Garden Wall With Gateways And Folly Tower Attached To West And East Of Caerhays Castle

The garden wall with gateways and a folly tower was built in 1808 by John Nash for J.B. Trevanion, as part of the design for Caerhays Castle. Constructed of slatestone rubble with granite and Pentewan stone dressings, the wall is attached to the service buildings of the castle to the southwest and includes a gateway leading to the castle's entrance front. The wall encloses a garden fronting the castle and then returns, with another gateway, in a northwest to southeast range, with corner towers. It then encloses the garden south of the castle, reattaching to the house to the southwest.

At the southwest side, a two-centred arched gateway features an embattled parapet above. The wall extends uphill, reaching about 5 metres in height and embattled. A square corner tower, roofless and with a two-centred arched doorway and battered walls, stands at the western corner. Stone coping runs along the higher sections of the wall. The northern corner has a corner tower with loops and a two-centred arched doorway. The eastern range of the wall is embattled, punctuated by a polygonal embattled eyecatcher with loops. A second, main gateway, with a round arch and 20th-century wooden gates, is topped by an embattled parapet. The wall arcs to each side with battlements and loops, descending to the southeast where stone steps lead down to the folly tower.

The folly tower is circular, in two stages, with plain string courses and lancet windows at staggered levels. It has an embattled parapet, followed by a smaller, top stage with a corbelled embattled parapet and loops, featuring splayed cills. The ground floor has a slight batter. A doorway on the garden side provides access to a stone newel stair inside. The southeastern range of the wall acts as a retaining wall for the garden along the front of Caerhays Castle, being embattled and battered on the outer side with raking buttresses. The garden walls and towers are an integral component of Caerhays Castle’s asymmetrical Gothic design.