Gardens associated with Lamphey Bishop's Palace (nprn 22223) are located within extensive parkland lying above the palace to its north-east (700057). The palace consisted of an irregular array of splendid apartments clustered on the south side of one of a series of large walled courts. It is best recorded in the fourteenth century and continued as a noble residence into the seventeenth century.

A garden and orchards were attached to the medieval palace, probably the walled enclosure east of the precinct, at least in part. The Black Book of St David’s, of 1326, mentions ‘three orchards, the fruit of which with the fruit in the curtilage, in apples, cabbages, leeks and the other produce, is worth yearly 13s. 4d.' Records of swans and peacocks in the grounds implies a strong ornamental aspect to them.

The main approach was from the village to the south and passed over a bridge and dam that ponded back the valley bottom stream into a lake, providing an appropriate setting to the palace buildings. The swans would have been on the large expanse of water to the south of the palace that was an integral and important part of the approach. This was a lake of about two acres, now silted and degraded, beneath the walls of the palace precinct.

The second major phase of garden-making at Lamphey came in the nineteenth century, in a garden created originally by the Mathias family from 1823 onwards. The ground within the precinct wall is now down to turf but for at least 100 years it was an elaborate and beautiful garden with a formal layout of paths to the west within the Inner Courtyard and the interior of the buildings planted up to the east.

A partition wall, now gone, created an enclosed garden area, west of the palace, with perimeter and cross paths, glass houses and a pond and fountain. These features, including the partition wall, have now gone but some are revealed as parch marks on air photos following a dry summer. The fountain now stands in the grounds of Lamphey Court (22219) but is no longer working. The wood to the north was also ornamented during the nineteenth century when trees were planted and a walk made along the west side of the ponds. The walk, and many of the trees, survive.

The palace buildings and enclosures were reused for the grounds and gardens of Lamphey Court (265874), a gleaming classical early nineteenth century mansion to the north-west of the palace (22219).

Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 234-9 (ref: PGW(Dy)34(PEM)).

David Leighton & John Wiles, RCAHMW 4 March 2022

Site Record

Lamphey Palace Gardens and Grounds