Merthyr Mawr House (nprn 19319) is situated on a south-south-east facing slope on the north side of the Ogmore river valley, a short distance from the southern edge of Bridgend. It lies, roughly centrally, within a medium-sized landscape park designed and planted between 1806 and 1838 by Sir John Nicholl, most of the work being carried out after the house was completed in 1809.

The house is approached by two drives, each with a lodge, to a forecourt on the north front. The main drive runs from an ornate entrance on the New Inn road on the east boundary. A secondary drive from the south-west runs from West Lodge (19320) off Merthyrmawr Road.

Most of the park lies on ground rising north from the Ogmore river floodplain, and is enclosed by a stone wall. Its shape is roughly rectangular, bounded on the north-east, north-west and south-west sides by minor public roads and tracks, and on the south-east by the river. The core of the park is occupied by the house and its extensive garden and pleasure grounds (265764). The house is backed on the north by Chapel Hill, a spur projecting out from the slope. Parkland planting consists largely of narrow perimeter belts and clumps, and fingers of woodland radiating out from the house and grounds.

These latter divide the park into five main areas of open ground (numbered I-V on an estate map of 1813). West and north of the house and grounds the park is largely open grassland dotted with a few single trees, particularly oaks. The east end of the park is divided in two by the river. To the south of the house is a wide sloping field ornamented with a few specimen trees including oaks, a pine and an evergreen oak. A ha-ha on the garden boundary gives an unimpeded view from the house and garden across the park to the south. The Merthyr Mawr road, which crosses this part of the park, is also sunken, hiding it from the house and garden and giving the impression of uninterrupted parkland across the river and beyond. In the 1850s a cricket pitch was made in the field to the south of the public road with pavilion and bandstand, both of which remain. Tennis courts have since been added. A tunnel beneath the road gave private access to the pitch from the house.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 14-18 (ref: PGW(Gm)12(BRI)).
Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XL (1876).

RCAHMW, 23 May 2022

Site Record

Merthyr Mawr Park, Bridgend