It is an example of simple neatness and good taste. The cottages are
built in the Swiss style, with singular rustic elegance, and have the
appearance of comfort and quiet. The inhabitants are mainly indebted for
the beauty of their rustic cottages to the Countess Dungannon of
Brynkinallt, and for the uniformity and useful convenience of water in
every house, which is conveyed by leaden pipes, to the exertions and
influence of Mrs. Myddelton Biddulph, the owner of the Castle, and the
elder branch of the much-respected family of the Myddeltons. She is Lady
of the Manor of Chirk, and has built and endowed a school for the
education of the village children. Her exertions to promote the comfort
and interest of her tenantry are worthy imitation.
Near the church, and now enclosed in a garden, stands an artificial
mount, which Mr. Pennant conjectures to be coeval with Offa’s Dyke. {17}
A similar one stood on the opposite side, where now the road runs. These
mounts were probably Saxon stations, and curbs to the Welch, to prevent
them from violating the line of demarcation which Offa had formed.
The church is a capacious old structure, dedicated to St. Mary, and was
formerly an impropriation belonging to the Abbey of Valle Crucis. It has
a tower steeple, containing six bells. All the east side of the church
wall within is nearly covered with marble monuments of the Chirk Castle
family. A bust of Sir Thomas Myddelton, and another of his Lady, are
well executed. There are also many other remarkable _memento mori’s_
within the church, well worth the attention of those who love to muse on
“Names once famed, now dubious or forgot,
And buried midst the wreck of things which were.”
I believe there are not standing within the same compass of ground in the
kingdom of Great Britain, three mansions so eminently deserving
admiration for magnificence, grandeur, and beauty, as Wynnstay, Chirk
Castle, and Brynkinallt; the latter of which I shall now proceed to
describe.