Garthmyl Hall, a Victorian Classical gentry house (nprn 283), is situated in an elevated position overlooking the Severn Valley.

The house lies in well-preserved grounds developed in the mid nineteenth century. The small park, which covers about 15 acres (6.1 ha), surrounds the house on ground which slopes to the south. It is enclosed to the north by the west end of Garthmyl Wood, and on the south by a mixed hedge on the north side of the A483 road. The park is divided into three fields by simple stock fence boundaries. In the western park is a pond surrounded by willow and alder. There are a few isolated examples of parkland planting, including oak, horse chestnut and beech. Between 1914 and 1950 the mature mixed woodland was gradually felled and replanted. A few trees dating from the late nineteenth century survive. A rectangular block planting of mixed woodland, dating from about 1970, lies to the south-east of the house on the garden boundary. A drive leads into the park off the road to the south-east of the house, north-westwards through a woodland area, part of the Victorian pleasure grounds, to arrive at the forecourt on the south side of the house.

The history of the park prior to the period 1825-1840 is unclear but early maps portray additional features of the period 1850-1950: a former drive (now truncated) which approached the house from the east (by the Nag’s Head Inn), the entrance flanked by a lodge; an orchard in the field to the east of the kitchen garden; walks, or rides, around the wood; tree clumps in the southern part of the west park; and more sole parkland trees than now.

Gardens, including a kitchen garden, lie to the north-west and north-east of the house (255552 & 700348).

Sources:
Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 72-6 (ref: PGW Po58(POW)).
Ordnance Survey second-edition 25-inch map: sheet Montgomeryshire XXX.14 (1902).

RCAHMW, 30 June 2022

Site Record

Garthmyl Hall Park, Berriew