Erddig House and Garden

Erddig Hall is a late 17th century house with a stunning formal 18th century walled garden.

The house is filled with fascinating objects including a rare example of a lit a la duchesse canopy bed with its original hangings and bed cover of silk satin embroidered with Chinese designs. There are also numerous photographs and stories of many of the staff who worked at Erddig.

Don’t miss the outbuildings with a Joiners’ Workshop, Smithy, Sawmill and Stables. Wonderful collection of carriages and early cars. The Yorkes threw nothing away….

The surrounding park is open all year round. It stretches to 1200 acres with meadows, lakes, ponds, rivers and woodland.

Look out for the 18th century dovecot near the car park.

National Trust Members visit for free.

In 1682, Joshua Edisbury was appointed High Sheriff of Denbighshire. He chose to build a grand house on an escarpment above the River Clywedog a mile south of Wrexham.

On 1 November 1683, Thomas Webb, freemason of Middlewich in Cheshire, ‘covenanted and agreed to undertake and perform the care and oversight of contriving, building and finishing of a case or body of a new house’.

Work began in 1684 on a house nine bays wide. But with spiraling building costs, Edisbury was forced to borrow money from Elihu Yale, benefactor and namesake of the Ivy League university in USA. Previously he had given the East India Company merchant casks of Sandpatch Ale while Yale had reciprocated with ‘our best mango Atchar [chutney]’ and a ‘Japan Skreen’ for Edisbury’s wife, which you can still see in the State Bedroom.

But their friendship ended when Yale called in his debts – demanding £4,000 for a loan of half that amount – and this led to Edisbury’s bankruptcy in 1709.

The successful London lawyer, John Meller, bought Erddig along with Edisbury’s debts. He extended it to the north and south, adding two-storey wings – his ‘rooms of parade’ – and developed the gardens.

With no wife or children, Meller bequeathed the house to his nephew Simon Yorke. Simon had been asked by his uncle to bring the new tapestries from Soho in London to Erddig. Simon wrote in December 1720 how because of rain, the delivery would be delayed: ‘I shall not now send it… ye Roads being full of water the Tapestry may possible receive damage’. Depicting a classical landscape, Meller had commissioned the tapestries for his bedchamber. They were possibly made in the workshop of John Vanderbank the Elder.

The Yorkes

Erddig was owned by the Yorke family for 240 years with each successive owner being called either Simon or Philip.

Simon Yorke I married the heiress Dorothy Hutton and had one son, Philip. Philip was responsible for updating the garden.

Philip Yorke I inherited Erddig on his father’s death in 1767. An inheritance from his mother’s brother meant he was able to marry Elizabeth Cust, daughter of Sir John Cust of Belton. The inheritance and her dowry helped finance a few changes to Erddig including: the Saloon, the Library, re-casing the west front of the house in stone, and building the new kitchen, domestic offices and stable yard.

On his death in 1804, Philip Yorke I left Erddig to his eldest son Simon.

Simon Yorke II married Margaret Holland and they had six children, two of which died in infancy. Simon commissioned Thomas Hopper to create a large dining room from Meller’s southern suite of rooms. He also refurbished other rooms in the wing, installing underfloor heating and a bell system.

He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Simon.

Simon Yorke III made numerous alterations to the park and gardens and built steps from the Saloon to give better access to the re-laid parterre complete with new fountains. He and his wife Victoria Cust also created a Music Room in the Entrance Hall, moving the front entrance to the Tribes Room.

After his death in 1894 his son Philip moved back to Erddig.

Philip Yorke II married Annette Puleston in 1877. But forced into the marriage by his family, Philip spent his honeymoon painting and allegedly Annette was so unhappy that she ran away with her lady’s maid, escaping on a milk float. After Annette’s death in 1899, Philip married secondly Louisa Scott. They carried out few alterations to Erddig and when their son, Simon Yorke IV inherited Erddig in 1922 at the age of 19, he found the estate was in serious financial trouble with few staff remaining.

Adding to his troubles was the nationalisation of the Coal Board in 1947. The Bersham colliery which was on the estate, was placed under the control of the National Coal Board and with coal mined from beneath the house, serious subsidence took place.

Simon became a recluse with no electricity and no telephone and refused to sell anything to help fund repairs to the building.

On his brother’s death, Philip Yorke III inherited a crumbling Erddig. Neither brother had married, so Philip began negotiations with the National Trust and in 1973, Erddig came into the care of the Trust. They began a four-year restoration programme. Philip died in 1978 just after the work had been completed.

THE GARDENS

The gardens at Erddig are a magnificent example of early 18th century garden design with its influence from the Dutch and French.

John Meller created the garden between 1716 and 1733. The layout has changed little since then – from an engraving by Badeslade of 1740, the enclosing walls with summer houses in the far corners, the central axis, and the canal and pool can all be seen.

A list of fruit trees growing on the walls in 1718 include peaches, nectarines and plums.

In 1770s, the landscape designer William Emes was invited to Erddig. He landscaped the park to the west and north of the hall, leaving untouched the kitchen garden and the layout of the formal garden near the house.

In the 19th century further additions were made to the garden including the parterre, the yew walk and the Rose Garden. A new kitchen garden was built to the south of the main garden while many conifers were planted in the park.

After the First World War, the garden was neglected but was restored by the National Trust in 1973-77.

Erddig House and Garden

Erddig House and Garden

The Yorkes

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