MARCH WIEL,
we visited the seat of P. Yorke, Esq. The grounds and plantations are very extensive; and the bowery walks, while they afford refreshing shelter from a summer’s sun, allow partial views of the counties of Cheshire and Shropshire, with the Wrekin and Brydyork Hills; in short, through these groves
“How long soe’er the wanderer roves, each step
Shall wake fresh beauties, each short point presents
A diff’rent picture—new, and yet the same.”
The tower of Wrexham, and the town itself, as occasion offers, is a nearer and an additional charming object. In an alteration of the walks, a few years since, were discovered below the surface of the ground the shattered walls of an ancient castle. These fragments Mr. Yorke has left unimpaired, and they remain a memento of the vicissitudes of fortune: the entrenchments round the castle, and likewise the original site of the keep, are still very apparent.
The house itself is very indifferent: Watt’s Dyke runs through part of the grounds. In a parlour opposite the garden we observed some fine paintings of the Hardwicke family. Mr. Yorke has dedicated another room to the royal tribes of Wales, [259] where the arms and lines of the descent, as far as they can be traced, are emblazoned and hung up.
In the coolness of the evening our hospitable host conducted us to the neat and elegant little country church of March Wiel, lately cased with stone; and in the year 1788 ornamented with a new painted window, by Mr. Egington, near Birmingham. The twenty-one compartments contain the arms and crests of the Middletons and Yorkes, with rich transparent borders. This window is undoubtedly very elegant, but the subject, in my opinion, more adapted to a ball than an ornament to a church window. The high tower appears not in proportion with the body of the church.
Deeply impressed with sentiments of gratitude towards our reverend friend, and sensible of his hospitality and kind intentions, we took our leave of him early the next morning, and pursued our route to
RUABON,
purposing to visit Wynnstay Park, the much-admired seat of Sir Watkin Williams Wynne. On leaving March Wiel, a most delightful prospect spread before us; in the retrospect, the tower of Wrexham church brought to our recollection the views of Magdalen College tower, in the vicinity of Oxford.
The park of Wynnstay is well stocked with red deer; excellent plantations; and the house is an elegant modern structure; but has nothing in the inside particularly deserving the attention of the traveller. In the grounds, the chief object worthy of inspection, is a very elegant obelisk, erected to the memory of the present Sir Watkin’s father. The height is an hundred and one feet; the base of it sixteen, and the top nine, built with free-stone, and fluted. Round the top is formed a gallery, with a handsome urn in bronze, after an elegant design, cast in London: round the base of the column are wreaths of oak leaves, in the beaks of four eagles, cast in the same metal. On the south-west side is a door, with a stair-case within the obelisk leading to the top. We regretted that the key could not be procured, as the prospect from that elevation must be extremely fine. On the other three sides, an appropriate inscription, in English, Welsh, and Latin, is to be carved.