Stow Park Circle is located in suburban Newport, on the highest point of the town. The gardens at nos.15 and 17 are important because of the survival, largely intact, of an extensive early twentieth-century rock and water garden, originally part of the gardens of now-demolished Stelvio House (nprn 3066). The garden is of exceptional interest in being largely constructed of artificial stone, the likely work of James Pulham & Sons who also made rock and water gardens at nearby Bellevue Park (266093) and, further afield, at Dewstow House (266053). A feature of exceptional interest is a free-standing artificial stone grotto.

The gardens were broken up between different owners from 1935 onwards, and Stelvio House itself was demolished in 1996 and the site redeveloped. The gardens were originally laid out between 1914 and 1920. What survives is the eastern flank of the gardens which now fall within the grounds of two separate nearby properties, forming an arc from no.17 on the north and south, then east to the south side of no.15.

No.17: The property is approached from Stow Park Circle onto a gravel forecourt flanked by trees and shrubs. Immediately around the house there are more recent landscape features. On its south side is a verandah, a modern border and a lawn. To the west of the house is a former tennis court, now laid out to lawn and kitchen garden. These abut the boundary of the water and rockwork garden which occupies an L-shaped area. The north end of the western section consists of rockwork with irregular beds and pools skirted by flagstone paths. The main feature of the garden is an upstanding grotto, an irregular, well-preserved cavern of Pulhamite stone with embedded real stone and cement roof, and with several entrances. Remnants of the more formal gardens of Stelvio House lie to the west; remains of terraces, steps and some balustrading. The south end of this section is made up of a gravel-bordered lawn and further rockwork including a water garden in a wooded setting, and flights of steps. The southern section includes a small artificial ravine accessed by steps, with a series of rock-lined pools linked by cascades. Specimen trees in these grounds include a large cypress, limes, pine, plane, and a rare conifer Cephalotaxus fortunei.

No.15: The rest of the surviving garden is to the south-west of no.15 (‘The Beeches’). The house, entered from the north has a garden immediately around the house unrelated to that of Stelvio House. The lower section of the rock and water garden lies to the south of the house. A continuation of the Pulhamite ravine leads to a circular pool with a central oval island linked by a stone bridge. To the east of the pool lie formally laid-out gardens with plantings which include copper beech, cypress, pine and rhododrendon. In the south-east corner is a disused, overgrown swimming pool, originally accessed by descending steps. ornamental trees on its east boundary.

Sources:
Cadw 2007: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, additional and revised entries part 1 (ref: PGW(Gt)58 (NPT).

RCAHMW, 9 October 2017