Penbedw Hall was located at the foot of the Clwydian Hills, on their eastern flank. The house had origins in the eighteenth century but was demolished c.1958 (nprn 36143). It was surrounded by gardens, all lying within a small landscape park (700245). Much of the present garden is of twentieth-century date but containing much earlier elements.

The gardens lie in two distinct areas: those immediately around the house, and the Big Wood which is the 'wilderness' to the north-east of the house site, but only loosely connected to the house and its gardens. The wilderness sits on hilly ground with an overall shape of a lopsided, square reverse ‘C’, the open area facing the Clwydians to the west. Planting follows a series of axial rides, the main area of the wood composed of geometric shapes of woodland formed by axial paths, focused on a ruined hexagonal summerhouse, of possible eighteenth-century date (23060). There is also a small alcove-shaped rockwork grotto on the north-eastern corner of the wilderness, overlooking the remains of a formal canal, now just a hollow in the ground. Three lime coppices survive from the original planting as well as some old limes in the boundary planting.

To the west of the house site is a triangular piece of woodland with radiating paths and to its south another canal, still containing water, fed by a spring. Also present are the remains of an Edwardian rock garden and the site of an Edwardian formal garden now partly replaced by a tennis court, around which are buttressed stone revetment walls.
East of the drive hereabouts are the remains of an eighteenth-century plantation bordered by a ha-ha. Surviving holm oaks are overlaid with nineteenth-century plantings including redwoods and yews. There is also a derelict Edwardian heather hut, the remains of a small Edwardian stone-edged flower bed, an alcove-shaped rockwork grotto - relating to the earlier layout - and a bathing tank lined with stone slabs.

Sources:
Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Clwyd, 186-9 (ref: PGW(C)7).
Ordnance Survey, six-inch map: Flintshire IX (first edition 1871).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton.

RCAHMW, 14 June 2022

Site Record

Penbedw Hall Garden, Nannerch