Italian Terraces on north-east side of Fishponds in Garden of St Fagans Castle

To north-east of the fishponds and below 'Battlement Walk', the land rises in a series of terraces. The lowest gravel path is bounded on its north-east side by a terrace wall of stone rubble with pilasters of roughly dressed stone laid in irregular courses; stone slab coping; thirteen bays and two part bays. At each end, a flight of steps rises to a second terrace or gravel path, in the middle of which there is a double stone staircase each half of two flights, the lower flights rising outwards at 180° to each other to a landing and then each turning through 180° to itself and the other stair to rise onwards to a third gravel path or terrace; the double stair has stone walls with pilasters; parapet panelled with circular stone foils; at outer ends of upper parapet wall there are cast lead figures of musicians, of a flautist at northern end and of a lutenist at southern end, these are by W C May. From a point parallel to the middle of the upper parapet wall of the double stair, a flight first of seven steps rises to a landing, turns through 90° rises through four steps and then through three up to a further gravel walk which is bounded on its eastern side by the retaining wall to the top terrace; this wall is very low at its northern end but at its southern end forms a high embrasure to a large, steep-sided rectangular bay or balcony with buttresses and similar stone parapet. At the southern end of the terraces there is a steep descent to the fishponds by a high flight of about forty or fifty steps.