PGW(Po)42(POW)

Bodynfoel Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Llanfechain  

317553  

320232  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Medium sized house and small formal gardens, semi-natural woodland and a small area of park to the south. The garden has been partially restored and two lakes have been added since about 1980.  

c. 1830s; restoration and remodeling c. 1980.  

The registered area at Bodynfoel Hall represents a good example of a compact early Victorian estate of house, formal grounds, woodland and small park situated in a fine location. Bodynfoel has historical associations with an important Montgomeryshire family, the Bonnor-Maurices, who built the hall in 1846 and laid out the surrounding grounds. The registered area shares important group value with the hall (LB: 82419) and associated estate buildings of contemporary date. Bodynfoel Hall is sited on a level terrace overlooking its landscaped grounds. The house was the second, and new, home of the Bonnor-Maurices and the park is believed to have been laid out by Robert Bonnor-Maurice, soon after his new house was built. It is not thought that any earth-moving was carried out in laying out the park, instead full advantage was taken of the picturesque glacial landscape of northern Montgomeryshire. The parkland lies to the south and east of the house on either side of the main drive which enters the site off the Llanfechain road to the west of the lodge. The park is compact and relatively small, covering an area of approximately 20 acres (8.1 ha). The parkland slopes south from the house to the Llanfechain road. A small belt of trees growing along a ridge marks the boundary of the park to the west of the drive and, in the east, the park is dotted with isolated trees. In the north, the park is separated from the garden by a stone ha-ha. In about 1920 a tennis court was constructed in the northern area of the park, sets of steps connecting it to surrounding parkland. In the mid-1970s two small lakes were created in the west garden and the northwest park, and bisected by the garden drive. Originally two drives entered the site, the existing formal drive from the south, and a now abandoned drive from the west, approaching the house through a chestnut avenue, and still partially visible through surviving trees. Narrow belts of trees were also planted on the east and west sides of the south park with a few clumps in between, but these were largely felled during the two World Wars. A large proportion of Ty-du wood, north of the house, is also thought to have been planted from 1840. The main south drive enters the garden from the west through a pair of formal gates. It approaches along a cutting, overhung by laurel and oak trees, and passes over a dam separating the two lakes. Ty-du wood, which may have had an ornamental role, overhangs the lake to the north and east. The gardens lie to the south, east, west and north-west of the house on sloping and level areas of ground. They date to the 1830s when the house was built. To the south of the house the gardens consist of terraces, herbaceous borders, tree and shrub planted lawns and shrubberies, connected by walks and stone steps. To the east of the house, a curving, sunken lawn is separated from the stable yard above by a small arboretum which contains many conifers, acers and ferns growing beneath some older broadleaf trees. On the east side of this lawn there is an extensive rock garden which appears to date from the late nineteenth-century. Largely replanted, it still contains a stream, with small cascades and sets of stone steps. The kitchen garden stood above and to the north of the stables but is now planted with trees and is contiguous with Ty-Du Wood. Significant Views: From the house and gardens to the south across the park and the picturesque Cain valley. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 12-13 (ref: PGW Po42(POW)). Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, Montgomeryshire X.NW (1884) Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, Montgomeryshire X.5 (1901)