Lower Soughton Hall, a nineteenth-century house (nprn 35996), is located on gently rolling ground on the south side of Northop. The hall and garden lie within, and is entirely surrounded by, a landscape park belonging to Soughton Hall (86603).
The present garden was laid out to the design of Dame Sylvia Crowe c.1937. This replaced an earlier garden which was described in 1912 as an ‘old time garden’, laid out with traditional herbaceous borders roughly in the area of the present borders, and with lawns immediately to the south of the house; some vestigal walling is all that remains of this.

The grounds are entered by a straight drive from the west leading to the north front of the house. The forecourt is bounded by mown lawns with specimen trees, focused on a curved wall with pillars, steps and lamps. The garden is bounded on the north by a ha-ha, giving views out over the former park. The main part of the garden lies immediately to the south and west of the house, viewed from the south front over a lawn towards the main body of Sylvia Crowe’s garden. A short avenue of yew piers is bounded on one side by a herbaceous border backed by a high yew hedge, contrasting (on the east) with island beds of mixed shrub and herbaceous planting sloping towards the river which forms the east boundary of the garden.

On the eastern side of the stream is a mixed tree and shrub border. A curving path follows the line of the river and back towards the house; on the side of the path is a Baptistry or Bath House, a small stone building of 1711. Behind the yew hedge a yew archway enters a double border at the south end of which is a small enclosed garden surrounded with yew hedge. New gardens have been made on a compartmented theme, with a recently-planted orchard. Two restored glasshouses are also situated in this area. On the west side of the main lawn is a formal paved rose garden laid out in 1947.

The earlier garden layout is shown on the Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map of Flintshire IX, sheet 16 (1899) which portrays sundial, greenhouses, terrace, kitchen garden, possible flower beds, a well, carriage drive, lawns, baptistry, bath house and ha-ha.

Sources:
Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 168-70 (ref: PGW(C)18).
Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: Flintshire IX.16 (edition of 1899).

RCAHMW, 14 June 2022