side of the house. This area would almost certainly have been walled. The remains of walling can be seen on the north-west boundary, forming part of the lane wall already mentioned. Remnants of stone walling can also be seen on the north-west side of the pleasure garden area. What looks like the remains of shallow terracing can be seen to the north-east of the walled garden. In front of the house, on the north-east side, are two rows of four square raised earthworks, which could represent flower beds. A low mound is situated on the north-west side of the house, just outside the pleasure garden boundary. The whole area is now pasture. Source: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 82-3 (ref: PGW(C)32).