Talygarn Court, a mainly Victorian House (nprn 20029), is situated on elevated ground to the south-east of Pontyclun village. It lies within a small woodland park (700154) and is surrounded by gardens and wooded grounds (265771), all laid out agter 1877 by G.T.Clark, industrialist and antiquarian.

The kitchen garden lies to the east of the house on ground sloping to the south-east. It is roughly rectangular, long axis north-west to south-east, and is bounded by walls of stone ornamented with horizontal bands of yellow brick. The walls are about 2.7m high except the north-east wall which is about 4m high, and the lower end of which has been rebuilt. Early mapping suggests that the entire east wall was rebuilt after 1878. Near the top of the south-west and north-east sides are wide entrances. The east entrance has an old wooden gate on runners. Just inside the west one is a small lean-to rendered brick building. Lower down the west wall is a disused doorway.
The enclosed area falls into two sections: the roughly square, lower, south-east section is laid out to grass with some old fruit trees. In the middle of this is an old iron water tank. The north-west, upper, end of the garden is an irregular polygon, and is separated from the lower end by a 1.2m high revetment wall. This area was once occupied by extensive glasshouses and a criss-cross of paths but is now occupied by various institutional buildings.

The pre-Clark history of the garden is unclear. The first-edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed 1874-6, shows a very irregular east wall contrasting with straight walls elsewhere, clearly remedied on later editions.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 148-52 (ref: PGW(Gm)8(RCT)).
Ordnance Survey first-edition 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XLII.5 (1876-8).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.

RCAHMW, 12 May 2022

Site Record

Talygarn Court Kitchen Garden, Pontyclun