The mansion of Glynhir is situated about 2 km east of the village of Llandyïe (nprn 17387). It is set on the edge of the rolling farmland that makes up a high plateau cut by two rivers that form the valleys of the Cennen and the Loughor. The mansion is approached from the south-west via a minor road from Llandybïe, known as Glynhir road. The estate was developed by the Du Buisson family from the later eighteenth century but it appears to have had a history of improvements from earlier in the century. A garden area, which includes a walled garden, lies to the south and east of the mansion (86160; xxxxxx).

What had been the main drive now forms part of the Glynhir road. This and the lodge, to the south of the mansion, are shown on the 1841 tithe map roughly following the modern course of this road. There may have been a secondary drive, now a muddy track, that crossed the small stone bridge to the north of the mansion towards Banc-y-felin.

The parkland surrounds the house as a mix of grazed open grassland and plantations. It has retained most of its open character to the east and south of the house but in places it has become invaded by scrub. The park still gives the impression of an open, grazed sweep. In the parkland to the west of the Glynhir road is an impressive line of common limes. Within the parkland and the valley were two trout lakes. The site of a former trout lake lies to the east of the road but is now much silted and tree covered, although its shape is echoed in the field boundaries. A relatively recent plantation, mostly of birch with oak and yew, surrounds the lake sites.

Across the Loughor valley, to the east, the land retains a park-like character although it is more partitioned into fields than elsewhere. The small plantations shown on the early surveys have been extended so that there is now a considerable area of woodland. At SN 64421519, and associated with a small tributary of the Loughor, are the earthwork remains of at least three small ponds and a track which, together with the existing roads of the time, would have allowed for a circular drive around the estate.

A complex system of water management, still traceable, was established during the nineteenth century. Water from the river was carried via several leats to a nearby mill, to the farm pond, ornamental canal and to the trout ponds. It also rotated a Pelton wheel, a water turbine housed in a small stone structure to the north of the house, used to supply power to a range of drives on the estate.

Sources:

Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 22-5 (ref: PGW(Dy)9(CAM)).

Ordnance Survey second-edition six-inch maps: sheets Carmarthenshire XLI.SE (1876) & XLVIII.NE (1876); second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXIV.12 (1906).

RCAHMW, 9 November 2020