PGW(Po)59(POW)

Harpton Court  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Powys  

Old Radnor  

323424  

259742  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; garden; walled garden  

1750; 1805 – 12; mid nineteenth century  

Registered for the survival of much of the layout and structure of the park, gardens and walled kitchen garden of an eighteenth and early nineteenth century country mansion of great historic interest. The owners during this time, the Lewis family, had several nationally distinguished members, in particular Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863) who was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Palmerston, in the mid-nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century the famous gardener, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), visited Harpton Court and painted a watercolour of it. It is not thought that she designed any of the garden but she did introduce Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), as an ornamental plant. The outstanding feature of the park is a fine lime avenue, probably dating to the mid eighteenth century. The garden contains many notable mature trees and the walled kitchen garden is exceptionally well preserved. Harpton Court lies in the heart of Radnorshire, a few kilometres to the west of Kington. The park occupies an irregular area of mainly flat ground to the north, east, south and south-west of the house and is bounded by the course of an old railway line on the west side, by the A44 road on the north side and by field boundaries and the garden on the remaining sides. It is laid out largely with scattered, single oak trees, which are most frequent in the field immediately to the south of the garden. In its south corner are two mature sweet chestnuts. The field to the south is dotted with a few large oaks. The western end of the park, a large field to the west of the former, has few trees left in it but stumps show that it was once more densely planted. The ground rises towards the north end of the field and near this boundary is a clump of mixed deciduous trees. On the south side of the park is a densely planted wood in which is a large fishpond. The east side of the park is planted with some large lime trees. The present approach off the A44 leads to the house (LB: 9176), farm (LB: 9179), outbuildings (LB: 9177; 9178) and the recently built houses in the grounds and park. While this was always an everyday approach, a grander approach was directly off the A44, just east of the lane, through a highly ornamental entrance (LB: 9175) along a lime avenue. Beyond the entrance, on the east side, is the lodge (LB: 9174). The first archival evidence for the park is a drawing of 1781. Subsequent changes to the park probably took place in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Since the late nineteenth century the landscaping of the park has been diluted by the loss of trees, particularly on the west side of the park and from the field to its west. The avenue has lost some trees but remains recognisable as an avenue and a most attractive and striking feature in the landscape. The garden occupies a rectangular area, orientated north-west/south-east, with the house towards its east end and the walled former kitchen garden towards its west end. The garden is bounded on the north, east and south sides by a well-preserved, substantial ha-ha, consisting of a rubble stone revetment wall about 1m high and a deep outer ditch. To the east and south of the house is a large lawn, fringed, on the edge of the garden, with large mature trees, including oak and pine, and shrubs, including yews, rhododendron and box. Other plantings include a large copper beech, Irish yews, a large Scots Pine, a large Monkey Puzzle, and a Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica). The garden area to the north-west of the house is partly enclosed by a stone wall up to 2m high within which is the walled former kitchen garden. The earliest evidence for the appearance of the garden at Harpton Court is a drawing of 1781 showing the garden at that time to be formally laid out. In front of the house (to its north-east) was a courtyard with a central oval pool. Both this and the Tithe map of the 1840s show differences from today as do photographs from the 1930s. Until recently the garden was noted for Giant Hogweed, said to have been introduced to the garden by the famous gardener, Gertrude Jekyll, who was a friend of the owners. The former kitchen garden at Harpton Court is exceptionally well preserved. Its walls, of stone and brick, part whitewashed on the inside, and of variable height reach a maximum of 4.5m. In front of the highest wall are the brick footings of a former glasshouse (vinery), with cold frames against the wall, formerly heated by hot air drawn through the wall in horizontal flues. Its footprint has been turned into a formal garden laid out with straight paths, flower and vegetable beds. Against the outside of the north wall is a range of single-storey brick bothies, those to the west of the doorway would have housed the heating system (fireplaces and flues) for the vinery. Source: Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys (ref: PGW (Po)59(POW)).