Plas Heaton mansion (nprn 27722) is situated on the western edge of the Vale of Clwyd, to the north-west of Denbigh, and is located within parkland (700250). The main areas of garden lie to the west and south of the house. Aside from a small area of lawn around the house, it is essentially an enclosed woodland garden with a circuit walk. The layout is thought to date from the 1860s when photographs show many more flowerbeds than now exist.

The entire pleasure garden is surrounded by a ha-ha. The woodland lies mostly to the south of the house. It is now largely taken over by secondary woodland but ornamental plantings remain along with underplantings of laurel and box and many spring bulbs Tree planting is mainly of ash and sycamore with some oak and birch.
The woodland is reached by crossing the lawn on the south front of the house and crossing the farm drive on a cobbled path between two stone arches. Terracing cut into the natural limestone is now largely overgrown. Other features include a cave of antiquarian interest near the house (306641), the remains of a grotto or garden building at the southern end of the wood, an early nineteenth-century icehouse built into the north-west retaining wall of the wood (405481), and the informal walk. The latter circuits the perimeter of the wood, a circular group of yews marking the start of the walk. Its culmination is the terrace on the north side of the wood which has views towards the Irish Sea and the Clwydian Hills.
A prehistoric mound near the south boundary of the grounds may have been included in the garden design (306633).

Also within this area is a walled garden to the south of the house, and another - a walled orchard - at the southernmost tip of the wood (700251).

Sources:
Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 200-02 (ref: PGW(C)28).
Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map: sheet Flintshire VII (1880); & second-edition six-inch map: sheet Denbighshire VIII.SE (1900).
RCAHMW air photo: 965098/48.

RCAHMW, 16 June 2022

Site Record

Plas Heaton Gardens and Grounds, Henllan, Denbigh