PGW(C)34(DEN)

Eyarth House  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd  

312598  

354825  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Informal garden with rock garden and island beds; walled garden.  

1933-34 and 1937-1960s  

Eyarth House, a modified early nineteenth-century house, is located to the immediate south-west of the village of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd. It is registered for its naturalistic limestone rock garden of 1933-34 by Hayes of Ambleside, and its island beds designed by C.H.Taudevin of Raby Nurseries, Wirral (about 1937). The garden provides the setting for the listed house (Grade II, LB: 783), and there is group value with the listed Gateway Lodge (Grade II, LB: 25228). Its setting includes the scheduled hillfort of Craig Adwy Wynyt (DE073) above the house to the south-west. Eyarth House is approached from the north by a long sinuous drive to a gravel sweep on the north-east front of the house. The house and garden are surrounded by extensive beech woods with walks leading up to the hillfort. Towards the south end of the drive it is flanked by large specimen conifers. The garden lies mainly to the north-east and south-west of the house, on gently sloping limestone ground. A natural rock garden lies on the north-western side of the drive (north-east of the house). It now has many mature acers, pines, and other trees and shrubs, some thought to have been brought back from Japan by the then owner, J.L.Tillotson. On the south-eastern side of the drive island beds were laid out. At the same time was constructed a small pond, and a dry-stone ha-ha between the garden and neighbouring fields. Behind the rock garden is an area of lawn divided in half by a low dry-stone wall and at its centre two clipped sentinel yews to walk through. On the south-eastern side of the house is a flat area of grass for a tennis court, a swimming pool built in the 1930s, beyond which the ground drops steeply to the lawn and island beds. To the south-west of the tennis lawn is a terraced rockery/ shrubbery running from the south-west corner of the house to the ha-ha. Behind are the remains of an orchard. The walled kitchen garden lies to the north of the house and stable yard and probably dates to the early nineteenth-century. The garden is roughly square, the south-east wall formed by the north corner of the stables. Walls are of stone, north wall of brick, about 3m high. A lean-to potting shed is situated just inside the garden gate. A range of nineteenth-century glasshouses with a central conservatory is situated in the north-western corner, with boiler houses behind and cold frames in front. On the north wall is a small slate roof to protect the fruit trees that once grew there. An early photograph shows this garden as once planted with roses and decorated with rustic treillage. Setting - The estate lies in a rural setting in an elevated position between the river Clwyd and one of its tributaries, the Afon Hesbin. The house and garden are surrounded by extensive deciduous woodland. Significant views - From the garden there are extensive views to the north-west towards the Clwydian Hills, including Moel Fammau. Source: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 74-6 (ref: PGW(C)34(DEN)).