Merrixton House (nprn 22407) and its gardens are set in low rolling hills about 2km to the north of the Pembrokeshire coast, north-east of Kilgetty. Its former drives, from the east and west, are now public roads The gardens associated with Merrixton are to the west and south of the house complex and seem to have been originally conceived as a series of terraces, using or being built into the natural slope, and surrounded by a stone boundary wall, 1m-2m. They date from the mid nineteenth century onwards though some features appear to be earlier; the house was built in about 1750. The formal garden is to the west and may originally have extended further to the south. To the north is a walled garden, on the opposite side of what is now a public road (700231).

A small formal terrace to the front of the house which leads on to the west-facing, sloping lawn with planted borders and ornamental plantings between the upper and lower areas of the lawn. A pond on the west side is surrounded by ornamental plantings (23125) lies above a semi-triangular plot, referred to as ‘The Green’, separated from it several feet below by a high revetment wall. This is the start of a small wooded valley across which are earthworks perhaps representing tracks, former drives (pre-1845), or walks through a ‘wilderness area’. There is a second, possibly later, pond below the other, connected by a flight of steps. Both are associated with the stream which is thought to start from the spring in the walled garden, from where it is piped under the former drive to feed them.
A sub-rectangular enclosure to the south of the house also seems to have been terraced at some stage. It contains a viewing mound, from which are stunning views, and a building thought to be a former gaol, later used as a summerhouse or dovecote but now a pony shelter (22601).

Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 254-6 (ref: PGW(Dy)37(PEM)).
Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXV.NE (1887).

RCAHMW, 9 June 2022