Picton Castle (nprn 103578), with origins as a towered hall-house of c.1300, is located 6km east of Haverforwest. It is notable for the survival of features of its eighteenth-century designed park and garden landscape.

The park lies primarily to the north and east of the castle. It is bounded on the north by Slebech Park (700042) and the public road from The Rhos to Slebech, on the south and east by the wooded slopes of Eastern Cleddau, and on the west by belts of woodland. The configuration of the park changed from the early nineteenth century following the gentrification of the castle, and further changes followed, but features of the eighteenth-century landscape remain.The main drive through the park, one of several associated with the estate, is from the north through an impressive entrance with lodges either side (30062), along flanking belts of mixed woodland to the house. A drive also entered from the west, near the walled garden. An estate house at the entrance (now called Garden Cottages) may have been a lodge. 

Most of the park lay to the east of the house and drive. The dominant feature here is a mount, at the termination of an avenue, which once supported a belvedere or summer house, dating from 1723 (276034). Within the mount is a passage variously interpreted as a grotto or an ice house/cold store. Other structures of interest nearby include a circular pond, reservoirs, the base of a sundial, and The Paddock, an enclosed area used variously as a plant nursery and plantation and which incorporates the belvedere and a reservoir.

The park also includes lakes and woodland extending south, either side of a stream valley which flanks the west boundary of the park. This leads down to the estuary and the coastal path which leads north-east to Slebech. The woodland (Fish Pond Wood) is a mixed planting of exotic conifers, broadleaves and indigenous trees. Three lakes with picturesque paths criss-crossing the wood were created here from the eighteenth century. The southernmost, and largest, lake is dammed. A path alongside it follows a southerly then north-easterly line along the estuary through extensive tracts of woodland which flank the estuary (Crafty Wood, Peepout Wood, Oxland Wood). It passes the remains of a boathouse (518747) and the remains of Crafty Cottage before leading on to Castle Lake Camp (Iron Age) defended enclosure (304438), beyond which is a ruined shelter, or ‘peepout’ at Peepout Wood, a structure with classical features. From here the path swings north to the site of Picton Park Cottage and nearby landing point (518752).

Around the house are gardens and grounds (265302).

Source:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 278-86 (ref: PGW(Dy)42(PEM)).

RCAHMW, 9 May 2022