enquiries@tywigateway.org.uk Parc a Gerddi yr Esgob, Abergwili, Sir Caerfyrddin SA31 2JG

Tag: history

Gwenonwy Owen’s memories

Gwenonwy Davies (nee Owen) (1887-1981) was the eldest daughter eldest daughter of Bishop John Owen (1854-1926) and the National Library of Wales holds two bundles of exercise books containing her memoirs of her time at Bishop’s Park. then the private garden of Bishop Owen, her father. Here are some of her memories of the gardens: …

History

The Bishops Park and Gardens is brimming with history.  From the ancient trees which have stood watch here for centuries, to the walled garden which provided exotic food and flowers for the bishop’s table, to the oxbow lake and the shifting landscape of the Tywi Valley flood plain, to the medieval bishops palace which the Park surrounds and the people that lived and worked here.

Explore the Park

With beautiful new gardens, historic parkland and woodland, a wildlife-rich ox-bow lake and great flood-plain meadow to explore – there is so much to discover at Bishop’s Park. Unwind in Y Caffi, engage with 800 years of history in our learning centre, or take a tour of the secret walled garden with its heritage orchard.

Looking at the Walled Garden through Historic Maps

In 2017 Dyfed Archaeological Trust undertook an investigation in the walled kitchen garden, generously supported by HLF and the Sabina Sutherland Charitable Trust, and involving substantial work by volunteers, including desk based evaluation and careful excavation and recording on site.  Here’s what they found by looking at the historic maps of the site. You can …

The Abergwili Bishops

The history of the Abergwili Bishops is intriguing- and goes back over 700 years to the founding of a church college by Bishop Thomas Bek in the late thirteenth century.  It was Bek’s college that would eventually become the Bishop’s Palace in the mid sixteenth century, when successive Bishops were major figures in Welsh and …