Argoed Hall, a nineteenth-century house (nprn 26768), is situated on the northern edge of the village of Froncysyllte, on the south side of, and overlooking, the River Dee, between the Llangollen Canal and the river. The grounds in which it lies form an arc around a bend in the river. The house is approached from the B5434 road to the east of the house.

The Victorian gardens occupy a roughly triangular area, elongated to the north and west, with the house at centre, and fall into two main parts: the formal terraced garden on gently sloping ground immediately around the house, and the extensive woodland grounds, laid out with walks, on the slopes above and below it. Aside from a small lawn to the south-west of the house, the main formal gardens lie to the east of the house. Immediately in front of the house is a low terrace of crazy-paving stone paths and flowerbeds. Below is a roughly square lawn around which are, variously, a rockwork slope, a cedar, a row of false cypresses and a wellingtonia. Below this is a hedge-and-wall enclosed rectangular terrace, now grassy, but which once supported raised beds, and is separated from the upper terrace by a wide terraced walkway. Flights of steps link the terraces. At the north end of the walk is a brick summerhouse. To the north, a roughly rectangular level grassy area contains a small pool.

The woodland area to the south is largely of deciduous trees with ornamental conifers and some laurel and box underplanting, with paths south-westwards taking in the river bank. A series of steep, narrow flights of steps lead straight down from the west side of the house to the site of a summer house on the river bank.
Footpaths through woodland to the north, on steep slopes above the flood plain, lead to a long, irregular, narrow lake which runs northwards towards Argoed Farm. The lake is now is overgrown and partly silted up.

A kitchen garden was once situated to the north of the garden terraces, near the stables, but has now been destroyed and replaced by the local Community Centre.

Sources:
Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 2-4 (ref: PGW(C)42).
Ordnance Survey, 25-inch map: sheet Denbighshire XXXV.13 (third edition 1912).

RCAHMW, 15 June 2022

Site Record

Argoed Hall Garden and Grounds, Froncysyllte