PGW(C)51(DEN)

Eyarth Hall  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd  

312717  

354165  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Terraced garden; ornamental spring and pond  

Late sixteenth century - early seventeenth century; nineteenth century.  

The grounds of Eyarth Hall are registered for the survival of garden terraces contemporary with the Tudor house. At a later date, probably in the nineteenth century, the curving drive was added, and the garden was embellished with unusual rockwork. Eyarth Hall (LB: 20508) is a Tudor house dating from 1599 located on an east-facing slope south-west of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd. It is approached from the north along a drive off a minor road in the valley bottom. At the entrance is a small half-timbered single-storey lodge and stone walls topped by large blocks of water-worn limestone. This rockwork is a feature of the garden, found on top of walls, over doorways, on gate piers, and in flowerbeds. It comes from the limestone pavement on the ridge to the west of the house. The drive is bounded by stone walls and is flanked on the west by mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland with laurel under-planting, which once formed an outlying informal part of the garden. The drive and lodge is shown on the 1874 Ordnance Survey map. The drive leads to the farm buildings and also to simple iron gates on the garden boundary, and a small roughly circular forecourt in front of the entrance porch of the house. What little garden there is to the north of the house is mainly informal with mixed trees, shrubs, and a rockery bank on the west side of the forecourt. The garden proper lies mainly to the south of the house and forms a series of terraces, probably contemporary with the house, cut into ground rising steeply to the west. The main terrace, on the same level as the house, is built out over the slope and retained on the south by a substantial retaining wall. It is largely lawn with a gravel path down its west side and a sundial at the centre. At the south end of the terrace is a small enclosure formed by a small stone utilitarian outbuilding, the boundary revetment wall and a box hedge. The steep banks between the terraces are ornamented with waterworn limestone rockwork. Above is a further sloping terrace with traces of a path. A sloping field above that may once have been part of the garden, perhaps an orchard. Features in the pasture field below the house and drive suggest that it may once have formed part of the garden. From a gate, flanked by stone piers and topped by large chunks of waterworn limestone, half-way down the drive, a rough track can be followed in the field down to a further gate before it loops around to the north to the field edge at the drive. Nearby, an enclosed spring feeds, via a stone-lined rill, a small ornamental pond to its north-east. Setting: Located in the Vale of Clwyd, Eyarth Hall is situated on an east-facing slope south-west of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd. The limestone pavement on the Craig-adwy-wynt ridge is situated to the west of the hall. Significant View: Eyarth Hall is situated on an east-facing slope with views across the rural and agricultural landscape towards the Clwydian Range. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 70-2 (ref: PGW(C)51).