Is a parish situated about five miles from, and in the hundred of Oswestry. It is a vicarage discharged, in the diocese of St. Asaph, and deanery of Marchia. The great tithes were given by one of the Fitz-Alans to the Monastery of Oswestry, Album-Monasterium. They afterwards became the property of the Duke of Powis, and now belong in part to Viscount Dungannon. The living is a vicarage, and is valued at £9 8s. 8d., but, having received Queen Anne’s Bounty, is discharged from payments. The church is dedicated to St. Martin. The tower is a handsome building of freestone, but the body of the church is of rubble stone, and very inferior in appearance. In 1811 the church was new pewed, when a gallery was also erected, and the same year the late Lord Dungannon made a present of an organ. In the roof of the chancel were several beautiful wood-carved images, but they were destroyed by some merciless churchwarden. The Bishop of St. Asaph had a palace here, but Owen Glyndwr burnt it when he laid waste the county of Salop. In the Mostyn library is a Welsh manuscript on parchment, of the life of St. Martin. It was translated from the Latin by John Trevor, a writer who flourished between 1430 and 1470. In the parish are two schools, one founded by William ab Royd, Merchant Taylor, for fifteen poor children, and the other by the late Viscountess Dungannon, on the Lancasterian plan, for twenty poor girls. The poor-rate return for the year 1855 shows that the acreage of the parish is 5,315; the gross rental, £10,016 13s. 9d.; and the rateable value, £9,534 4s. 3d. The present Vicar is the Rev. William Hurst.
In the village called The Lodge, in this parish, a school was erected in the year 1851, and has been productive of much good among the humbler portion of the inhabitants.
In the parish of St. Martin’s there are several beautiful residences, among which may be enumerated Preesgwene, The Quinta, Tyn-y-Rhos, and Greenfield Lodge.
Preesgwene House is historically connected with the Border Lands. It is the property and residence of J. R. Powell, Esq., is a neat mansion, embosomed in rich foliage, and situated four and a half miles from Oswestry. The house was built in the sixteenth century, by E. Phillips, Esq., an ancestor of the present possessor. The Rev. Robert Williams, in his “Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen,” states that “Gwên, the most valiant of the twenty-four sons of Llywarch Hên, was slain on the ford of Morlas, a brook which rises in Selattyn mountain, near Oswestry, and flows into the Ceiriog. The name of Gwên is preserved in Prys Gwên, a gentleman’s residence near the Morlas, in the parish of St. Martin’s.” Llywarch Hên is said to have died in the parish of Llanvor, near Bala, where a secluded place called Pabell, or the cot of Llywarch Hên, is still pointed out. He was a British Prince by birth, and a distinguished bard, as already stated. [See pp. [8] and [9].]
The Quinta was for many years the residence of the late Hon. Frederick West, (a gentleman whose virtues and honour endeared him to all who had the privilege of his acquaintance,) by whom it was greatly improved. This delightful estate was purchased by Thomas Barnes, Esq., M.P., for Bolton, Lancashire, one of the most successful manufacturers of that county. In his hands the property has undergone still further improvements.
Tyn-y-Rhos, the seat of the Rev. John Croxon Phillips, is an ancient mansion. In 1164, the reign of Henry II., Owen (or Owain) Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, slept at this house, and granted to the owner certain privileges already described. [See p. [24].]
Greenfield Lodge is a pleasantly-situated villa, the property, and formerly the residence of F. W. Smith, Esq., Agent to F. R. West, Esq., M.P. The house is approached by a remarkably fine avenue.
WEST FELTON
Parish comprises many beautiful residences, including Pradoe, the seat of the Hon. Mrs. Kenyon (widow of the late Hon. Thomas Kenyon, third son of Chief Justice Lord Kenyon); Woodhouse, the fine old mansion of W. Mostyn Owen, Esq.; Tedsmere, a house belonging to T. B. Bulkley Owen, Esq.; and “The Nursery,” formerly the residence of J. F. M. Dovaston, Esq., but now possessed by John Dovaston, Esq., the inheritor of the Poet’s estates. The parish church is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, and is of great antiquity, the nave being of Norman date. Within the last few years a new aisle on the north side, in the early English style, has been erected. At the east end of it there is an elegant triplet filled with stained glass of early English character, displaying scriptural subjects in medallions. Other improvements have been made in the church from designs by Mr. G. G. Scott. Near Haughton, in this parish, large quantities of earthenware have been discovered, of various colours, blue, red, green, and yellow, and highly glazed. Their origin or purpose remains a mystery, but is still worthy of antiquarian investigation. Sandford Hall, in this parish, was formerly the residence of the celebrated “Bumper Squire Jones,” the hero of the once popular song of that name.
The present rector is the Rev. T. Hunt. According to the poor-rate return for 1855 the acreage of the parish is 5,989 acres 2 roods; the gross rental £10,048 10s.; and the rateable value assessed to the relief of the poor, £7,948 6s.