1. Llandrindod Wells

When it is eventually told in detail, an important part of the story of public parks in mid-Wales will no doubt relate to the development of Llandrindod Wells from its seventeenth-century origins. Rock Park, where 'nostalgic shapes of pavilions and spa architecture survive in thick woods'(Haslam 1979,249), is of great interest and recent (perhaps unnecessary) demolition of the bridge to facilitate the access of larger buses was very controversial. Several of the public buildings were designed by Stephen Williams in 1872, around the time W.N.Swettenham created the lake adjacent to the Pump House (Haslam 1979,249). In their heydays, a number of buildings appear to have been adorned with glass-fronted porticos, verandahs or conservatories, not unlike contemporary seaside hotels (Hughes-Jones and Ehrenseller u.d.) The fascinating rise and decline of hotel structures at the spa and their attendant pleasure grounds could usefully benefit from research like that undertaken by Ann Carter (1995), who has shown how some fine trees still offer testimony to the Victorian garden of Doctor William Bowen-Davies, of the former Brynarlais (which is now the town's museum) in the town centre. Less obvious are the remains of his conservatory, traceable between the road and public toilets. With stained glass fenestration, and originally housing birds as well as tropical plants, the edifice was styled as a Chinese rockery garden using Derbyshire stone. Typically, it was heated through iron pipes served from a boiler, which here were to be found in the kitchen yard.

From unpublished paper by C.S.Briggs 1994-5

2. The rather complex earlier story of how the various component parts of these public spaces and private buildings came together is told in the OS 25 inch plans of 1889 and 1903 (Radnorshire XXIII, sheet13).
C.S.Briggs 02.02.05