PGW(Gt)42(MON)

Raglan Castle  

I  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Raglan  

341441  

208320  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Formal terraced gardens, former lake and water parterre, walk with shell niches.  

1550-1628.  

Raglan Castle, a late medieval castle, lies above the village of Raglan. It is registered as a very rare survival of an outstandingly important sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century garden layout which was one of the most advanced gardens of its date in the country. The gardens formed part of the setting for the castle which itself was built to be more decorative than defensive. The castle is Grade I Listed (LB 2101) under guardianship, and the entire area of the castle and the garden earthworks is a Scheduled Monument (SM MM005). The gardens were made by the 3rd and 4th Earls of Worcester, between 1550 and 1628 and were laid out on a grand scale involving massive earth moving. North-west of the castle are three long terraces built out over the steep slope, and retained by a huge revetment wall. They are separated by steep high grass slopes, originally bounded by walls 30 feet (9 metres) high, according to a description of 1674. At the south-west end of the top terrace are the brick footings of a small square summerhouse, and at the north-east end of the main, central, terrace stone steps to the upper terrace are visible. There is some evidence for balustrading in the garden, perhaps along the tops of the terraces. Below, on level pasture in the valley of the Wilcae Brook, is the site of the 'great Poole', with evidence for an island, and to the west of the terraces its earthen dam, now breached by the stream. Beyond the north-east end is a large boggy rectangular area of banks and ditches, all that remains of a water parterre. Its diamond and triangular-shaped islands, portrayed on a map of 1652, can still be seen. South-west of the castle a square level area with raised terraces around two sides is the 'garden plot' described in 1674. Above it, to its south, on high revetment walls, is the grass bowling green accessed by stone steps. Below, is a large rectangular terrace bounded by steep scarps on its outer sides, reached by steps. This overlooks the valley of the Wilcae Brook below the dam. Below this is a further narrow shallow terrace. On the 1652 map the valley below is described as 'Hopyard', with an orchard on higher ground on the east slope of the valley. From either end of the dam former water channels lead from each end of the dam to a large square earthwork at the southern end of the field, a former water garden with four square islands separated by water channels, and possibly of fifteenth century date. The Moat Walk is a curving gravelled walk running around the outside of the moat around the castle's fifteenth-century keep. Evenly spaced out along the walk are fifteen brickwork semi-circular niches, originally decorated and holding statues of Roman emperors, now gone. Within the castle, in the Fountain Court, is the square stone base of a fountain, called the White Horse fountain, in existence by 1587. Setting - Raglan Castle lies north of Raglan village, on the north side of the A40. It is surrounded by farmland except on the east side where the buildings of Castle Farm abut the castle grounds. Significant views - From the north-west terraces there are fine views across the nearby countryside to the Black Mountains beyond. From the south-west there are views towards the South Wales valleys. Source: Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 130-2 (ref: PGW (Gt) 40).