Wenvoe Castle park is a medium-sized landscape park of about 324 acres (132.5ha) lying on rolling ground between Wenvoe and Barry. It was largely the creation of Sir Edmund Thomas, third baronet, between 1733, when he inherited the estate, and his death in 1767.

The highest part of the park is at the south end, where it is bounded by the A4226 road. The house (nprn 27995) lies towards the north end of the park and from it there are fine views southwards out over the core of the park - The Lawn (or 'Front Lawn'). The house is approached from the north, the drive running southwards through the park and then south-westwards through the grounds to a car park on the 'Green' platform to the west of the stable block.

Historically, the park divided into four main areas, still recognisable today. The first, to the north, is Waun Lawn, a rectangular area of gently rolling tree-fringed grassland planted with a few oaks, a small pond near the south-west corner, and crossed by the drive from the main entrance with lodge in the north-east corner. The second, to the south and west of the house and garden is the Front Lawn - now occupied by the golf course - which drops away to the west and south, rising again to the south; an area of open mown grassland planted with scattered deciduous and coniferous trees. To the south-west of the house is a kidney-shaped pond with a small island. Much of the planting here is recent, related to the golf course, but there are a few old oaks and sweet chestnuts, many of which are dead or dying. The east boundary, along the A4050 road, is fringed by a belt of deciduous woodland.

The third area is Bears Wood, a large area of deciduous woodland (mostly oak and beech) to the south-west of the Lawn, containing mid-eighteenth-century rococo landscaping. A tongue of woodland projects northwards in the middle into which run two small streams. Between the two streams is a circular mound about 2.5 m high with a ruined, single chamber building in its centre, the remains of the grotto and to its west the remains of the serpentine canal, both shown on an estate map of 1762-3.
The fourth area, the Upper Lawn, lies at the southern end of the park, to the south of Bears Wood, bounded on the south by the A4050. This is a large area of open grassland sloping to the north, part of which is used as a golf driving range, with a belt of mixed deciduous trees along the south boundary.
The golf course extends to the north of the house, formerly parkland.
To the east and west of the house lie the gardens and grounds (265817).

Source:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 288-91 (ref: PGW(Gm)33(GLA)).

RCAHMW, 27 June 2022

Site Record

Wenvoe Castle Park, Cardiff