Castell Malgwyn, formerly Castle Malgwyn and now a hotel (nprn 21729), is a substantial Georgian mansion situated on the south bank of the river Teifi, just to the south-west of the village of Llechryd. It is accompanied by a garden and extensive pleasure grounds (265251; 700184) set within a small park which was created by Sir Benjamin Hammet in 1791–1811, and is contemporary with the house and grounds. Some further work was done in 1837–49, and again later in the nineteenth century.

The park lies mosly to the east of the house and its pleasure grounds, on thesouth side of the river Teifi. It is bounded on the north by the river Teifi, on the west by the steep-sided wooded valley of Cwm Morgenau, on the south by minor roads and Castell Malgwyn Farm, and on the east by farmland. The house is set in the north-west corner of the park.
The house is approached from Llechryd across a bridge over the Teifi (23895), along a drive running westwards along the north side of the park from the entrance and lodge just south of the bridge (21731). The drive, gently curving, runs westwards on a raised revetted embankment, flanked by mature ornamental trees, lime, beech and oak. It divides before the house, west towards the stable court, south over a bridge across the river Morgenau to a small forecourt at the south front of the house, with a branch to the service court. 

The ground falls gently northwards towards the river. It is now mostly pasture fields in which stand various clumps and a few isolated deciduous trees, including five limes on the north near the lodge. Many trees mapped in the nineteenth century have gone. A narrow belt of ornamental trees runs along the west side of the Llechryd-Boncath road bounding the park on the east and there is a strip of woodland along the north side of the Garnon’s Mill Road on the south side. At the south end of the west side of the park is a cricket ground and tennis courts with pavilion.
Just inside the north boundary, in its eastern extent, are traces of a former canal built to service a nearby tinplate works, but out of use by 1810 (404580).

Castell Malgwyn Model Farm lies in the south-east corner of the park (21730; 406549), and nearby are enclosed garden areas (265250).

Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 172-8 (ref: PGW(Dy)32(PEM)).
Ordnance Survey second-edition six-inch map, sheet Cardiganshire XXXVIII.SW (1904).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.

RCAHMW, 20 May 2022