The substantial mansion at Derry Ormond, demolished in 1953, was surrounded by gardens at the north end of a small park (nprns 96038, 700014 86782). Its walled kitchen garden lies to the immediate east of the house site, on a south-facing hillside. It dates to about 1824-27, probably contemporary with the house and landscaping and designed by CR Cockerell, but there is a history of development.

The garden is four-sided, widest at its east end and tapering westwards where the wall is curved, flanked on its north and south walls by service drives, and the minor road to Derry Lodge Farm along its east side. Its walls are 3m-4m high, best preserved on the south, built of rubble stone, the inner east and south walls brick lined. The north wall is partly fallen and there is an iron-gated entrance in the centre.

At the east end of the north wall are the ruins of the Gardener’s House. A modern house has been built within the garden to the south of this. Against the north wall, to the west, are the remains of lean-to glasshouses: brick footings, iron roof supports and parts of ventilation systems survive, fronted by short stretches of overgrown box edging. Behind the east end of the wall is a range of stone bothies. Nearby are the footings of former glasshouses, water tanks, and a small glass-paned potting shed with internal fittings. The latter contains a disused boiler, and Iron heating pipes survive around the walls. There are also two rows of brick cold frames standing on stone bases, and a low terraced bed on a stone base.

Apart from the remains of these structures, no internal layout remains within the garden, which is mostly grassed over and grazed. Traces of the old grid-iron path system can be made out aerially. One or two old, outgrown espalier apple trees survive, bordering paths that have now gone.

Sources:

Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 106-12 (ref: PGW(Dy)48(CER), Grade II).

Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map: sheet Cardiganshire XXXIV.NW (1886);

second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Cardiganshire XXXIV.2 (1904).

Additional notes: D.K.Leighton

RCAHMW, 25 September 2020

Site Record

Derry Ormond Kitchen Garden, Bettws Bledrws