Trawsgoed House (nprn 35307) is located in the lower Ystwyth valley, 12km to the south-east of Aberystwyth. It is notable for the survival of the park and garden of one of the most important houses in west Wales.Trawsgoed belonged to the Vaughan family from the thirteenth century. In the medieval period it was just a farm but from 1547 onwards it developed into one of the largest estates in west Wales. A long period of contraction began in the early nineteenth century and continued thereafter. In 1947 the 7th Earl of Lisburne sold the house and surrounding parkland to the Government.
The ornamental grounds lie in a roughly rectangular area of more or less level ground between the house and the B4340 road to the south-west. There are four distinct areas: first, the main drive and lime avenue with the north-east front of the house, its forecourt, lawn and iron gates; second, the garden area; third a separate area of mixed coniferous and deciduous ornamental woodland at the southern end of the former south drive; and fourth a belt of mixed woodland flanking the B4340.
The main drive approaches from an entrance on the road at Lodge Fach (417281), flanked by an avenue of lime trees, skirting the house and gardens beyond which it bifurcates with one arm into the park and another sweeping round to the north-east forecourt and lawn. The lawn, below the forecourt, is divided by four gravel paths to a perimeter path along the curving garden boundary wall.
The garden area lies mainly to the south-west and south of the house and is largely a creation of the late nineteenth century but incorporates features present in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It occupies a roughly rectangular area with a short extension at the south-west end, and has a formal axis running south-westwards from the house - a central axial walk running its full length from house to boundary.
The formal part of the garden is dominated by a level, rectangular lawn with a central ornamental grand fountain, bounded on the south-east side by a grass bank up to the informal area. The lawn is revetted and at its south-west end steps down the terrace wall take the central path to a lower level where it is flanked by mature specimen conifers. Now winding, it leads to an ornamental, curved, stone bench. Where the path reaches the boundary is a pair of ornate wrought-iron gates flanked by stone piers.
Below the south side of the main lawn is the former rose garden laid out with paths and circular beds, now grassed over, and also an ornamental sundial. On the south-east side are three cut tiers, each about 2m high, of random stone with steep grass banks between them. The cross path alongside the rose garden ascends the south-east side of the terracing in three walled flights of stone steps.
The informal part of the garden, the upper, area south and south-east of the lawn, divides into three sections. First, the wooded south-west end, dominated by mature conifers, with a path from the lower part of the central path leading to the second area at the top of the terraces which is laid out as lawn with a small wooden pavilion surrounded by ornamental plantings, and a hard tennis court.
The fourth apart of the garden area, mixed woodland flanking the B4340, forms the west boundary of the grounds. Although planted ornamentally it has since lost its ornamental function.
To the immediate north-west of the house are the remains of a walled garden (700127).
Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire 150-8 (ref: PGW(Dy)53(CER)).
G.Morgan, A Welsh House & its Family: The Vaughans of Trawsgoed (1997).
RCAHMW air photos: 955045/67-8; 965119/67.
RCAHMW, 3 May 2022