(New) Hawarden Castle ( cy, Castell Penarlâg (Newydd)) is a house in

Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name ...

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It was the estate of the former British prime minister

William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

, having previously belonged to the family of his wife, Catherine Glynne. Built in the mid-18th century, it was later enlarged and externally remodelled in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

taste.

History

Hawarden Castle and Park, in Flintshire, five miles from the city

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 Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies east of the Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, north of the county town of Shrewsbury, south of Chester, and east of Wrexham. At the 2011 Census, the ...

. It 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. Two flanking side pavilions were planned but may not have been completed. In the early 19th century, Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 8th Baronet inherited the estate. In 1809 to 1810, he had the house enlarged, and the exterior completely remodelled in a crenellated

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, by the London architect Thomas Cundy the elder, although the Georgian interiors were preserved. He died prematurely and Sir Stephen Glynne, the 9th Baronet was left to make further improvements. He was the Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire, Member of Parliament for the Flint Boroughs from 1832 to 1837, and for the County of Flint from 1837 to 1847. In around 1830, he had the main entrance moved from the south side of the house to the north, and had a vaulted porch added. On the death of the 9th Baronet, the estate passed to his brother-in-law, the liberal politician William Gladstone. There were further alterations to the house during Gladstone's occupancy, including a wing housing a library, designed by George Shaw of Saddleworth, built in the mid-1860s, a muniment room for the storage of his papers (1887–88), and an enlarged porch (1889), these last two both by Douglas and Fordham. In 1896 the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

Edward White Benson Edward White Benson (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first Bishop of Truro, serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of Truro Cathedral. He was previous ...

, died at the castle and his body was put on the train at nearby Sandycroft station to be returned to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

.An article about the Archbishop's death on the Flintshire website
/ref> Gladstone occupied the house until his death there in 1898, when it passed to his grandson

William Glynne Charles Gladstone William Glynne Charles Gladstone (14 July 1885 – 13 April 1915) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, and the last of four generations of Gladstones to sit in the House of Commons, the first being his great-grandfather Sir Jo ...

(son of W. E. Gladstone's eldest son,

William Henry Gladstone William Henry Gladstone (3 June 1840 – 4 July 1891) was a British Liberal Party Member of Parliament, and the eldest son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine Glynne. Life Gladstone was born in Hawarden, Flints ...

, who had been

High Sheriff of Flintshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Flintshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly, the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county, but over the centuries most of the responsibilitie ...

for 1888 but had died in 1891). W. G. C. Gladstone was killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The estate was subsequently purchased by his uncle

Henry Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden Henry Neville Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden (2 April 1852 – 28 April 1935) was a British businessman and politician. He was the third son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. Background and education Gladstone was the th ...

. The house and estate are still a private residence (although some of the grounds are open to the public) and are still owned by the

Gladstone family William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

. In the grounds of the building lie the ruins of a

medieval castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

, Hawarden Castle. This was built on the site of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

fort by the Normans and had a round

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

built on a motte. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd captured the stronghold in 1265, defeating Robert de Montalt and destroying the castle. De Montalt later reneged on a promise not to rebuild his stronghold and the present massive keep was built. This was besieged in 1281 by Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd. The fatal war of 1282 to 1283 followed, with the Welsh being defeated and Hawarden Castle was occupied by the English after that. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

it changed hands several times and ended up in a ruinous state in Parliamentary hands. The house is designated as a Grade I listed building by

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

because of its architecture, especially the 18th-century interiors, and for its exceptional importance as the home of W. E. Gladstone.

References

External links

Hawarden Castle on Gathering the Jewels

Article on Hawarden Castle
in ''House and Heritage'', 22 January 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawarden Castle (18th Century) Castles in Flintshire Mock castles in Wales Houses completed in 1752 Country houses in Wales Grade I listed buildings in Flintshire Grade I listed houses Prime ministerial homes in the United Kingdom Grade I listed castles in Wales Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales

History

See also

References

External links