Bellevue Park is notable as a good example of a late nineteenth-century public park remaining more or less intact and having historical associations with the influential garden designer Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933). The Park is an enclosed 14 hectare (35 acre) public park in the middle of Newport, created on land donated by Lord Tredegar to alleviate unemployment, and was opened in 1894.

The park is informally laid out and is characterised by sweeping walks with grass and ornamental trees dating from before the park’s creation to the present day. At its centre is a small valley water garden with drinking fountains (32860), rockwork, streams, pools and cascades; a former ornamental pool is now a herb garden. To the west of the water garden is a later two-storey tea pavilion, built of stone and tile, flanked by conservatories, and below it is a series of terraces built out over the slope on massive stone revetment walls. A bowling green was also added later. The park is bounded by stone walls and its main entrances are on the north and south sides, each with wrought iron gates and half-timbered lodges. The site includes a Gorsedd circle built for the 1897 Eisteddfod.

Sources:
Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Gwent (ref: PGW(Gt)19.
Ordnance Survey second-edition 25-inch map of Monmouthshire, XXXIII, sheet 4 (1902).
Belle Vue Park, Newport.gov.uk

RCAHMW, 8 July 2022

Site Record

Bellevue Park, Newport