The gardens of Insole Court, now a public park in Llandaff, Cardiff, occupy a roughly rectangular area, long axis north by south, between Fairwater Road in the north and Vaughan Avenue in the south. They are laid out around the house (now called Llandaff Court, nprn 19075) which lies towards the southern end. The area to the north of it is narrower than that to the south. It was mainly constructed in the 1860s and during the late nineteenth-early twentieth century. The gardens were initially laid out for James Harvey Insole (1821-1901), coal owner and shipper, during the early 1860s when a pleasure garden was established. In 1861 an avenue of horse chestnut trees was planted. Further land was purchased in the 1870s and 80s, enabling him to extend the gardens.

The site survives as a grand Victorian and Edwardian town garden. Its informal rockeries and water garden, fine terracing and balustrading, reflected the owners' passion for horticulture. The garden features extensive rockwork, a combination of natural rock and artificial rock (Pulhamite) which was introduced as a habitat for Violet Insole's collection of alpines and rock plants.The garden still contains a wide variety of ornamental trees and shrubs although Violet's alpines and irises, on which she was an expert, have mostly gone.

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1874 shows the house, then called Ely Court, and its gardens surrounded by a small park on the south, west and north sides. A long drive led southwards to a lodge on what is now Ely Road. The park was planted with individual trees, small clumps and perimeter belts of trees. The layout of the garden differed slightly from that at present in that the main terrace appears not to have been quite rectangular, there was a circular structure on a mound to its south, the rockwork water garden was not yet in existence (the garden terminated just south of the mound), and to the east of the house was one long rectangular area with a fountain in the middle (where there are now two terraces). The garden is shown as having fewer areas of lawn than at present: it is all planted with trees and shrubs except the main terrace and a rectangular lawn to the west. The summerhouse is shown in its present position. Where the rockwork north of the house is now situated there were several glasshouses. A description of the garden in the Gardeners' Chronicle for 20 May 1882 makes it clear that the garden was well planted with many specimen trees and shrubs, some of which remain. The rockwork was also in place by the time of the Gardener’s Chronicle description.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)27(CDF).
Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan sheet XLIII.10 (1901).

RCAHMW, 7 July 2022