A VERY ancient seat belonging to the Honourable Edward Mostyn Lloyd
Mostyn, eldest son of the Right Honourable the Lord Mostyn, of Pengwern.
It is situated near the sea-shore, in the parish of Whiteford and county
of Flint. How long the Mostyn (formerly written Moston) family have been
seated here is uncertain, and the date of the first ancestorial chivalry
at this place is involved in equal doubt. To the exertions of the
accomplished and ingenious Thomas Pennant, of Downing, the nearest
neighbour of Mostyn, the public are indebted for the interesting little
history of this curious mansion, which is every year removing farther
from its primitive character by repairs or annexations. The principal
approach to Mostyn is from the hamlet of Rhewl, through a long vista of
venerable forest trees. A sudden right-angled turn, into a shorter
avenue, discloses a view of the oldest part of the hall. The grounds
around the house undulate gracefully, and are beautifully broken. Noble
oaks are scattered every where; magnificent beeches, clothed to the
ground, adorn the verdant slopes, that fall gently towards the sea in a
north-easterly direction. It is somewhat singular that in such an aspect
vegetation should be found so luxuriant; yet here, close to the water’s
edge, trees of various sorts possess an appearance of the greatest
vigour.
The front,
“If front it might be call’d, that shape has none
Distinguishable,”
consists of the most ancient part of the hall. A lesser building is
attached, designed as a symposium for the servants and retainers; and on
the outside, again, is annexed, in an irregular manner, the ancient
chapel, now desecrated into sleeping apartments. The porch appears to
have been rebuilt in 1623, and is ornamented with the arms of four great
alliances of the family, rudely cut in stone, and copied from the
heraldic designs over the chimney-piece in the great hall. The most
ancient part of the house is certainly earlier than Henry the Sixth’s
reign, for Bolton Hall, in Yorkshire (the most antique seat we know of),
is a mansion on a less scale, but exactly similar to this, and in that
house, it is well known, the unfortunate prince concealed himself for a
length of time.
The great banqueting hall of the interior is a solemn gloomy apartment,
furnished with a dais or elevated stage at the upper end, with its long
table for the lord and his jovial company, and another on one side, where
the more humble participators of the good cheer were seated. The upper
servants took their dinner on the dais, but the inferior at the
side-table. The roof is lofty, and crossed by long beams. The _nen
bren_, or top beam, was a frequent toast when the master’s health was
intended to be given, and “_Jached y nen bren y Ty_” {108} was the
cordial phrase. The spacious chimney-piece is adorned with the arms of
the family and its alliances, properly emblazoned. The first coat
belongs to Jeuan Vychan, of Llys Pengwern, in Llangollen, who espoused
Angharad, daughter and sole heiress of Howel ap Tudor, of Mostyn, in the
reign of Richard the Second. It appears that Jeuan had farmed the estate
of Mostyn, and wisely determined to turn his lease into a perpetuity, by
gaining the affections of the heiress.
Connubio junxit stabili, propriamque dicavit.
The arms of the Lady Angharad, who was directly descended from the Lords
of Tegengle, occupy the next shield. The third is filled with the arms
of Gloddaeth, adopted on the marriage of Howel ap Evan Vychan with the
daughter of Gryffydd, of Cryddyn. Gryffydd Lloyd’s arms are emblazoned
on a fourth. The walls are decorated in a style suitable to the manners
and customs of the age. Guns, swords, pikes, helmets, and breastplates
are disposed in the military quarter; spoils of the chase and funeral
achievements in their allotted places. Against the wall at the upper end
is nailed a falcon, having two bells, a greater and a less, suspended
from its feet. On two of the silver rings are inscribed the name of the
owner, Mc. Kinloch, of Kulrie, in the county of Angus, in Scotland. With
these incumbrances it flew from home on the morning of the 21st of
September, 1772, and was killed at Mostyn on the morning of the 26th. As
the precise time when it reached Wales is unknown, the exact velocity of
its flight cannot be ascertained. Sir Thomas Brown, in his Miscellaneous
Tracts, mentions two instances, of a somewhat dubious kind, of a hawk
that flew thirty miles an hour in pursuit of a woodcock, and a second
that passed from Westphalia into Prussia in one day.
The magnitude and proportions of the kitchen are in every way
correspondent to the hospitality that reigns in the hall. A gallery,
crossing the side wall, leads to the apartments of the lady of the house,
and affords an opportunity of overlooking the culinary arrangements
whenever she passes to her dressing-room or chamber.
At one end of the gallery is an apartment in which the Earl of Richmond
was concealed, when engaged in planning with his Welsh friends the
overthrow of the house of York. While he lodged at Mostyn, a party
attached to the usurper arrived there to apprehend him. He was just
sitting down to dinner when the alarm was given, and had barely time to
leap through a back window, to this day called King Henry’s, and make his
escape.
The library contains a valuable collection; the most rare works are those
comprehending the Medallic History. Amongst the antiques and curiosities
are a torques, found at Harlech, in Merionethshire, and a silver harp,
which has been for time immemorial in the possession of this ancient
family. This badge of honour is five inches in length, and furnished
with strings equal in number to the Muses. The Mostyn family have for
ages exercised the privilege of presenting this harp to the most skilful
bard at the Eisteddfoddau, formerly held by a royal commission in North
Wales. (See Denbigh Castle.)
Richard ap Howel, then Lord of Mostyn, joined Henry in Bosworth field,
and after the battle was presented, by the grateful monarch, with the
belt and sword he wore that day. To King Henry’s invitation to follow
him to court, the Welshman modestly replied, “Sire, I dwell among mine
own people.”
The square tower is part of the most ancient hall; it is still in
preservation, but its battlements are concealed beneath an unsightly,
awkward dome. From a little summer-house in the garden there is a most
satisfactory view of the original plan, as well as of the additions
subsequently made from the necessities of an increased establishment. In
1631 Sir Roger annexed a handsome addition, containing, besides many
chambers, a withdrawing and a dining-room. In the latter apartment are
the arms of the Wynnes and D’Arcies emblazoned on glass. Sir Roger
married Mary, daughter of the famous Sir John Wynne, of Gwydyr, and the
D’Arcie arms came from D’Arcie Savage, of Leighton, in Cheshire.