is the servants’ hall, in which are deposited various ancient and family relics.  The walls are hung round with boar spears, pikes, and halberts; arquebuses, matchlocks, and other old fire-arms; saddles, spurs, and various pieces of armour; enormous and curious spoils of the chace, &c.

Among a variety of deer antlers, is the head of a stag, of which the following curious story is told:—A young woman, crossing the Black Park at the early dawn of morning, was assailed by this furious animal.  Her cries for assistance were heard by one of the numerous retainers of the Castle, whose dwelling was nigh, and he promptly ran to her aid.  The stag, no way intimidated, made fiercely at the man, and literally gored him to death.  The Black Park is now converted into an extensive colliery.

Opposite to the servants’ hall is the main entrance into the Castle from the quadrangle.  In the large and lofty entrance hall are some fine paintings, and a superb billiard table.  The grand stairs front the entrance, and lead to the stately apartments of the Castle, which have been lately renovated in a superior style of elegance by Mrs. Biddulph, the present inheritor.  A saloon, a gallery, and a drawing-room, in particular, are beautifully finished, and banish from the mind the idea of a gloomy Castle, which its exterior seems to promise.

The rooms are enriched with some good paintings; and in the saloon are some finely executed portraits of the family.  In this room there is a cabinet of most exquisite workmanship.  The views from the different windows are inexpressibly beautiful, and are said to embrace a prospect extending into seventeen counties.

In the civil wars this Castle was besieged by Cromwell’s adherents, and one of its sides, with three of its towers, overthrown.  It is mentioned as a prodigious exertion of labour, and in which no cost was spared, that the wing was rebuilt in one year, at the expense of eighty thousand pounds; which I think strengthens my idea of the present Castle being only an enlargement and repair of the more ancient Castell Crogen.

About a mile and a half from the Castle, stands the pleasant little village of

Chirk.

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. [31]  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.

Brynkinallt

Is about one mile from the village of Chirk, and is the ancient seat of the noble family of the Trevors, as I find in an authentic genealogical table, of which the following is a short extract:—“In the reign of King Richard II. there was a noble peer, by name Geofry Lord Trevor, and also John Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Chancellor of Chester.  He continued in the bishoprick to the sixth year of King Henry IV.  And in the reign of King Henry VI. (1421) lived two brothers descended of this honourable family, namely, John and Richard.  John, the eldest brother, was seated at Brynkinallt.  He married Agnes, daughter and heiress of Peter Chambre, of Pool, Esq. by whom he had issue five sons, who laid the foundation of many noble branches.  Robert, the eldest, succeeded his father at Brynkinallt.  He married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Llewellen Ap Howel De Mould, and had issue.  From Edward, the second son, by Amy, daughter of James Ryffin, Esq. descended Mark Trevor, from whom descended the Viscount Dungannon in Ireland.”  From him the nobleman who at present inherits the title, and the residence of Brynkinallt, is a lineal descendant; and under his auspices, aided by the exquisite taste of his Countess, this superb edifice has attained the acme of beauty.

To rush at once into this charming labyrinth of delight would fill the mind with confusion; and the beholder would be at a loss in what direction to commence his observations, where every part claims his admiration.  I therefore beg my readers will accompany me about two miles on the Oswestry road, to Bryn y Gwyla Lodge, a beautiful triumphal arch-like entrance into Bryn y Gwyla Park, through which a new road is now forming to Brynkinallt.  This part of the domain is in Shropshire; the interesting stream of the Ceriog dividing Shropshire from Denbighshire at this place.

As you proceed towards the river, whose sides are charmingly clothed with forest trees, and whose banks are fringed with shrubs to the water edge, the eye is caught by some of the pinnacles of Brynkinallt, and by the blue smoke arising from the mansion, which seems playfully to linger among the lofty summits of the luxuriant trees that adorn it.  Proceeding on the highest road, called the Green Drive, which runs along the top of the Hanging Wood, whose majestic and venerable timber seems to continue the luxuriant line of wavy branches to the very mansion, through one of the natural vistas which here and there present themselves, Brynkinallt bursts upon the sight in all its beauty, embosomed in the softened and variously tinted foliage of the plantations which surround it.  From this spot the most interesting and picturesque view of the place is obtained; and I believe it is the point from whence an artist of some celebrity has designed a picture of the mansion.

At the