The house and gardens at Cresselly are situated near the summit of the west-facing slopes of a small hill, at some 70m AOD, in rolling Pembrokeshire countryside (nprns 21833 & 265006). The undulating slope to the west of the house is occupied by parkland which slopes gently away from the house to the north-east and is mostly grazed. Woodland areas around and in the centre of the park remain.

Today the area of park-like land is much the same as in the tithe survey (when it was described as ‘lawn’), that is the two parcels to the west of the house, about 23 acres. A parcel of land east of the house, shown as park in 1869, is now farmland. The areas of woodland at the margins of the park appear to have changed little in extent between the tithe survey and today.

The house is approached either from the north, past the small lodge (post-1875), or from the south, through the coach and stable yard though this was not always the case. Remaining as features in the landscape, but now serving no purpose, are two impressive dressed and carved stone gateways, one to the west (where there was once a lodge), the other to the south, that indicate the former drives. Access to the front of the house is from a recessed entrance just above the stable courtyard. This possibly links with an exit just to the east of the walled garden (xxxxxx). However, by 1907 there had been several changes, most of which are now disused and neglected. The Ordnance Survey map of 1875 shows no grand sweeps of drive or lodged entrances. A modest drive or path is shown giving access from the site of the present North Lodge through to the walled gardens, with small paths from here to the house.

There is a little ornamental planting within the park. In the woodland between the North Lodge and the 'Belts' are cherry laurels, copper beeches and a Douglas fir. Associated with the West Lodge, and within the park generally, are stands of immature beech. In the Belts, a linear area of native deciduous woodland, are two fishponds, now largely overgrown.

The boundary between the road, to the east, and the estate, is marked by a substantial rubble wall which continues, in part, round the rest of the park.

Sources:

Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 202-5 (ref: PGW(Dy)31(PEM)).

Ordnance Survey six-inch maps: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXIV.SE (editions of 1863-4 & 1906); second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Pembrokeshire XXXIV.12 (1906).

Additional notes: D.K.Leighton

RCAHMW, 4 November 2020