Slebech Hall is located within parkland above the northern bank of the Eastern Cleddau river, some 8km east of Haverfordwest (nprns 30244 & 700042).

Gardens lie mostly to the south-west and south-east of the house. Immediately around the house are informal lawns, specimen trees and shrubs. Below and to the south are terraces used for growing fruit trees, soft fruit and flowering herbaceous plants, which thrive in the southerly aspect.

The series of walled and grassed terraces of varying length and width, are reached either via a tunnel from the main garden area or from the walk that links through to the church. The lowest terrace contains the remains of extensive glasshouses which were valued as part of the ornamental garden as well as for their utilitarian function. Much of the grassed terrace area was used as an orchard. The ruined church of St John the Baptist now forms a picturesque garden feature (300431).

Aside from the walled garden, which was to the north of the stable block, the layout has changed little since a plan of about 1790. The south-facing terraces overlooking the Eastern Cleddau, the main garden area, are of outstanding historical interest (400230) and were probably constructed by Sir John Barlow or his successor in the late seventeenth century.during the reign of William and Mary.

A low finger of land east of the church becomes an island during some tides and is thought to have been constructed as a landscape garden feature, probably undertaken in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, and ornamentally planted. The island supports two mounds (23122 & 24559). Above the river is a terrace walk constructed after 1815.

The range of plant material around the garden remains extensive and impressive. The park and gardens together include features dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.

Source: Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 302-8 (ref: PGW(Dy)43(PEM)).

RCAHMW, 18 February 2022

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