PGW(Po)28(POW)

Mellington Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Churchstoke  

325792  

292200  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

House and formal gardens set in small park with lake and avenue.  

c. 1600, c. 1860, c. 1870.  

Registered as an example of late nineteenth-century formal terraced gardens set in a small park with lake and avenue providing the setting to the gothic style country house, Mellington Hall. The registered park and garden has group value with the hall and gatehouse and the associated estate structures. Mellington Hall (LB: 17359), Churchstoke, is set within a bend in the B4385, on level ground, facing north-east and east, looking out over the surrounding park and farmland to which it is connected by a series of garden terraces on the north-east side. The park lies mainly to the north-west and north-east of the house. Its early history is unclear though two earlier houses existed, one dating from about 1600. The present gardens developed during the Victorian period. The park is small in size, extending to about 100 acres (40.5ha). The drive enters from the north beneath a Gothic gatehouse (LB: 17358) and after 1.5km it approaches the house through an ornamental gateway in the garden wall. On the west the park is bisected by Offa's Dyke (scheduled monument - MG039) - across which the park was created - and this monument separates the open park from its main plantation, Mellington Wood, itself merging into a boundary wood to the north of the house, which hides it from the drive. In the park, north-east of the house, is a large lake, beside which is an icehouse (NPRN 405591). The gardens lie around the house. Much of the garden area is now used as a caravan site attached to the hotel. The gardens divide into three broad areas. Immediately to the north-east, east and south of the house there are formal garden terraces. The north side of the house and adjacent gardens is flanked by ornamental woodland, into which the north drive enters between stone gate piers. The terraces, accessed by stone steps, descend the hillside from the forecourt for about 4m above a dry-stone ha-ha which stands about 1m above the level of the park beyond, here flanked by a strip of ornamental woodland. Further to the south the gardens become more characteristic of wooded pleasure grounds but are now extensively used for static and visiting caravans on ground which includes the site of an old orchard and part of Mellington Wood. In the south-east the gardens surround the site of the walled kitchen garden and the old house which is set on an overgrown terrace overlooking the east pasture. Nearby a minor stream with pools and water features is crossed by two ornamental bridges carrying tracks from the south-west gardens. The pools are shown on the tithe map of 1842 associated with the older house and were incorporated into the grounds of the Victorian house. The surviving walled kitchen garden at Mellington Hall lies about 0.5km south-east of the house. It probably dates from the latter part of the nineteenth century. The rectangular garden stands on a level piece of ground, covers about 1.5 acres (0.6ha) and is surrounded by red brick walls capped with stone. Significant Views: Wide views across the park from the house and garden terraces and the Vale of Montgomery. Source: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 176-80 (ref: PGW (Po)28(POW)).