Trewarren, a Regency period mansion (nprn 407225), is situated in parkland (700211) about half a kilometre to the west of the village of St Ishmael’s, on the south coast of Pembrokeshire. The ground is gently rolling with a valley running southwards from Trewarren down to Monk Haven. The valley was ornamented as wooded pleasure grounds (265280) and within it lies the kitchen garden, part of the original 1840s-50s layout. It lies on the valley floor below the southern corner of the park, just to the west of the former vicarage to St Ishmael's Church (414087).

The garden is a rectangular enclosure, long axis north-east by south-west, its north-east end widening with four sides. It is bounded by high stone walls standing 3m-4m high. The north wall has two doorways, and a single doorway in the short north-east wall. Against the outside of the latter is the ruined gardener’s cottage, or bothy.
The garden is still in use, a poly-tunnel centrally placed. The 1874 map shows a layout of perimeter and cross paths with radial paths in the wider north-east area meeting at a central pool. Aerial images indicate that this layout has largely disappeared. No glass houses are shown but rendering against one wall suggests that there might have been a later one, now gone. Modern brick buildings within the garden probably date from either the Second World War or the 1950s. If the latter, they are probably connected with pumping of water from the pond/reservoir below, to the south.

The 1874 map also portrays enclosed areas adjacent to this garden, on the east and south-east, the latter containing glasshouses. These enclosures appear to have been mostly cleared with the development of nearby Monk Haven Manor, formerly the vicarage (423320). It is possible that the main garden here had ornamental as well as utilitarian use. 

Sources:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 318-21 (ref: PGW(Dy)65(PEM)).
Ordnance Survey first-edition six-inch map, sheet Pembrokeshire XXXII (1874).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton

RCAHMW, 27 May 2022