The Hawarden Visitors Hand-Book | Page 3

Worcester, in 1657, James was taken prisoner, tried by
Court Martial, and executed at Bolton in the same year.
In 1653, the Lordship of Hawarden was purchased from the agents of
sequestration by Serjeant (afterwards Chief Justice) Glynne; and in
1661 the sale 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;