Europe · United Kingdom · Flintshire
Hawarden castle
The story
History of Hawarden castle
(New) Hawarden Castle (Welsh: Castell Penarlâg (Newydd)) is a house in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It was the estate of the former British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone, having previously belonged to the family of his wife…
United Kingdom · Flintshire
- Built
- 18th century
- Era
- Baroque
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Region
- Flintshire
- UNESCO
- —
- Coordinates
- 53.182, -3.016
In depth
The fuller history
The core of the present house is formed by a mansion built in 1752–57 for Sir John Glynne, 6th baronet, to the designs of Samuel Turner the elder of Whitchurch, Shropshire. The current house is very close to the original Hawarden Castle, the current house having replaced the 16th-century Broadlane Hall, the seat of the Ravenscroft family, which stood some way to the south. Glynne had acquired the estate through marriage. The new house was of brick with stone dressings. The main block was three storeys high, and seven bays wide, with a projecting three-bay central pediment.
Key dates
- 1265Llywelyn ap Gruffudd captured the stronghold in 1265, defeating Robert de Montalt and destroying the castle.
- 1281This was besieged in 1281 by Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd.
- 1809In 1809 to 1810, he had the house enlarged, and the exterior completely remodelled in a crenellated Gothic Revival style, by the London architect Thomas Cundy the elder, although the Georgian interiors were preserved.
- 1888Gladstone's eldest son, William Henry Gladstone, who had been High Sheriff of Flintshire for 1888 but had died in 1891).
- 1896In 1896 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson, died at the castle and his body was put on the train at nearby Sandycroft station to be returned to London.
- 1927In 1927, Knutsford Ordination Test School relocated to Hawarden — first to the Old Rectory, then to the new castle in 1939 before it closed the following year.
Historical summary drawn from Wikipedia. Read the full article.
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