“Nov. 29th, 1780.—Sarah Browne, of Babe’s Wood, widow, aged 76.

“EPITAPH.

Here lies Mammy Brown,
Who oft sung ding and down
Over many a brat;
And what of all that?
Why she sung herself down,
So here lies Mammy Brown.

N.B.—She nursed many children besides her own.”

There are several useful and important charities pertaining to Whittington parish. Jones’s charity of 1670, and Griffith Hughes’s bequest in 1706, provide for the education of the boys of the parish, as that of Elizabeth Probert does for the girls. These bequests are now applied to the National Schools established in the village.

The old National Schools being too small for the increasing population of the parish, a new School House, for the accommodation of Boys and Girls, was erected in the year 1853, on the site of the former Boys’ School, at a cost of £900, after a design by Messrs W. and J. Morris, Builders, &c., of Oswestry, by whom also the structure was erected. The present much-respected Rector is the Rev. William Walsham How, who purchased the living in the life-time, and succeeded to it on the death, of the Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd.

The parish of Whittington contains 8,303a. 3r. 10p.; gross rental, £13,145 5s. 0d.; rateable value, £12,867 10s. 0d.

It is worthy of record in our notice of Whittington, that the admirable Missionary Hymn, from the pen of the late Bishop Heber, “From Greenland’s icy mountains,” was written especially for a public meeting of the friends of Missions, held in the village about the year 1820, at which the poet Heber attended. The hymn was sung on that occasion for the first time; but since then how many thousand voices, in every part of the habitable globe, have been raised in tuneful melodies whilst pouring forth this immortal strain! Heber’s hymn ranks with the sacred songs of our best poets, and has urged many a Christian heart to the heaven-born work of spreading the gospel throughout the heathen world.

Amongst the pleasant retreats in the neighbourhood of Whittington are Belmont, the residence of J. V. Lovett, Esq., an active and intelligent Magistrate for the county; Fernhill, about one mile from Whittington, the seat of Thomas Lovett, Esq., also an able county Magistrate; and the Derwen, the house of John Povey, Esq., a gentleman much respected in the district.

WYNNSTAY,

The beautiful seat of Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart., M.P. for Denbighshire, is within twenty minutes’ railway ride from Oswestry. The talent, wealth, and princely hospitality of the Wynnstay family have given to this mansion and its extensive domains a national celebrity. The late Sir W. W. Wynn (father of the present worthy baronet) did much to maintain the high character for hospitality and munificent liberality for which the House of Wynnstay has ever been distinguished, and his memory is embalmed in grateful recollections by hundreds who partook of his bounty and were generously aided by his purse and patronage.

Wynnstay is situated in the parish of Rhuabon, and is erected on the site of a residence of Madog ab Grufydd Maelor, Prince of Powys, and founder of the abbey of Llanegwest, or Valle Crucis, near Llangollen. The original name of this house was Rhuabon. It was the property of Edward Eyton, Esq., whose daughter Mary, the heiress, married Richard Evans, Esq., son of Thomas Evans, Esq., of Oswestry, attorney-general in the Court of the Marches. Their grandson, Eyton Evans, (son of Thomas, son of Richard,) altered the name to Watt-stay, on account of its proximity to Watts’ Dyke; and Jane, sole daughter and heiress of Eyton Evans, Esq., married Sir John Wynn, who again changed the name to Wynnstay, in compliment to his own family, he being grandson of Sir John Wynn, of Gwydir, by his tenth son, Henry, representative for Merionethshire. The above-named Sir John Wynn, of Wynnstay, left that and other estates of great value to his kinsman, the first Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, grandson of Sir William Williams, Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of Charles II., and in the early part of his career Recorder of Chester. Sir William was one of the most successful lawyers of his time, and was a zealous and eloquent advocate of the popular party in Charles’s reign. The notorious Jeffreys was reprimanded, on his knees, by him whilst he was Speaker of the House of Commons; who also conducted the prosecution of the Seven Bishops, when solicitor-general; and the “Treating Act,” which still continues one of the safeguards of the purity and independence of Parliament, was introduced by him in the House of Commons. This celebrated lawyer was made a baronet in 1688. He married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Watkin Kyffin, Esq., of Glascoed, in the parish of Llansilin, near Oswestry. He left two sons, and the elder, Sir William, of Llanforda, married another great heiress, Jane, the daughter of Edward Thelwall, Esq., of Plas-y-ward, and was father, as already mentioned, of the first Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. The Speaker’s youngest son, John, was an eminent provincial lawyer, and practised at Chester, and was direct progenitor of the present Sir John Williams, of Bodelwyddan, Flintshire.