HAWARDEN CASTLE
The Hawarden estate was acquired by Sir John Glynne in 1653 from the Earl of Derby for £9,000. It included the ruins of the thirteenth century stone castle built on an early Norman motte and bailey fortification. For two generations the family did not pay great attention to their Welsh estate, however, the 3rd baronet, Sir John Glynne (1665-1729) made the decision to relocate from Oxfordshire and invest in the Hawarden estate. An orphaned heiress of the Broadlane estate, Honora Conway lived adjacent to that of Hawarden, and she was married Sir John’s third and youngest son Sir John Glynne, 6th Bt., in 1731, which greatly increased the size and value of the Hawarden estate. Broadlane’s evaluation in 1729 confirmed it was a sizeable house with 45 sash windows, 16 transom windows and 25 windows partly glazed.

Sir John Glynne 6th Bt. thus established his family at the then Broadlane Hall and commenced on building the nucleus of the present castle. After competing against Sir George Wynne of Leeswood in the notable Flint election of 1734, Sir John was crippled by £35,000 worth of votes, which prevented him from undertaking any major building scheme to Hawarden for the next 20 years. The seven-bay three-storey house was begun in 1750 and finished after 7 years at a cost of over £2,600. Little is known about the castle’s details whilst under construction, as the main building accounts have disappeared, although evidence of several principle craftsmen have been uncovered. These include the carver who worked on Adlington Hall in Cheshire, known by the name Philips and the marblework for the chimney piece was supplied by Mr Sefton.

After the disaster of the Flint election Sir John Glynne did not neglect his political career. He sat during five successive parliaments whilst raising funds and developing schemes to improve the estate and raise its revenue. He arranged 15 property exchanges to rationalise the Hawarden estate from 1733 to 1734, and took a passionate interest in the grounds, planting 25,000 trees. Hawarden was deemed to be worth a mere £468 at the time of the second baronet’s death in 1721, however, by 1760 under Sir John’s supervision the estate was valued at £1,390, even without the income of Lady Glynne.

Having inherited the castle at the age of twenty-one Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 8th Bt. (1780-1815) set about modernising his grandfather’s house. From 1809 works began to enlarge the house and totally remodel the exterior in a fashionable Gothic Revival style with turrets and crenellations. Although the London architect Thomas Cundy the elder (1765-1825) completely altered the exterior many of the 18th century rooms with their fine plasterwork were preserved. The 8th baronet died in 1815 aged only thirty-four therefore it was left to his son, who came of age in 1828, to finish the scheme and make further improvements. 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. Sir Stephen initially intended on bequeathing the estate to his brother, Henry Glynne, but both of them died within the two years of 1872 and 1874, leaving Sir Stephen’s brother-in-law William Ewart Gladstone to care for the castle, whilst it passed to his eldest son. He had already added a study, always known as ‘The Temple of Peace’, with additional bedrooms above it, to the north-west corner of the castle. The works were designed by the architect G. Shaw of Saddleworth in 1866. He also later restored the medieval castle ruins. The castle been passed on down through the Gladstone family and the 8th Baronet and his family live there today.