PGW(C)78(DEN)

Plas yn Iâl  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Bryneglwys  

317214  

349055  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; informal garden; walled garden;  

15th century; early 17th century; 1820s; 1867-99  

Plas yn Iâl is registered for its historic importance as the ancient seat of the Yale family, from whom descended the Yales of America, and Elihu Yale in particular, who founded Yale University. Its small landscape park, laid out and planted in the 1820s, is notable for its elevation (it is the highest park in Wales) and for its outstanding parkland trees. The registered park and garden has group value with the house (LB:17718), stable, coach house and walled garden, within which stand two notable stone statues of probable seventeenth-century date. Plas yn Iâl is situated on the north side of the Afon Morwynion valley, known as Dyffryn Iâl, a few kilometres to the south-west of Llandegla, on high ground sloping to the south. At 300 – 370m, this is the highest historic park and garden in Wales. The park was largely created by Colonel Yale in the 1820s, although some of the woodland, particularly to the north of the house, is likely to be much older. Colonel Yale laid out a small landscape park around his house, planting many parkland trees. He changed the access, making the new drive from the A5104, which was built in the late eighteenth-century. Colonel Yale also made the secondary drive to the A5104, running south-west from the house. The first map showing the layout of the park is the 1874 25-inch Ordnance Survey map and the configuration of the park has changed little since that time. The park lies all around the house, extending from the A5104 road on its south side to the high plateau (about 370 m elevation) on the north side. From the level ground at the top, the park slopes quite steeply southwards on the flank of the Afon Morwynion valley. The park is laid out with open, unfenced areas, some planted with parkland trees, and areas of woodland. Visually the dominant and most attractive parts of the park are the open parkland to the east of the house and the woodland above it and to its south-west. The parkland to the east of the house is dotted with fine, mature deciduous trees. The main species are horse chestnut, ash, oak, sycamore and beech, with very fine lime trees towards the east end. There are informal gardens to the east and south of the house, and a walled garden to its west. Although it may have origins in the early seventeenth-century, the garden was established by Colonel Yale in the 1820s, to complement his modernised house. The mature trees and rhododendrons probably date to the nineteenth-century and some of the trees may be the Colonel’s plantings. The garden layout is shown on the first edition 25-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1874. This shows the lower part and valley planted with mixed deciduous and coniferous trees, the well and small building in the valley. The well is stone-lined and the building is now a ruin and of unknown function. A winding path, now gone, ran from the south side of the house through the garden to the drive. A large rectangular walled garden lies to the west of the house and outbuildings. It comprises two equal-sized compartments on ground sloping to the south. The upper, north compartment is the better preserved. It is roughly square with uneven walls of varying height rising to 3m. In its centre, aligned with the entrance in the north wall, is a 2m-high stone statue, a life-sized figure of a Roman soldier (LB: 25069). The wall of the lower, south compartment is discontinuous and rises to about 2.7m. The second stone statue stands on the central axis of this southern compartment. Of similar size to the first, it is probably a representation of Hercules (or possibly a barbarian) (LB: 25070). The walled garden is shown on the 1874 Ordnance Survey map with cross and perimeter paths in both halves. In the centre of each is a circular space with a ‘dot’ in the centre, probably corresponding to the statues. Significant View: Views across the surrounding landscape from the house front and garden. Source: Cadw, 2013, Register of Historic Parks and Gardens in Wales. PGW(C)78(DEN)