PGW(Gt)13(MON)

Llanarth Court  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llanarth  

337958  

210487  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Early nineteenth-century landscape park; nineteenth-century terraced garden.  

Early nineteenth-century (park); mid-late nineteenth century (garden)  

Llanarth Court is located in gently rolling countryside, south-east of Llanarth village, between Monmouth and Abergavenny. It is registered as a well-preserved early nineteenth-century landscape park, with possible work by designers Samuel Lapidge and J C Loudon, the former a draughtsman who had worked for Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and who adopted his style. There is group value with Grade II* Listed Llanarth Court, a Georgian mansion, and the nearby Church of St Mary and St Michael (LBs 1925 & 1971), the Grade II Listed cross outside the church (LB 22991), the Grade II Listed gatehouse at the entrance (LB 15661), and the Grade II Listed gates and gate piers to the north drive (LB 22994). Llanarth Court is also notable as the home of the Jones family, an ancient Catholic family who maintained the church which was disguised as an outbuilding. Much of the present landscaping dates from the very early nineteenth century when pre-existing formal gardens were swept away and the park was re-landscaped in the style of Brown, with later softening by Loudon and subsequent modifications. The house and its surroundings are now used as a private hospital. The house lies central to the park which covers a roughly rectangular area bounded on the north-west by the village and elsewhere by minor roads, tracks and field boundaries. The main approach is off the Llanarth-A40 road west of the house, to a wide terraced forecourt, with a second, north-west, drive from the village. A further drive entered from a gate on the south boundary, crossing the park over a bridge on a stream by the lake to join the main drive. This is now mostly grassed over but the bridge remains. The configuration of woodland within and around the park is similar to that of the nineteenth century with the addition of a block north of the house and a few smaller strips. There is a narrow strip of mainly deciduous woodland (The Grove) either side of the main drive, and a few isolated mature trees in the north-west half of the park, but the main ornamental park is to the south-east of the house. Along the south-east edge of the gardens is a long sinuous lake, now more or less silted up and overgrown. The garden lies mainly to the south and south-west of the house between the house and the lake. Its main features are two large terraces in front of the house, the upper one revetted in stone, the lower one edged by a steeply-sloping grass bank. These are now grassed over but had been laid out with formal beds on the lower terrace, a short canal south-west of the house, and gravel paths. To the west is an area of lawn, a few shrubs and isolated trees between the woodland to the north and the lake to the south. North of the house, below the forecourt, a grass walk and some ancient steps up to the drive are perhaps remnants of the formal gardens of the previous house, swept away c.1805. East of the house, below the lower terrace, is a short walk flanked and covered by pleached limes and nearby, on the edge of the lake, a roofless boathouse. Further gardens to the east were destroyed by later developments. Between the house and the stable block to the north was a trapezoidal walled kitchen garden built in the nineteenth century. This has now been almost completely demolished and the area redeveloped for hospital buildings. The 1880s Ordnance Survey map shows it was divided into four quarters by cross paths and with a perimeter path, all tree-lined. To the east was an orchard. Setting - Llanarth Court was set in parkland and gardens much of which survives. However, twentieth-century developments have devoured large parts of the grounds in the vicinity of the Court. Significant views - From the south front of the house there are views south-east across the terraced gardens, the ornamental parkland and the countryside beyond. From the north front there are views north-west to the Black Mountains. Sources: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 64-6 (ref: PGW (Gt)13(MON)). Additional notes: D.K.Leighton