Bodelwyddan Castle, a sprawling castellated mansion (nprns 54220 & 54203) to the south-east of Abergele, is situated within a well-preserved eighteenth-century landscape park of medium size with nineteenth-century picturesque accretions. The park originated in the eighteenth century but took on its present form in the nineteenth with the building of the boundary walls and lodges in the 1820s and 30s by Sir John Hay Williams.

On plan the park is rectangular, long axis north-east by south-west, on ground which rises to the south, running down towards Bodelwyddan village. The park is enclosed within a massive 3m high stone wall, even higher in places, and is bounded on the north by the A55 road, on the south by the B5381, on the west by a minor road, and on the east by farmland. The house and its pleasure grounds lie towards the western boundary, at the top of a gentle slope with views over Rhuddlan Marsh and the Irish Sea beyond.

The park is largely undulating grassland dotted with large mature deciduous trees (mainly oaks) and clumps of trees with some larger areas of woodland, especially on the east boundary. Much of the nineteenth-century pattern of planting appears to be intact though there is now more partitioning. To the east and north-east are the fish pond, mill and related ponds (24907); smaller ponds lie scattered across the park, possibly old marl pits. In the south-western corner of the park lie two stone-lined ponds which continue as a stream into the pleasure grounds (266493). Nearby, just within the park walls is a lime kiln. An ice house is located close to the boundary on the north-west (37296).
The ponds and woodland in the north-east corner were originally laid out as pleasure grounds with the diverting and management of water for streams. A nursery was also situated there; aside from the ponds little remains today.

Late nineteenth-century maps portray five drives and entrances, each with a lodge: from the north, at the village, lodge and entrance now destroyed by the A55; from the north-east, near the A55; from the south-east on the B5381, at Bryn Celyn Lodge; from the south, at Lodge Bach, also on the B5381; and from Glascoed Lodge, also on the B5381, once the main south drive. The former drive from the village is being reconstructed as access to the area. It is flanked in part by an avenue of trees.

Sources:
Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 14-16 (ref: PGW(C)2).
Ordnance Survey, six-inch map: Flintshire IV (first edition, 1900).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.

RCAHMW, 11 May 2022

Cofnod Safle

Bodelwyddan Castle Park, Abergele