Bryngwyn Hall, an eighteenth-century house rebuilt in c1813 (nprn 21357), is situated east of Llanfyllin on the edge of the village of Bwlch-y-cibau. It is located in parkland (700351)

To the east and south of the house are ornamental gardens which, including the lake, cover about 18 acres. Their early history is unclear. It is assumed that a garden would have been in existence from about 1830 when Martin Williams was laying out the surrounding park. But the presence of mature yews to the south-east and north-west of the house may mark the boundary of an earlier garden; the oldest plantings, they are possibly associated with the earlier house. The form of any nineteenth-century garden would have been partly dictated by the presence of the ha-ha which is known to have been in place since at least 1825 - its position possibly determined by the yew trees - when it was recorded on a map included in sale particulars. The ha-ha seems to have retained its divisional role between garden and park at least until 1889 as the Ordnance Survey map clearly shows the 'garden' area clearly confined within it.
The garden is enclosed on all sides by a band of woodland planting. The south front has a lawn with informal planting of specimen ornamental trees. This leads into the wood on the west side of the house. On the east side of the house is the remains of a small formal garden of two terraces. A rockface lies hard against the house on the west side with the woodland above. A rustic summerhouse has heather thatching on its roof and sides.

On the south front of the house a narrow strip of sloping lawn, planted with a large mature larch, runs down to the ha-ha, beyond which a wide, tree planted sloping lawn, sweeps down to the northern edge of the lake. The lake covers about 9 acres and is in two sections. Trees and shrubs grow around it and wild fowl and ducks inhabit it. To the west of the house there is an area of lawn of about 3/4 acre that runs into a small woodland on the north and west, and on the south runs down to the drive.

A walled kitchen garden, about 1 acre in extent, lay at the north-eastern end of the lake, by the garden boundary. It is now entirely planted up with oaks and firs.

To the north-east of the house is an Edwardian ornamental layout of a bathing pool, and two ornamental ponds formed by damming a small stream. The ‘Upper Lake’, on the south-west, was created in the late nineteenth century and has a small island planted with rhododendrons. The ‘Lower Lake’, to the north-east, was added before 1910. Both are surrounded by ornamental trees and shrubs, as is the stone-lined bathing pool. The present disposition of woodland is little changed since the nineteenth century. The wood pasture, however, is now partitioned and populated by fewer specimen and parkland trees.

Sources:
Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 32-34 (ref: PGW Po41(POW)).
Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map: sheet Montgomeryshire X.13 (1901).

RCAHMW, 30 June 2022

Site Record

Bryngwyn Hall Garden, Llanfyllin