PGW(C)26(WRE)

Trevalyn Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Wrexham  

Rossett  

336442  

356597  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Deer park; orchard; formal garden  

Sixteenth-seventeenth century; nineteenth century.  

Trevalyn Hall, an Elizabethan house, is located to the south-west of Rossett, on the south side of the river Alun, to the north of Wrexham. It is registered for the remains of its sixteenth- or seventeenth-century deer parks, an embanked orchard, a walled garden and for its well-preserved nineteenth-century topiary. There is group value with Grade II* Listed Trevalyn Hall itself (LB 1528) and the Grade II Listed Courtyard, formerly the service wing (LB 17465). The estate also has historical associations with the Trevor family of Brynkinalt. The house is approached from the west, off the B5445, to its north-west forecourt, along a short drive through a small area of parkland, grass dotted with trees. Although without deer the Trevalyn deer parks remain but are now used as arable farmland. They are probably contemporary with the house, dating to c.1576. There were several parks. Big Park and Pine Tree Park lie to the south-west of the Hall, bordering the village of Marford. North-east of Pine Tree Park is Walnut Tree Park. Between an old orchard (now an empty paddock near the house) and these parks are prominent earthworks, still very distinct. Park Bychan lies to the south-east of the orchard and is now part of nearby Trevalyn House (PGW(C)74(WRE)). All these elements are listed on a mid eighteenth-century map of the estate. There is now no parkland tree cover as such and there may never have been. Some eighteenth-century lime trees near Trevalyn Wood form a boundary between a former meadow and Walnut Tree Park. In the grounds of Trevalyn House, once part of Park Bychan, is an enormous lime tree, and an old sweet chestnut coppice. The enclosed pleasure garden lies to the south-west of the house, as it did in 1787. The house is now divided but most of the garden is with the north-west section. Its early layout is unknown, its present form dates to the nineteenth century. It has changed little in shape except for the addition of a shrubbery which bounds the north-west side. Elsewhere it is bounded by the walled garden on the south-east, a belt of trees to the south-west, and the house on the north-east. The wall to the south-east is probably the same date as the house. The garden topiary was carried out between 1836 and 1838, forming a line on the main axis with the door of the Porter’s lodge of the house. The topiary figures include a dog, rabbit and variously tiered shapes. Four box balls are situated either side of the path just outside the lodge. Within the garden is a small box garden in the north-west corner, to its south-west the small boundary shrubbery and, within it, an overgrown rockery. The largest area of lawn to the south-west of the house contained circular rose beds, and standard roses were also planted between the yew figures on the central path. There is a small garden area north-east of the Porter’s lodge. The old orchard, now a field, retains an impressive earthen bank to exclude deer, in some places up to 1.5m high. In the north-east corner is a small pond, also present in the eighteenth-century, which forms part of the entrance drive to the Trevalyn Wood property. The kitchen garden lies south of the service wing. It is now only walled on the north-west and north-east sides and is divided in two. Setting - Trevalyn Hall lies in the rural Alyn valley. The estate has been broken up and there is little of a parkland character remaining though the nineteenth-century gardens have survived. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 252-4 (ref: PGW(C)26(WRE)). First-edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map: Denbighshire XXII.9 (1871).