122 EXCURSION FROM RUAliON 



At a little diilance frum the column there is a 

 tolerab'y large pooL Tiic rivul'jt that fupplies it is 

 thrown over fome artiiiciai rock-work, and forins 

 jiot an inelegant cafcade. 



The houfe is deficient both in elegance and uni^ 

 formity, having been erected at difFcrcnt periods, 

 and in different fliles of architecture. — From the 

 ancient rampart called Watt's Dyke, which pafles 

 through the grounds, this place was formerly called 

 Wattftay : but, on the marriage of fir John Wynne 

 with Jane, the daughter of Eyton Evans, and heirefs 

 of this property, he changed its name to Wynnftay. 

 He inclofed the park, in the year 1678, with a flone 

 wall for deer, and planted the avenues. Sir John 

 died about forty years afterv/ards, and was buried at 

 Ruabon. He bequeathed all hi? eftates to his re^ 

 lative Watkin Williams, afterwards fn* Watkin WiL 

 liams Wynne, bart., the grandfather of the prefent 

 owner. 



This place was anciently the property and refi- 

 dence of Madoc ap Griffith Maelor, the potent lord 

 of Bromfield, and founder of Valle Crucis abbey, 

 near Llangollen. 



'Nant y Bele, 



The Din^Ie of the Marffn, within the grounds of 

 Wynniia}', is a deep and wooded 'hollow. The fides 

 are precipitous and rocky ; and the waters of the 

 Dee, which roll along" the bottom, are blackened by 

 the fliady banks, and for the moft part concealed 



from 



