Leeswood Hall is a country house in

Leeswood Leeswood ( cy, Coed-llai) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales, about four miles from the historic market town of Mold. At the 2001 Census, the population was 2,143, reducing slightly to 2,135 at the 2011 Census. It ...

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

, Wales. Dating from 1742, it was built for George Wynne, the design being attributed to Francis Smith. Construction reputedly cost £40,000. The hall is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. To the northwest of the hall stand the White Gates, which have their own Grade I listing. The gates terminate the view from the hall across the lawns, an early and rare example of 18th century parkland design by

Stephen Switzer Stephen Switzer (1682–1745) was an English gardener, garden designer and writer on garden subjects, often credited as an early exponent of the English landscape garden. He is most notable for his views of the transition between the large garden ...

, and a Grade I listed landscape of national significance.

History

George Wynne was born in 1700 into a family of impoverished North Wales

gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest ...

. His fortunes were transformed when

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

was rediscovered on the

Halkyn Mountain Halkyn ( cy, Helygain ; Flintshire Welsh: ''Lygian '') is a village and community in Flintshire, north-east Wales and situated between Pentre Halkyn, Northop and Rhosesmor. At the 2001 Census the population of the community was 2,876, increasi ...

estate he had inherited from his mother. After protracted litigation with his father, Wynne secured control of the mine, embarked on a political career, and spent some £40,000 on building a house and estate befitting his new status. His architect for the house was

Francis Smith of Warwick Francis Smith of Warwick (1672–1738) was an English master-builder and architect, much involved in the construction of country houses in the Midland counties of England. Smith of Warwick may refer also to his brothers, or his son. Architectura ...

and for the park,

. A supporter of

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

, he received a

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

and served as

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 ...

in 1722–1724. He was later nearly ruined by falling receipts from his mines, and lavish expenditure on his estate, spending some time incarcerated as a

debtor A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this ...

in the

King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...

. He died in poverty in 1756. In the late 18th century, the house was in the possession of the Reverend Hope Eyton, whose descendants were still resident in the early 1980s. Rev. Eyton remodelled the hall, considerably reducing its scale by the demolition of two large wings. Most of the interior decoration dates from this time.

Architecture and description

The current house is of eight bays, and two storeys, the third having been removed in the alterations undertaken by Rev. Eyton. The main construction material is red brick, faced with

cement render Cement render or cement plaster is the application of a mortar mix of sand and cement, (optionally lime) and water to brick, concrete, stone, or mud brick. It is often textured, colored, or painted after application. It is generally used on ...

. The interior contains some 18th century

plasterwork Plasterwork is construction or ornamentation done with plaster, such as a layer of plaster on an interior or exterior wall structure, or plaster Molding (decorative), decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. This is also sometimes called parge ...

and fireplaces, but most of the decoration, including an

imperial staircase An imperial staircase (sometimes erroneously known as a "double staircase") is the name given to a staircase with divided flights. Usually the first flight rises to a half-landing and then divides into two symmetrical flights both rising with ...

dates from the

Regency era The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. George III of the United Kingdom, King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 18 ...

Parkland and pleasure grounds

The park at Leeswood Hall is of "national importance" as an early 18th century landscape designed by Stephen Switzer. The grounds lie mainly to the north of the hall and terminate in the White Gates, which have been attributed both Robert Davies and to Robert Bakewell. The gates are listed Grade I. The gates were originally flanked by two lodges or

pavilions In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

but these were moved to either side of the Black Gates on the

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

road after 1809. The Black Gates in situ as at 2020 are not original, these having been re-sited to a building called The Tower on the outskirts of Mold. The lodges have their own Grade II* listing. To the west of the hall is a large mound, known as The Mount. By local tradition, this is the motte of a

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

. There is no archaeological or documentary evidence for this claim, and it is possible that it was created by Switzer as a garden feature. It has two canopied stone chairs, from an original set of four, and a stone table at its summit. The park contains many other historic structures, in varying states of preservation. The ice house, stables,

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

and walled garden all have their own Grade II listings.

Footnotes

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , first=Philip , last=Jenkins , title=A History of Modern Wales: 1536-1990 , year=2014 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imSuBAAAQBAJ&q=halkyn+mountain+lead+george+wynne&pg=PT263 , location=Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire , publisher=

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, isbn=978-1-317-87268-9 Grade II* listed buildings in Flintshire Country houses in Wales Gardens in Wales Dovecotes Grade II* listed houses Houses completed in 1744 Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales