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The ghosts of wepre park
Wepre Park (Welsh: Parc Gwepra) is a 160 acres (65 ha) country park with playing fields, a castle and woodland, situated near Connah's Quay in Flintshire, Wales.
Contents
History
Originally established next to an ancient forest, Wepre woods and estate are described in the Domesday book, situated within the Hundred of Atiscross, measuring 0.5 leagues. Then owned by St. Werburgh's Abbey in Chester, the estate was sub-leased to a local merchant. Latterly owned by Bishop Owen of St. Asaph, it became part of the estates of the Fitz-Roberts family when his daughter married into the family. As part of the English Civil War, during the siege of Chester the hall was commandeered by a royalist commander of a battery of artillery.
The estate was acquired in 1776 by lead mine owner Edward Jones from Holywell, who demolished and rebuilt Wepre Hall in a Georgian-style. After he died in debt in 1815, his son Major Trevor Owen Jones sold off his other holdings, but retained the majority of the Wepre estate. In 1830 he commissioned Wepre Mill, a corn mill consisting of three stones powered by a 20 feet (6.1 m) water wheel.
Post World War I, the estate was broken up, with the farms sold off and eventually redeveloped from post World War II as modern housing estates, e.g.: Pippins housing estate. Having been commandeered by the British Army during World War II, from the 1950s the Hall served as an old peoples home.
Present
In 1960, the residual Wepre Hall estate was acquired by the local council, and the abandoned house demolished. Today the original cellars of the hall still exist beneath the Wepre Park Visitors Centre.
Now owned and maintained by Flintshire County Council, as well as a 30-minute forest walk and a small river with waterfall, the park lands also encompass the ruins of the 12th century built Ewloe Castle.
In 2012, the council proposed a £750,000 project to restore the hall's formal garden and lawns, kitchen garden, woodland garden and a cedar avenue. The council were provided with a £30,700 grant to undertake initial research works by the Heritage Lottery Fund.