Cascade at Leighton Hall

Cadw's description

Location

Situated in the landscape garden at Leighton Hall immediately S of Serpentine Pond and N of the bridge E of Leighton Hall Tower.

History

Designed by Edward Kemp, a pupil of Joseph Paxton, c1860 and part of the landscape gardens at Leighton Hall. Water flowed from the cascade to the Serpentine pond which was a focal point of the landscape garden. 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.

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

Consisting of a low wall over a culvert which opens into a cascade, which in turn descends into the Serpentine Pond. Of coursed, rock-faced Cefn stone and ashlar dressings. The wall has a shallow pointed arch (bricked up inside) above which is a plain band and a coping course. The wall has low square end piers. The cascade is stone paved and has low flanking walls which terminate at the pond edge in octagonal piers with truncated conical caps.

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 garden features are a key element in the setting of the house. The gardens, to which the cascade makes a subtle contribution, are also a tour-de-force of landscaping and formal design whose individual components are remarkable for their consistency of detail and the extent of their survival.