Bryn Bras Castle (nprn 26090), is located to the south-east of Caernarfon, and has gardens to its east and south-east (86307). The kitchen garden lies close to the house, at the north end of the garden area. The original kitchen garden was located to the south-west, on the far side of the approach lane, and was probably moved to its present site around the middle of the nineteenth century. At that time it was larger, extending further to the south, but by 1913 it had been reduced in size to accommodate a tennis court on the lawn to the south. The walls were rebuilt in the 1920s when the garden was converted from utilitarian to mainly ornamental function.

The garden is now slightly off-rectangular in shape, long axis roughly north-west by south-east. Its arched stone walls are about 3.5m high, low arches built on top of a base wall around a metre high, battlemented above, and swathed in climbing plants. There are three entrances: the main iron-gated entrance in the south wall; one in the north-west corner into a potting shed and boiler house area; and another in the north-east corner through to the shrubberies.

The garden interior is laid out with box hedges and gravel paths. The box patterns, the spaces planted with roses, fill two of the original four quadrants. The ‘central’ pool, about 3m in diameter, is now close to the present southern edge of the garden. It has a fountain with a statue of Pan on a square plinth. By 1900 the amount of glass in the garden was increased, to give a continuous range along the north wall and one glasshouse against the west wall. The north range has survived but is largely derelict. One glasshouse, formerly a vinery, is restored and retains its ventilation system and vine rods; the underfloor heating is defunct but the pipes and decorative iron grilles remain in place. Another was a peach house. 

Sources:

Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 160-4 (ref: PGW(Gd)41(GWY); Grade II).

Ordnance Survey third edition 25-inch map: sheet Caernarfonshire XVI.3 (1899).

RCAHMW, 14 September 2020