Some doubt appears to exist as to the foundation of a castle here anciently, the Welsh name “Castell gôch yn gwernfor,” indicating a fortress of earlier date than any erected by the Saxons. The general belief, however, is, that Reginald de Grey, second son of Lord Grey de Wilton, had a grant of the lordship of Rhuthyn, then embracing nearly the whole vale of Clwyd, as a reward for his services in reducing the ancient Britons. This great captain built the noble castle and enclosed the town, and, to secure the quiet enjoyment of his grant, did homage to Edward the Second at Chester in the year 1301. A drawing preserved amongst the manuscripts in the British Museum exhibits the magnitude and stateliness of De Grey’s castle, and fully justifies the wordy description of the honest Churchyard:
“This castle stands on rocke much like red bricke,
The dykes are cut with toole through stonie cragge,
The towers are hye, the walles are large and thicke,
The worke itself would shake a subject’s bagge.”
Both castle and lordship continued in the posterity of De Grey until the reign of Henry the Seventh, when, by a special compact, George Grey, Earl of Kent, and Lord of Rhuthyn, assigned them to the crown. From this period until the reign of Elizabeth this stately fabric was suffered to decay, but was then new roofed and entirely restored by Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, on whom the queen bestowed it. From the Warwick family it passed to the Myddletons of Chirk Castle, by the marriage of Charlotte, daughter of Sir Thomas Myddleton, who had for her first husband an Earl of Warwick. The lordship has since continued in this family, and the rights are exercised by one of the coheiresses of the late Richard Myddleton, Esq.
A modern castle has arisen from the ruins, the ancient ground plan being pursued with the assistance of the drawing before alluded to. The restoration does not extend over the entire area, yet forms a truly lordly residence. A reference to the original plan indicated the existence of a well in the centre of the rocky citadel, where, after a careful examination, it was at length discovered, built around with stone, and having a depth of nearly one hundred feet.
WYNNSTAY.
The noble demesne of Wynnstay, the seat of Sir Watkyn Williams Wynne, Bart. is situated at the eastern extremity of the vale of Llangollen, in an open and level, though elevated district. The grounds owe much to the taste and magnificent ideas of its successive proprietors, and the embellishments, that have been added year after year present now a wonderful and beautiful association, their grandeur being accompanied, as the scenery of all private parks usually is, with an air of melancholy. The Hall is a spacious but not a regular building. It consists of an ancient mansion, to which a part only of a new and extensive design has been attached. The old house stands upon the site of a British palace, once the residence of Gryffydd ap Madoc Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and Yale, and founder of the abbey of Valle Crucis. The new house, part of a greater design, by Cockenell, was built by the first Sir Watkyn; it is a simple regular elevation, possessing the great merit of capaciousness, a quality indispensably requisite in the Hall of a family conspicuous through generations for the exercise of a liberal hospitality. The principal apartment or state drawing-room is seventy feet in length by thirty in breadth, lighted by six spacious windows, the piers being occupied by richly ornamented cabinets filled with curiosities of various descriptions. The ceiling, which is separated into sunk panels and beautifully finished with stucco and gilding, is sustained by pillars of porphyry corresponding with the elegant pilasters which adorn the side walls. In this splendid apartment are a few portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Vandyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Dahl, with a bust of the Great Sir Watkyn, as he is sometimes styled, by Rysbach; and two admirable busts by Nollekens, one of the present baronet, the other of Lord Grenville. A few good landscapes are hung in the different apartments, a portrait of Wilson by himself is a masterly performance, and an original three-quarter portrait of Flora Macdonald is both interesting and clever. The library contains the remains of a choice collection of manuscripts, the rest having unhappily been destroyed by an accidental fire; those that were preserved are chiefly biographical. In the dining-room stands a large silver font about three feet in length, supported by a pillar of the same height. This tribute of public merit was presented to the present Sir Watkyn by the gentry of his native county, Denbigh.
The extent, elegance, and beauty of the demesne are more than proportionate to the arrangements of the mansion. A spacious park well stocked with red and fallow deer surrounds the house, it is adorned with noble forest trees, and varied by well disposed artificial pieces of water. The quarter of the demesne, called the “Bath Grounds,” is a most gratifying specimen of landscape gardening. These delightful pleasure grounds, laid out by Mr. Evans, consist of shrubberies, walks, and bowers, disposed with admirable taste. A noble sheet of water occupies the centre of the wood; it is formed by the expansion of a little brook, artfully conducted over a rocky precipice at the extremity, where it is thrown into a pleasing and picturesque cascade. The Bath, which lends a distinguishing name to this part of the demesne, is a limpid fountain confined by an enclosure of cut stone. A beautiful Grecian temple, adorned with a portico of four columns, supporting an entablature and pediment, stands close by it, and is beautifully reflected in its smooth waters at the approach of evening. Near the entrance to the Bath Grounds a fluted column of one hundred feet in height, surmounted by a funeral urn, presents an interesting memorial of maternal affection, and a beautiful specimen of columnar architecture: it was designed by Mr. Wyatt. The entablature is surrounded by a gallery approached by steps concealed within the shaft, and the plinth is adorned with wreaths of oak leaves descending from the beaks of eagles. On the cenotaph is graven this brief but feeling epitaph—
Filio optimo, Mater, eheu! superstes.
In a demesne of such extent, the creation and combination of so many persons, years, events, &c. many beautiful and romantic rides may naturally be supposed to have been formed. The new approach, opened by the present Sir Watkyn, and commencing at the iron bridge, leads to the Hall by an avenue of three miles in length, through an amazing variety of sylvan scenery. But this is not the great boast of Wynnstay; the consummation of all its wonders and its beauties is reserved for the vale of Nant y Belan. [83] Here nature has profusely displayed her charms. Two steep banks, richly clothed with woods that dip into the torrent’s bed and wave upon either side, form a long vista of inexpressible grandeur. The winding Dee here pours her rapid flood along with awful murmurings and at a fearful depth, then throwing herself headlong into a deep dark pool, seems to rest, as if exhausted with the violence of the efforts by which it was attained. This grand picture forms but the foreground of an extensive landscape, wherein the middle distance is occupied by the happy scenery of Llangollen, and the remotest filled by the British Alps. Upon the rock from whence this panorama is beheld, Sir Watkyn has erected a circular temple, to the memory of his brave associates, his army of ancient Britons, who fell in the unhappy Irish rebellion of 1798.
The whole of this spacious demesne is enclosed by a stone wall nine miles in extent, and the principal entrance is through a straight avenue, one mile in length, overshadowed by aged oaks. Wattstay was the original name of this estate, so called from its situation upon Watt’s Dyke, but exchanged for Wynnstay by Sir John, when it became his property by marriage with Jane, daughter and heiress of Eyton Evans of Wattstay, Esq.