Wern Manor (nprn 17039) lies in a rural setting north-west of Porthmadog, just off the road to Criccieth and Pwllheli, set in parkland (700282). The gardens lie to the south and east of the house, and form two distinct areas: an area of lawns and formal gardens to the east, and an area of wilderness on the south, the two separated by a stream.

Close to the house are two terraces. The upper one, along the south side of the house, is wide and roughly gravelled on the south side, partly used as a carpark, with a small lawn area against the house, and running back to the north along the east side as it merges with the natural ground level. The lower terrace on the east is linked by a flight of steps to a long walk eastwards, flanked by yew hedges, terminating at a round garden with three concentric paths with cross paths, and a pavilion and lily pool, all designed and laid out by Mawson in 1901-03. The long walk includes a cross path with a rose pergola. The eastern boundary of the garden is a ha-ha which permits an unbroken view over the parkland towards distant hills. There are some fine specimen trees, pre-dating the early twentieth-century improvements, and there was a rockery, now swallowed up by a nearby shrubbery.

The extensive wilderness to the south of the stream, probably laid out to hide the railway embankment, is now (1998) largely impenetrable. It narrows and extends beyond the garden to the east, forming a belt of trees and shrubbery along the southern edge of the park.
Opposite the top part of the long walk a bridge over the stream leads into an avenue of trees running up the slope within the wilderness. A tunnel under the railway gave access to the strip of land alongside the road cut off by the line, reached via an avenue of Irish yews, probably once a major path. Paths within the garden were once numerous, but few now survive.

A map of 1839 shows a kitchen garden north of the house (700283) later replaced, after 1892, by a new one north-west of the house (700284).

Source:
Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 308-14 (ref: PGW(Gd)19(GWY).

RCAHMW, 21 June 2022

Site Record

Wern Manor Garden, Porthmadog