Introduction
The whole campus has been extensively landscaped with planting chosen to complement the modern buildings, to suit the exposed and windswept sloping site, and to tolerate the salt-laden air.
Terrain
A windy hill
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
Telephone
44 (0)1970 622900Access contact details
The campus gardens are open to the public. There is a visitors car park beside the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, which is a public facility on campus.
Directions
From Aberystwyth take A487 north-east up Penglais Hill. The University is the next right turn after that to the National Library of Wales.
Owners
University of Wales
Old College, King Street, Aberystwyth, SY23 2AX
- History
The campus was acquired in three stages: Six hectares in 1897, 36 hectares in 1929, and 85 hectares in 1946. The exposed site overlooks the Cardigan Bay, and so the buildings have been grouped in several tiers down the slope.
The university buildings began in 1937 to designs by Percy Thomas. The landscape has been threaded with vehicular drives and a system of walkways. Sir William Holford devised a master plan in 1957 which guided further development until 1965, when Percy Thomas provided a new one.
In 1946 the University purchased the estate of Plas Penglais.
The whole campus was extensively landscaped with planting chosen to complement the modern buildings, to suit the sloping site, and to tolerate the salt-laden air. The early planting was devised by James Ingoldsby, a landscape architect who advised the Percy Thomas Parership, and the Botany Department.
In 1963 Brenda Colvin provided designs for an area between Pantycelyn hall and the Biology Building, and for an area between the main raod and the football pitch. The former is of interest as one of her few schemes which have survived.
Between 1960 and 1980 the greater part of the planting was by the Curator of the Botany Garden, Basil Fox, under the direction of Prof P.F. Wareing. Fox exchanged seeds and cuttings with major institutions worldwide and introduced many maritime plants from South America and Australia which are rarely seen in British gardens outside Aberystwyth. Cotoneaster, Hebe and Olearia species were particularly suitable for this site and species were hybridised and used in the plantings. A nursery was established at the Botany Gardens to propagate plants, many of which were not commercially available, for use in the campus.
- Associated People
- Features & Designations
Designations
CADW Register of Landscapes Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales
- Reference: PGW(Dy)47(CER) part of
- Grade: II*
Style
Informal
- Key Information
Type
Garden
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Education
Survival
Extant
Hectares
32
Open to the public
Yes
Civil Parish
Aberystwyth
- References
References
- CADW, Register of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire (Cardiff: CADW, 2002) Register of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire
- Corfield, John, {A potted History of the Botanical Gardens} {PROM, 16, 2004), 25-27 PROM
- Brownlees, P., {Trees and Shrubs in exposed situations: a guide to ornamental plants for gardens in the Aberystwyth area,and the west coast of Wales}, (1989) Trees and Shrubs in exposed situations