Historical background
This is a rolling landscape, principally comprising fields
of improved pasture, many of which, especially in the west,
belong to one of several independent, smaller estates. These
include Plas Brereton and Parciau (Parkia), the homes of minor
gentry and gentleman-industrialists like Samuel Holland and
William Turner. The dwellings associated with these estates
are substantial late eighteenth-century or early nineteenth
century residences. The farmhouses and outbuildings of this
area are also built on a substantial scale, set amidst large
regular enclosures. Plas Brereton is associated with Elizabeth
Gaskell, who stayed there with her cousin Samuel Holland.
Key historic landscape characteristics
Lowland plain, extensive fieldscape, substantial gentry
houses, some relict archaeology
A managed landscape dominated by a number of large houses,
their home farms and larger tenant farms. Plas Brereton, an
attractive example of a late eighteenth/early nineteenth-century
minor gentry dwelling as the idiom was interpreted locally,
is currently proposed for re-opening as a luxury hotel, which
has resulted in some cosmetic changes to the building and alterations
in the grounds, including the removal of the perimeter wall.
The adjacent Ty Coch is of later date, and is also intended
for refurbishment. These buildings, their gardens, and their
lodges, gates and walls along the Bangor to Caernarfon road,
form an excellent example of a minor gentry and industrialists'
landscape, although they have recently undergone considerable
renovation. Parkia, the home of Sir Llywelyn Turner, was demolished
during the Second World War, and the gardens have become overgrown,
although the gatehouse still exists.
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Landscape Character Map
