Edwinsford, the derelict ancient seat of the Williams family (nprn 249), is located in an idyllic setting on the banks of the Afon Cothi, about a mile north of the village of Talley. It is noted for the vestiges of its parkland including an oak avenue, possibly of c.1635, with a fine bridge crossing the river to link the mansion with the utilitarian area, which includes a walled garden, coach-house and gardener's cottage, on the opposite side. Many of the buildings were topped with lead ornaments that depicted their function, now gone. Utility buildings across the river included the home farm. The estate also had family associations with the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks who spent several summers at Edwinsford.

The park is a roughly rectangular area bounded on the east by the B4337 and B4302, on the south by a minor road which partly follows a former carriage drive, and elsewhere by woodland and field boundaries; the greater part of it lies on the south side of the river, to the west and south of the mansion. The picturesque lakes at Talley are immediately to the south, almost forming the estate boundary. The land within the estate is either rolling parkland or wooded slopes with some lowland marsh.

There were once several drives to the house and its ancillary buildings. A carriage drive entered the park from the south at Irongate Lodge near the B4302, through gates and gate piers (17313), passing through a large area of shrubberies and plantations south of the house to a forecourt on its east front. From here it returned west, circling Moelfre Hill through woodland to Moelfre Lodge on what is now a public road, a former drive. Opposite Irongate Lodge, on the road, are two cottages designed to mimic the main house (nprn 17452). A short drive once branched off the main drive just south of the house to Mill Lodge amongst mill buildings on the B4337 (24814). Today the house is approached off the B4337 to the north-east, the carriage drive passing the utility area before crossing the bridge (23964) to the mansion site. 

The parkland to the west is now sub-divided and has lost its characteristic continuous sweep of grass. The most ancient features are the non-native English oaks that line the B4337 and also occur along the drives and in the woodland to the south-west, most likely planted in the sixteenth century. A summer house, or eyecatcher, was built on the summit of Pen Dinas to the north (406812), now quarried away.

Source:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 18-21 (ref: PGW(Dy)8(CAM)).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton  

RCAHMW, 3 March 2022