Walls and Revettments to Upper Terrace Garden at Parc

Cadw's description

Location

Located some 50m E of Parc, facing the valley and in front of the site of the (now demolished) primary house at Parc.

History

Parc was the ancient and chief seat of the Anwyls, one of the most notable families of Meirionedd in the Tudor and Stuart periods. A junior branch of the Clenneny family, they were settled at Parc by at least the mid C16 and possibly earlier. Robert ap Morris (d.1576) was responsible for the first of a series of unit-planned ranges which, by the late C17 comprised a large complex of 4 domestic blocks and a gatehouse, as well as associated stable and agricultural ranges. Robert's grandson, William Lewis Anwyl was the first of the family to hold the office of High Sheriff (Meirionedd 1610 and 1623, and Caernarvonshire 1636). He is known to have greatly extended Parc in the early C17 and his will (he died in 1641) mentions the newly-built plas. A cywydd by the poet Huw Machno speaks of 'his new house of great construction,' as well as mentioning gardens, orchards, walls, parks and 'fair towers.' It is likely that the primary house was rebuilt or remodelled during this period and that the large revetted terrace which now survives was a contemporary addition. As such it is the earliest of the various garden structures on the site, and presumably relates to the sophisticated early C17 gardens described by Machno. In its cyclopean, boulder-built construction, it is parallelled by similar structures at the neighbouring sites of Y Wern, and Plas Newydd, both of the C17. The house itself (Parc 1), which would have faced the terrace and stood immediately above it, has long since been demolished, though its platform remains ledgible.

Exterior

Large raised and walled terrace built out onto the steep slope in front of the former primary house and measuring some 16m across and 6m wide. The terrace has dry boulder-built revettment walls of cyclopean nature, slightly battered towards the front (downhill side). At their highest these walls are approximately 5m, though they rise to a height of only 1.5m (externally) at the top. At the lowest (downhill) point on the NE corner can be seen a primary (lantern ?) recess. From within the walled terrace the walls range from 3m at the back to approximately 1.5m at the front, the rear wall acting as a partial revettment for the platform upon which the primary house was formerly sited. From this a flight of slatestone steps descends into the terraced garden at the SW corner, whilst evidence for a second, central flight can also be seen, though this is obscured by later infill; the ground level of the terrace is currently about a metre higher than originally, so that the presence of further, archaeological evidence is implied. At the SW and NE (front) corners the rubble parapet steps up; the former has a splayed embrasure towards the front, with a small rectangular recess or niche to the return wall at L. The latter has a similar frontal embrasure and a small rectangular enclosure off to the R. Adjoining to the rear of this is the square base of what was presumably a species of tower, the rubble walls of which survive to a height of 1 to 2 m; in the SE corner the remains of a stone newel stair can be seen.

Reason for designation

Listed for its special historic interest as a rare example of a C17 walled garden terrace relating to this important sub-medieval site.

Group value with other listed items at Parc.