PGW(C)70(DEN)

Colomendy  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Llanferres  

320158  

362299  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Landscape park; informal garden and pleasure grounds; walled garden.  

Late eighteenth century to mid nineteenth century; 1874-75.  

Colomendy is located to the west of Mold, above the Alun valley. It is registered for the historical interest of its small late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century park and garden, with its picturesque woodland walks, rockwork tunnel, and walled garden, and for its association with the eighteenth-century artist Richard Wilson. There is also group value with Grade II Listed Colomendy Hall (LB 16444) and its associated hay barn (LB 16445), and with ruined buildings of a farm within the estate (LB 82670). It is now an outdoor education centre. By 1839 a park had been laid out to the west of the house, probably by Catherine Jones who lived here from at least the 1770s until her death in 1786. It occupies a roughly rectangular area of rolling ground to the south of the Mold to Llanferres road (A 494) and the river Alyn, and bounded elsewhere by woodland and farmland. During the nineteenth century the surroundings were considered 'romantic' and picturesque, with the park described as 'pleasing and homely’. The main drive was from an entrance and lodge off the A494. The drive runs south and curves eastwards to arrive at the west front of the house. A back drive ran from an entrance and lodge further east to farm buildings, stables, and the back of the house; this is now a track and the lodge has gone. A third drive (the ‘Lilac Drive’) from a nearby entrance ran to the west side of the kitchen garden to join the main drive but this, too, is out of use and its lodge gone; this was part of the picturesque layout, as from it there were views west to the Clwydian Range. Aside from the drives the park was little ornamented. There were some isolated trees dotted about, and a small deciduous wood near the south-west corner. The wood survives but most of the isolated trees have gone. A small garden lies to the south of the house, with pleasure grounds to the west and north. The latter date from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In front of the house is an area of sloping lawn with some isolated low shrubs and clipped yews flanking a branch of the drive. Beyond is the mixed woodland knoll with some ornamental trees. The west end, near the house, is laid out with several winding contour paths climbing to the top of the hill. In some places they are built up over the slope, in others they are rock-cut, the steepest parts with rock-cut steps. Together with occasional rock outcrops they appear highly picturesque. On top of the knoll is a modern bird hide with stone footings of an earlier building nearby. To the north and north-west are areas of screening woodland, isolated conifers, and open spaces with some outlying school buildings. A short path and shallow rustic stone steps lead through an ornamental gateway and on to the former central path of the walled kitchen garden. Alongside its south wall is a sunken alleyway or walk, a filled and overgrown trench running west from its south-east corner. At the far end, at the south-west corner of the garden, is a short tunnel with a curving entrance and exit, and from is a fine view of Moel Fammau.; the tunnel was perhaps a device for obscuring and then revealing the view dramatically. Along the west side of the kitchen garden the Lilac Drive is lined on its outer side by a low wall with a steep drop below. The small garden, added by 1871, is enclosed by a low wall and a hedge, laid out with an informal lawn and flowerbeds, a rockery, and with a central square pillar memorial to a dog, dated 1865. The walled kitchen garden has a more complex history but probably dates from about 1839. It is a rectangular area in two unequal compartments, the southern one being the larger, with farm buildings along the east side. The walls stand to their full height of c.2.5m on the north and west sides. The cross wall is c.3.5m high and was heated; on the south side are the brick footings of a former glasshouse. In the middle of the west wall in the southern area a blocked doorway leads to the 'Lilac Drive'. The south wall, only c.1.3m high, shows signs of rebuilding, perhaps in the late nineteenth century. The interior is largely grass and there is no obvious sign of the former layout of paths, though vague traces can be seen from the air. The northern part had a glasshouse in 1871, and it may partly have been the frame yard. Setting - The park, pleasure grounds and gardens provide a setting for the house. The park lies in an essentially rural area though road improvements have encroached on the north, and an education centre has been built over the south-east corner. Significant views - From the grounds there are fine views westwards across the park to Mill Wood on the ridge beyond, and north-westwards to Moel Fammau mountain and the Clwydian Range. In particular, the Lilac Drive would have afforded magnificent views across the Alyn valley. Jubilee Tower on Moel Fammau, built at the same time as the house was remodelled (1810-12), would also have been visible. Sources: Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 48-51 (ref: PGW(C)70). Google Maps (Infoterra) imagery (accessed 13.09.2021).