During the latter years of the eighteenth century some Welsh country estates were acquired for investment and residence during an influx of new wealthy industrialists. Among them was Sir James Watt of Boulton and Watt, who whilst first settling at Doldowlod, also bought estates at Badlands and Kinnerton. Surviving papers document contemporary ornamental and tree planting.51 Apparently by 1813 James Watt Junior was importing larch and fir saplings from Scotland to Doldowlod, not so much for its promise for the visual picturesque, as for its potential economic return.52

In its surviving form, Doldowlod also seems to have been typical of later nineteenth century estates, the landscape probably owing less to the Regency industry of James Watt Junior than to Victorian and later plantings. Before Stephen Williams's alterations (of 1878), the eastern part of the lawn in front of the house was ribboned by flowering plants in 1871. A youngish yew was to be seen on the adjacent lawn, emerging from a sea of large flowers or shrubs. This tree is still visible on post cards around the turn of the century, and its survival today is notable (Gibson-Watt 1990, 90). Other contemporary garden features at Doldowlod appear conventional and discreet. By the turn of the century there seems to be rather less in the way of shrub cover and lawns had become wide and bare. Nearby, the house was well endowed with a large conservatory. In spite of the great changes in estate management globally, at Doldowlod, four gardeners were still employed there in 1920 and even now hedges are still pleached, (Gibson-Watt, idem p.92). One of the two main entrances today sports a rather unusual interlaced gateway of steel cast in reinforced concrete probably dating from the early years of the present century. Unfortunately, this technically remarkable piece of casting is exfoliating under pressures from the elements.
CSB 1994

_________________________________________________________________________________

The garden lies to the south and south-east of the house, on the upper edge of a small park (nprn 700359), and covers about seven acres. To the south, there is a formal garden characterised by three cut grass terraces to the west of a gravel forecourt, which descend to the ha-ha. An axis runs west from the house porch across the forecourt down the terraces, via sets of steps, to a stone bridge/gate which leads into the park. Another part of the formal garden, a level circular lawn, lies to the immediate south-east of the house.
The south-eastern garden is mainly composed of mature tree and shrub planted lawns which include rhododendron, Douglas fir, redwood and a particularly attractive small beech and oak wood. On the east side of this lawn, built into the rocky bank descending from the road above, there is a stepped stone Italianate garden and summer house. To the south of the terraces there is a small dell, of about 1/4 acre, which is planted with a prunus walk (dating to c.1940) on a north/south alignment. From the drive paths lead down towards this and to the south-east where the garden becomes increasingly wooded. In the south-eastern area two natural streams have been developed as garden features with small cascades and pools.

The remodelling of the house in the 1870s (30611) may well have initiated work in the gardens, creating the grass terraces above the ha-ha to the west and seeing the erection of a large conservatory to the south of the house, which contained a rockwork grotto. Changes to the garden occurred in the period 1890-1930. The conservatory was taken down in the 1920s and stone Italianate garden terraces created on its site.

Sources:
Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 60-3 (ref: PGW (Po)52(POW)). Ordnance Survey first edition 6-inch map: sheets Brecknockshire V.SW & V.SE (1888). 

RCAHMW, 10 July 2022