i66 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



Ruabon and saw the " handsome new house of a very 

 good freestone of a greenish cast," which Sir Watkin 

 had built at Wynnstay, and he also picked up local 

 information as to its late lord. " He lived at great 

 expense to support his interest in the country, and 

 had several houses in which he kept servants and a 

 table, insomuch that he is said to have died /,8o,ooo 

 in debt, but his elder son of two being very young, 

 it is supposed the estate will be cleared when he is 

 of age, tho' I have since been informed that his 

 debts amounted to no more than his personal estate." 

 This later information was undoubtedly correct. 

 The widow who lived on for fifty-four years and 

 the trustees bought additional estates with ths 

 accumulation of the long minority, so that son, 

 grandson and great-grandson continued to " keep 

 servants and a table " in several houses, and 



"supported their interest in the country " to such 

 extent that the grandson earned the title of " the 

 Prince in Wales," and the others were almost equally 

 popular and powerful. Their history, however, is 

 bound up with Wynnstay ; Llangedwyn may have 

 had its servants and its table, but was merely a sub- 

 ordinate place. With the death of the great-grand- 

 son, the fourth Sir Watkin, in 1885, there came a 

 break in the direct male succession ; part of the 

 estates, including Llangedwyn, went to his daughter, 

 the settled estates and the title to his nephew. 

 Llangedwyn, as the home of his widow and now of 

 his daughter, has its charms and associations in 

 safe keeping ; while the hitter's marriage with 

 her cousin, the present Sir Watkin, has ensured 

 an heir to undiminished possessions and great 

 traditions. 



RECESS GARDEN-FKOM A WINDOW. 



