Cwrt-yr-ala, a neo-Georgian mansion built in 1939-40 (nprn 18502), is situated on level ground, within a small park (700135) on the north side of a small secluded valley to the east of the village of Wenvoe. The present house lies on the site an eighteenth-century one and much of the layout of the grounds is owed to that. The house is surrounded by gardens (301671) including the kitchen garden.

In its present form the kitchen garden is probably of mid-nineteenth century date. It lies to the west of the house, west of the sunken lawn, on ground sloping gently to the east and south. It is rectangular and surrounded by stone and brick walls up to 3.5m high, lower on the south side. In the middle of the east side a wall about 4m high protrudes into the garden, the remains of a dividing wall. On its north side is a lean-to stone potting shed, and against its south side are the brick footings of lean-to glasshouses. There were also glasshouses against the north wall. The interior is mown grass with a few relict fruit trees in the western half, three cold frames and some small vegetable beds. In the north-west corner are some sheds. A shallow scarp runs east-west down the middle, a relic of the former division. To the west is an orchard enclosure and gardener's house, now a private dwelling.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 220-23 (ref: PGW(Gm)42(GLA)).
Ordnance Survey First Edition six-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XLVII (1878).

RCAHMW, 5 May 2022

Site Record

Cwrt-yr-ala Kitchen Garden, Michaelton-le-pit