The Hawarden Visitors Hand-Book | Page 3

was confirmed by Charles, Earl of Derby.
The Glynnes are first heard of at Glyn Llivon, in Carnarvonshire, in 1567. They trace their descent, however, much further back, to Cilmin Droed Dhu (Cilmin of the Black Foot), who came into Wales from the North of Britain with his uncle Mervyn, King of the Isle of Man, who married Esyllt, heiress of Conan, King of North Wales, about A.D. 830. The territory allotted to him extended from Carnarvon to beyond Clynnog. Edward Llwyd was the first to assume the name of Glynne, which his descendants continued till the male succession ended in John Glynne, whose daughter and heiress, Frances, married Thomas Wynne of Bodnau, created a baronet in 1742. His son, Sir John, is said to have pulled down the old strong mansion of Cilmin, and erected the present one. His son again, Sir Thomas, was created a Peer of Ireland for his services in the American war, whose descendant is the present Lord Newborough. The father of the Serjeant was Sir William Glynne, Knight, 21st in descent from Cilmin Droed Dhu. The Serjeant early espoused the cause of the popular party, perhaps rather from ambition than from principle. His abilities were soon recognized, and while still young he became High Steward of Westminster and Recorder of London. In 1640 he was elected Member for Westminster as a strong Presbyterian. He was actively concerned in conducting the charge against Lord Strafford. In 1646 he opposed in Parliament Cromwell's Self-denying Ordinance, and was thrown into prison. He found means, however, to get reconciled to Cromwell in 1648, and became one of his Council and Serjeant-at-law. In 1654 he became Chamberlain of Chester, and in the following year succeeded Rolle as Lord Chief Justice--which office he discharged with credit. {10} In 1656 he was returned for Carnarvonshire, and in the Rump Parliament he sat again for Westminster. Meanwhile he contrived to ingratiate himself with the opposite side, and in 1660 we find him assisting on horseback at the coronation of Charles II. He now resigned the Chief Justiceship, made himself very useful in settling legal difficulties consequent upon the usurpation, and became as loyal as any cavalier: the King, as a mark of his favour, {11a} bestowing a baronetcy upon his son in 1661. He possessed Henley Park, {11b} in Surrey, and an estate at Bicester, in Oxfordshire, (of which church, as well as Ambrosden, he was patron) where the family resided. He died at his house in Westminster in 1666, and was buried in a vault beneath the altar of S. Margaret's Church.
His son, Sir William Glynne, the first baronet, sat in Parliament for Woodstock, and died in 1721. It was not till 1723 that the Glynnes moved to Hawarden, from Bicester. An old stone records the building of a house in Broadlane in 1727. In 1732 Sir John Glynne, nephew of Sir William, married Honora Conway, co-heiress with her sister Catherine of the Ravenscrofts of Bretton and Broadlane, an old family connected with Hawarden for many generations. {11c} This lady was the great great grand- daughter of Sir Kenelm Digby, and with her one-half of the Ravenscroft lands came into possession of the Glynnes; the other half in Bretton passing eventually to the Grosvenors. She died in 1769. In 1752 Sir John built a new house at Broadlane, which has since been the residence of the family.
Though not the founder of the family, Sir John Glynne may fairly be considered the founder of the place, and of the estate in its modern sense. Though he sat for five Parliaments for the Borough of Flint, he devoted himself largely to domestic concerns and to the improvement of his property by inclosure, drainage, and otherwise. The present beauty of the Park is in a great measure due to his energy and foresight. Upon the acquisition of Broadlane Hall, he at once took in hand the re-planting of the demesne, {12} first in Broadlane and about the Old Castle, and in 1747 on the Bilberry Hill. He also turned his attention to the developement of the minerals on the estate, and attempted the carriage of coals to Chester by water. He died in 1777.
His Grandson, Sir S. R. Glynne, married in 1806 the Hon. Mary Neville, daughter of Lord Braybrooke and of Catherine, sister to George, Marquess of Buckingham, and by her had four children: Stephen, eighth and last Baronet, born September 22, 1807; Henry, Rector of Hawarden born September 9th, 1810; Catherine, now Mrs. Gladstone, born January 6, 1812; and Mary, afterwards Lady Lyttelton, born July 22, 1813. He died in 1815 at the age of 35 years, and of his children Mrs. Gladstone alone survives. Sir Stephen, the last Baronet, died unmarried in 1874, surviving his brother the Rector only two years; and