“A surviving mother, alas! to the best of sons.”
A spiral staircase runs within the pillar to the top, from whence is a
fine view of the park and grounds.
There are other recently erected decorative buildings on the domain; one
of which, called Waterloo Tower, and built to commemorate the glorious
victory obtained at Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington, commands a very
extensive prospect; on it a flag is always displayed when Sir Watkyn is
at Wynnstay. Another tower is built on a most beautiful spot on the bank
of the Dee, called Nant y Bellan, i.e. the Dale of the Martin; and was
erected, as I learn from the Oration in the Ellesmere Report, p. 24, to
the memory of those ancient Britons who fell in quelling a dangerous
rebellion in a neighbouring island, now more closely united to us. Near
this place a boat is kept for the purpose of crossing the river.
From the old house a road is continued on the rampire of Offa’s Dyke for
nearly two miles, and bears the whimsical title of Llwybr y Gath, i.e.
Cat’s Path, although it is wide enough for two carriages to pass abreast.
The ardent and inquisitive traveller will find in the interesting domain
of Wynnstay much to examine, much to amuse, and much to admire.
Returning through the park to the high road, I crossed the Dee over a
recently erected iron bridge; and entering the parish of Chirk, I soon
regained Offa’s Dyke, the peculiar features of which plainly distinguish
it. The Dyke crosses the road to London about two hundred yards to the
west of Whitehurst’s new toll gate, and about four miles and a half from
Llangollen. Pursuing the line of the Dyke towards Chirk Castle, I found
in it a number of large and long grey stones, mossed over, and lying
confusedly at the bottom. They are very remarkable, as there are no
quarries in the neighbourhood, from which such stones could be procured;
and as they all lay in one spot, I conjecture that they have been used to
mark the graves of the slain in the year 1165, when Henry II. made his
first expedition against North Wales, by way of the Berwyn Mountains:—“He
assembled a large army at Oswelt Tree, and detached a number of men to
try the passes into Wales. There was a narrow way through the Dyke, near
Castell Crogen, now Chirk Castle; they were set upon by a party of
Welchmen, as they would have passed this strait, and many of them were
there slain, and buried in that ditch; where (says my Author) their
graves are now (i.e. 1697) to be seen.” {11}
The place was called Adwy’r Beddau, i.e. Pass of the Graves. There is a
field or two near the place still called Tir y Beddau, i.e. Land, or
Field of the Dead. I visited this place, and found the field under
cultivation; and it is possible that the stones may have been removed out
of the way of the plough, to the place where they now lie. On examining
an old survey of Chirk Lordship, I found two or three parcels of land
lying contiguous to each other, and on each side of the Dyke, at this
place, bearing the same name, Tir y Beddau.
From this field of the dead I bent my way along the Dyke, through
bramble, bush, and brier, to the no small disturbance of its numerous
inhabitants, the nimble squirrels, the rabbits, and the pheasants,
springing before me every thirty or forty yards. At length I arrived at
the brink of a sheet of water called the pool, on which numbers of wild
ducks, coots, and other aquatic birds were disporting. The ditch and
rampire continued through the middle of that pool, and the rampire is
still traceable from the boat house on the opposite side; and running
along the ley in front of Chirk Castle to a wood yard on the west side of
it, it again deepens, and assumes its form. As it approaches the Ceiriog
river, which skirts the south side of the park, it appears indeed a
barrier. I took the depth a little from the farm or wood yard, and found
it about fifty feet, a little farther on sixty feet, and near its
termination at Pont Melin y Castell, or the Castle Mill, it is about
eighty feet. At this point there is a bridge over the river, up whose
banks, at about half a mile distance, is a farm still retaining the name
of Crogen Isaf, or Lower Crogen.
In the bank of limestone rock below the bridge, and on the side of the
river, is a cavern or subterraneous passage, of unknown extent, and which
I have not had opportunity to explore. About Crogen Isaf, and near a
bridge of very capacious span across the Ceiriog, called Pont Madoc, a
powder mill was about to be erected; but when the work was nearly
completed, the projector became unable to proceed, and it was
discontinued.
Thinking it best not to break the narrative of my progress along the
ancient Dyke, by which I passed so near to the venerable Castle of Chirk,
I have hitherto purposely omitted an account of that celebrated mansion.
I shall now, however, return to it.