PGW(Po)52(POW)

Doldowlod  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Nantmel  

299836  

262382  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Victorian mansion set in modestly sized grounds, was originally a holiday residence.  

c. 1820, c. 1878.  

Doldowlod is registered as an interesting and compact example of a nineteenth-century park and garden set in a fine situation in a bend in the river Wye. The garden incorporates formal grass terraces and a wild woodland garden. The registered park and garden has group value with the Jacobean style country house and its associated estate outbuildings of contemporary nineteenth-century date. Doldowlod was purchased by the engineer James Watt of Soho, Birmingham, in 1803 and was developed as a country residence by his son James Watt junior (1769-1848) of Birmingham in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The present house was built in the 1840s as an extension to an existing farmhouse, which was demolished when the house was extended in the 1870s. Doldowlod House (LB: 84148) stands against a steep hanging wood below the A470 on a level terrace looking out to the south-west over a small, semi-circular area of park set in a bend in the river Wye. The grounds are entered to the east of the house at Doldowlod Lodge (LB: 83228). The small park at Doldowlod lies between the house and garden and the river Wye, on the river's floodplain. The park covers about 25 acres and is separated from the formal garden by a stone ha-ha and fencing. The park created an uninterrupted area of pasture which balanced the gardens of the house with the surrounding, wilder countryside. The line of an abandoned drive runs through the park from a gate, set in the ha-ha to the north-west of the house, to a fine set of formal gates (LB: 84122) on the west side of the A470. The appearance of the present park is believed to date from about 1840, following the building of a new house by the Watt family. The structural features, the ha-ha and the north drive are thought to date from this time and are recorded on a tithe map of 1844. The garden of Doldowlod lies to the south and south-east of the house and covers about seven acres. To the south of the house, there is a formal area of garden characterised by three cut grass terraces to the west of a gravel forecourt, which descend to the ha-ha (LB: 83230). An axis runs west from the house porch across the forecourt down the terraces, via sets of stone steps, to a stone bridge/gate which leads into the park. Another part of the formal garden, a level circular lawn, lies to the immediate south-east of the house. The south-eastern garden is mainly composed of mature tree and shrub planted lawns which include rhododendron, Douglas fir, redwood and a particularly attractive small beech and oak wood. On the east side of this lawn, built into the rocky bank descending from the road above, there is a stepped stone Italianate garden and summer house. To the south of the terraces there is a small dell, of about 1/4 acre, which is planted with a prunus walk (dating to c.1940) on a north/south alignment. From the drive paths lead down towards this and to the south-east where the garden becomes increasingly wooded. In the south-eastern area two natural streams have been developed as garden features with small cascades and pools. The garden at Doldowlod is believed to be contemporary with the house and, until the 1870s, to have been managed wooded pleasure grounds that looked out over the park. The remodelling of the house in the 1870s many well have initiated work in the gardens, creating the grass terraces above the ha-ha to the west and seeing the erection of a large conservatory to the south of the house, which contained a rockwork grotto. Much work was out in the garden in the period 1890-1930. The conservatory was taken down in the 1920s and stone Italianate garden terraces created on its site. The walled kitchen garden (LB: 83233) at Doldowlod stands about 1/4 km to the south-east of the house on the west side of the A470. The garden is located on the northern end of a piece of ground which stands above the level of the garden to the north. The walled kitchen garden covers about 1 acre and slopes down to the west. It is surrounded by high, intact, stone-capped, red brick walls which descend the north and south sides in a series of wide steps. The walls stand up to about 4m high. According to map evidence the garden was divided into quarters by cruciform paths. These stone-edged paths partly survive. In the centre of the garden there is a wide, stone-edged pool. The estate is bisected by the A470 road and the head gardener's house stands opposite the garden on the east side of the road. The walled kitchen garden is contemporary with the house, probably dating from around 1850 or 1870. Significant Views: Uninterrupted views from the house and gardens overlooking the park and Wye Valley against the backdrop of Trembyd hill. Sources: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 60-3 (ref: PGW (Po)52(POW)). Ordnance Survey first edition 6-inch map: sheet Brecknockshire V.SW (1888) Ordnance Survey first edition 6-inch map: sheet Brecknockshire V.SE (1888)