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EMRAL IN MAELOR SAESNEG,

FLINTSHIRE.

BY THE REV. CANON LEE

THIS house is situated in part of Flintshire, eight miles west of Whitchurch, Salop, and stands on the left bank of a small river, at a distance of half a mile north of the Whitchurch and Bangor road. It is built of brick with stone facings, like the old Crewe Hall, and consists of one range, of which the length is about 85 ft., with an addition, made in 1724, of two wings towards the east; the whole forming three sides of a square. The rooms in the wings are rather small, perhaps, but admirably proportioned. Most of them are paneled. A stone shield over the central doorway bears the "red hand of Ulster", and is therefore not older than 1813. Doors open into the square from both wings, and the keystone over that in the north wing bears a halfobliterated device like one to be seen at Penybryn House in Iscoyd. One is surprised, on entering by these doors, to find only a corridor some 5 ft. wide. Opposite the chief door, two small rooms, opening through one another, lead to a window which looks down upon the moat.

Turning to the right from the chief door, the principal rooms are reached at the north-west end of the edifice. These consist of a splendid dining-room and ball-room; the former 40 ft. by 26, and 17 high, with one window looking to the north, 13 ft. high by 17, in three great divisions, and seats below them. The ceiling, white and gold, has the family shield, sable, three mullets argent, with other devices. The floor is flagged, and there is a small marble mantelpiece. A bay window to the west has been closed, and the recess concealed.

Ascending by an elegant staircase with classical and mediæval frescoes on the walls, the saloon is reached. It corresponds to the room below, though about a foot less in its various measurements. It differs from it, however, in having a retiring-room, 14 ft. wide, at its south end; in having its bay-window still open (both windows being much smaller than those in the dining-room); in having very handsome paneled walls and a coved ceiling, upon which are described the labours of Hercules. This room is altogether delightful, and with its views of the park to the north, and the moat and gardens to the west, with the rooks sailing about near the windows, presents a scene that does not soon fade from the memory.

This part of the house is surmounted by a Maltese cross (which was, no doubt, a part of the old chapel), and is of rather less height than the wings with their three floors.

Beneath the north wing is a cellar of the same date, from which a fox burrowed under the dining-room, and by removing one of the flags was dug out at a depth of 4 or 5 ft. through the sand.

On going to the south-west angle of the house we descend by five steps to a large kitchen, and by as many more to a small cellar similar to another below the butler's pantry. None of these bear any marks of antiquity; nor do the windows upon the west side indicate anything earlier than the reign of James I. The west front, excluding the offices and curtain-wall, is, as we have said, about 85 ft. long; and the moat on the same side, beginning from the bay-window of the dining-room, is 142 ft. to the angle, where it bends. 85 ft. to the east. Its width is 35 ft. The water that supplied it and a stewpond in the shrubbery, came from a weir a little higher up the stream.

With respect to the date of the older part of the house, it may be mentioned that there is at Sundorne an engraving of a house, supposed to be Emral, with a longer west frontage than the present one. During the

civil wars, Emral, which was held for the Parliament, was occupied three times by the Royalists; and in 1644, March 28th, a man who was engaged in it writes: “We have taken Emral isterday, and Hanmer House this day. Thanks be to God, we lost not one man in taking of both houses; for when they saw the piece of ordnance we had, they yielded both houses." Then in 1656 (October), Philip Henry, who had come down there from Christ Church, Oxford, three years before, to act as tutor to the Judge's sons, writes in his Diary: My chamber took fire, the Hearth of ye chimney being ill layd; but the Lord in mercy prevented the danger"; and again, in 1657, the Jurors appointed by the Protector to inquire touching ecclesiastical promotions in Maelor, say that "John Puleston is seised of an ancient Mansion House called Emerall", etc.; that there "is likewise an ancient chappell belonging to the said Mansion House."

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As Hanmer House, after the wars, was little more than a heap of ruins, and as, after repeated investigation, assisted on one occasion by the Rector of Bangor Is-y-coed, I can find nothing earlier than the reign of James I, it only remains to conclude that Emral arose from its ruins, the old materials being used again. Among Judge Puleston's MSS. there are, I am told, no extensive building accounts that would throw light upon this subject. It is probable, therefore, that the west front was re-erected by his immediate successors, and that the engraving at Sundorne represents the house as it was before the civil wars. Lewis Glyn Cothi, whose last poem comes down to the date of 1486, makes a poetical address to Roger ap John ap Robert (Puleston) of Maelawr, speaking of him as a powerful warrior, and one who possessed great wealth, a noble mansion, and an extensive territory. Emral has the epithet "St. Pawl" applied to it. This was a custom much in use with the bards, meaning St. Paul's before the fire of 1666.

Though our subject is Emral, and not the Puleston

family, I must find room for the following certificate, which dates about 1490, and establishes the accuracy of John Salesbury's statement, that "Puleston, Hanmer, and Fowler, are English settlers in Maelor":

"To all truw christin peple to huven this writtyng shall come and in especiall to the Chiff Justice & to the Chamberlain of North Wales, we Sir Roger Puleston of Maylore, Knight, John Puleston of Wrexham, Esquier, John ap Edward ap Madoc of Broomffeld, Gentylman, send greting in our lord everlasting, & in so much as it ys meritorious for every truw crystine man to testify & bere record in every truw & lawful mater it is to be showyd unto us that a young man Davyd ap Richard ap Morys of the Town of Buwrian & hys brethren are distrayned ffor diverse Welsh customes wher ther ffader was an Englishe man & a ffre holder of the sayd town; surmysing that they are Welshmen, wherffor wee all the fforsayd &c. witnesse & testyfi ffor truth the sayd David & hys brethren comyn thys stok that we bine, and thys will meny mor of this Countre testyfi if it be required." (Hengwrt MS., 213.)

But so late as 1723 there is this entry in the Worthenbury Register, "Thomas Jones, a harper at Emrall, was buried October 31st."

The exact date when the Puleston family obtained Emral is uncertain; but it was before 1284, for in that year "foresta domini Rogeri de Pyvylston" occurs as a boundary in a deed of sale of lands in Gwillington. (Salesbury MSS.)

On the death of Gruffydd ap Madoc, Prince of Powys Fadog, in 1270, his wife, Emma, who was the daughter of Henry de Audley, succeeded to much of his inheritance (as we shall notice shortly); and on her death, in 1278, the King, Edward I, immediately put Robert de Crevequer into possession "de totâ terrâ de Maylor Sasneth cum feodis, cum advocacionibus". (Cal. Rot. Pat., 6 Edward I.)_ In Dr. Powell's Caradoc (p. 179) it is stated that "Emma conveyed her estate to the Audleys, her own kin, who, getting possession of it, took the same from the King." It is probable that Robert de Crevequer's house was on a mound to the west of Gredington, where the names "Bailiff's Wood",

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