The great house and garden at Coedcanlas is situated to the south-west of Haverfordwest, on low-lying gently-sloping ground west of Martletwy, overlooking Beggar's Reach on the Daugleddau (nprn 21807). It is noted for the survival as earthworks of an elaborate and sophisticated formal garden of the late seventeenth century. In 1362 it was in the ownership of Sir John Carew, and down the ages it passed to several different owners, including the Owens of Orielton in the mid-seventeenth century. Here, as at Landshipping (95608), historical research and follow-up aerial photography have revealed the extensive earthworks of lost formal gardens, thought to have been established by the late seventeenth century. There is also historical interest as having been the home of the jockey and author Dick Francis who spent his childhood here.

Garden earthworks lie to the north and to south of the farm, pointing to once substantial formal gardens associated with the house. The earthworks are shallow but traceable and, on open ground, best seen on air photos; their subsoil remains have also been surveyed by geophysical methods. North of the house is an area known as the 'Old Garden', the smaller of the two parts. It lies under grass, partly wooded, but earthworks of a former water garden survive. The southern half is a D-shaped area bounded by a dry moat on the west and south. A cross ditch runs north-south down the middle of the area. A watercourse, probably to feed the moat, enters the site at the north-west corner and runs in a broad embanked ditch along the north-east side of the moated area. To the north is a further garden area, now tree-grown, with smaller earthworks and some former water features within it. Fruit trees on the north side of the house are the remains of a former orchard.

South of the house is a more extensive area known as the 'Hop Garden', within a large pasture field sloping gently down towards the estuary. The garden earthworks here cover an area of about 1.5 ha. Superficially, the field appears to be open pasture bisected by a stream with an oval pond running north-south through the field. However, these features cut across the formal layout of the garden represented by faint grids and squares. A larger, square enclosure on the east side of the central stream is flanked on the west side by a series of six `box-like’ terraced enclosures along the edge of the field. These appear to be the footings of former enclosed gardens, surrounded by moats or ditches, and once contained paths, plants and trees.

Although there is no known direct record of the construction of these elaborate formal gardens, they are stylistically very similar to those at nearby Landshipping and may have been constructed by the same designer.

Source:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 192-3 (ref: PGW(Dy)26(PEM)).    

RCAHMW, 2 March 2022