Historic background
The present house was built in 1576 by Richard
Vaughan and the gatehouse in 1630; the house was subsequently
very much enlarged but the original block remains well preserved.
There are several outbuildings of various dates, though others
have been demolished, and a farmhouse close by, representing
overall a self-contained small estate. The open land just above
the house contains a burial chamber and many prehistoric settlements
and trackways, showing that the area has been well settled
for millennia.
Cors-y-Gedol passed to the Mostyns by marriage
at the end of the 19th century and was eventually sold in 1858
to the Corbett family, whose generous lifestyle resulted in
the house being doubled in size, with a ballroom, and it is
largely landscaping of this period which survives in the garden.
It was sold twice around the turn of the century , becoming
a school and then a hostel, and was purchased by the present
owners in 1951. An estate map of 1764 shows a formal layout,
possibly the original one, in detail, but little of this now
survives, although some elements remain.
Key historic landscape characteristics
16th-century house, ancient woodland and
remains of early garden overlain by later developments
The kitchen garden at the back of the house
is likely to be on the site of the first garden, though it
has been much altered since and the raised walk along one side
is relatively modern. A narrow enclosure outside the garden
on the other side may have been a bowling green.
Little remains of the formal walks and plantations
shown on the 18th-century estate map, but much of the woodland
is of ancient origin, and it has escaped blanket planting of
conifers. Garden features including pools and the remains of
a folly tower survive from the 19th century; some of these
are entirely new but others are adaptations of older features.
Outbuildings of various dates (laundry, keeper’s
cottage, stables etc.), together with formal elements such
as the gatehouse and gate pillars, combine to preserve to a
great extent the atmosphere of a small, self-contained estate.
Back to Ardudwy
Landscape Character Map
