Terrace Walk S of Leighton Hall Tower

Cadw's description

Location

Situated on SE side of Leighton Hall Tower, with the main gardens to E and N, and with a boundary wall immediately to W, beyond which is a service road and the library garden.

History

Designed by Edward Kemp, a pupil of Joseph Paxton, c1860 and part of the formal gardens at Leighton Hall. Leighton Hall has formal gardens S of the library wing and SE of the Tower. In contrast, NE of the Hall and Tower it has a landscape garden which was planted with trees and shrubs, its woodland walks also contrasting with the terrace walks of the formal garden. The Terrace Walk formerly had statues on piers while the octagonal enclosures and the projections in the west terrace had vases on pedestals.

John Naylor, a Liverpool banker, had acquired the Leighton Estate in 1846-47 and embarked on an ambitious programme of building, notably Leighton Hall, church and Leighton Farm, all designed by W.H. Gee and completed by the mid 1850s. Leighton Hall had been constructed 1850-56. John Naylor's grandson, Captain J.M. Naylor, sold Leighton Hall and the Estate in 1931.

Exterior

L-shaped Terrace walk extending approximately 80m S of Tower (where it is backed by a high wall) and then continuing to E for approximately 60m. Of rock-faced Cefn stone with ashlar dressings and ramped coping. At N end is a flight of steps leading to a bridge E of Leighton Hall Tower. The terrace continues S with 5 projections, one of which is splayed and has stone steps, to an octagonal enclosure, in the centre of which is an octagonal pedestal, and on the NE side of which is a flight of steps. From here the terrace continues E in a zig-zag fashion with a low wall on the S side which has octagonal piers with moulded caps at either end, and 2 flights of steps. The E-W section ends in a second octagonal enclosure, with a pedestal in the centre and steps to E and N.

Reason for designation

The Leighton Estate is an exceptional example of high-Victorian estate development. It is remarkable for the scale and ambition of its conception and planning, the consistency of its design, the extent of its survival, and is the most complete example of its type in Wales. Leighton Hall represents the centrepiece of this development, and the terrace walk is a key element in the setting of the hall and tower. The gardens at Leighton Hall are a tour-de-force of landscaping and the features within them are remarkable for their consistency of design and the extent of their survival.