Maesycrugiau Hall, an early twentieth-century house on a more ancient site (nprn 17545), is located on a hill flanking the Teifi valley, to the south-west of Lampeter. It is notable for the remains of an extraordinary Edwardian summerhouse in a somewhat neglected contemporary garden with some pre-1891 features. It is also notable as having formerly been the residence of the local Lloyd and Mansel families.

The property is now reached by a drive from the east, one of four drives in use in the late nineteenth century; the original main drive was from the west. It is flanked by low red stone walls and some of herbaceous material. Paths lead from the drive to garden areas and walks, all of which remain. The hall is masked from view by a bamboo hedge until the final sweep round from drive to forecourt on the south front.

The formal garden is south of the house, below the forecourt terrace, a substantial difference in level between the two suggesting the retaining wall was part of the earlier house. It is a geometric design in three sections linked by flights of steps. To the east is a paved area with circular beds edged with box, the whole once divided diagonally by a concrete rill that fed the pond. Next is a central area that consists of a massive rectangular pond (now a swimming pool?). The third area, on the west, is lawned. Japanese Cedars and Western Red Cedars were planted in this lawn, again in a geometrical pattern. Two further grass terraces to the west are reached by steps known as the `Elizabethan steps'.

By 1905 the walled garden and formal walks to the south-east of the Hall, present in the late nineteenth century, had been replaced by a level area used for tennis, a quartz rockery, an arrangement of two towers, or belvederes, and two ponds, one formal the other less so. Now, only the rockery, one of the ponds and one of the towers remain. The tower stands to about 10.5m (35 ft) with the central stone core built to a five-sided plan. An octagonal-shaped room `hung' on to the central core is of wood with windows all round. From it, most of the estate lands within the valley would have been visible. South of the tower, across the drive, is a large pond shown on earlier maps. The water is retained by an extensive red stone wall so that the water lilies would have been almost at eye-level.

Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 48-9 (ref: PGW(Dy)3(CAM)).
RCAHMW air photos; 965050/69
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton

RCAHMW, 11 April 2022

Royal Commission aerial reconnaissance on 9th July 2018, during the 2018 drought, recorded cropmarks of an oval planting feature in parkland north of the house at SN 4792 4070. The feature appears to comprise a stone-footed oval structure some 14m across, within a wider oval earthwork some 30m across. Historic Mapping shows a variety of circular tree planting rings across the parkland; this feature may have been a stone built pond or similar enclosure. Image refs: AP_2018_3194-3197 & 3200-3201.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, Jan 2024

Site Record

Maesycrugiau Gardens, Llanllwni