The History of Oswestry: Comprising the British, Saxon, Norman, and English eras; the topography of the borough; and its ecclesiastical and civic history; with notices of botany, geology, statistics, angling, and biography: to which are added sketches of the environsCathrall, William
History
The History of Oswestry: Comprising the British, Saxon, Norman, and English eras; the topography of the borough; and its ecclesiastical and civic history; with notices of botany, geology, statistics, angling, and biography: to which are added sketches of the environs
Cathrall, William
Natural history -- England -- Shropshire; Oswestry (England) -- History
Col. Myddelton Biddulph is Lord Lieutenant of the county of Denbigh, and
representative also for the shire.
HALSTON,
The seat of Edmund Wright, Esq., was for several centuries the property
of the Myttons. It is situated within a mile of Whittington, on the
Oswestry and Ellesmere turnpike road. It is called in ancient deeds
_Haly-stone_ or _Holy-stone_. Near the house stood the abbey, taken down
about a century and a half ago. The Rev. Peter Roberts says, “That it
had been a sanctuary is evident. Meyric Lloyd, lord of some part of
_Uwch Ales_, in the reign of Richard I., would not yield subjection to
the English Government, under which the Hundred of Dyffryn Clwyd and
several others were then, and having taken some English officers that
came there to execute the law, (which was contrary to the customs of the
Britons,) hanged some and killed others. For this act he forfeited his
lands to the king, fled, and _took sanctuary_ at Halston, where (for his
notable enterprises and merited chivalry,) he was taken under the
protection of its possessor, John Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, ‘who made
him general of the army in the besieging of Aeon, in Asia, anno dom.
1190, where he behaved himself,’ as Reynolds informs us, ‘with such
dexterous attempts as were admirable to the spectators.’” [See his
exploits further recorded in our notice of “Llanforda.”]
[Picture: Halston]
In the Saxon era the Lordship of Halston belonged to Edric, at which time
there were on the property two Welshmen and one Frenchman. After the
Conquest Halston became the property of an Earl of Arundel, or of Robert,
Earl of Shrewsbury, and was afterwards bestowed on the Knights of St.
John of Jerusalem. In the 26th Henry VIII. the commandry was valued at
£160 14s. 10d. a year. On the abolition of many of the
military-religious orders and monasteries, Henry empowered John Sewster,
Esq., Scutifer, and afterwards allowed him to dispose of this manor to
Alan Horde, who made an exchange with, or sold it to Edward Mytton, Esq.,
of Habberly, ancestor to the present John Mytton, Esq. This alienation
was subsequently confirmed by Queen Elizabeth.
In a manuscript account of Halston, written in 1821 by the late Rev. C.
A. A. Lloyd, we find the following description:—
“The Manor of Halston is extra-parochial. The Mansion-house of
Halston was formerly situated near the chapel, but in the year 1690
it was removed to its present situation, which is on an elevated spot
of ground rising out of an extensive flat, and formerly subject to
frequent floods. The grandfather of the present owner (the late John
Mytton, Esq.,) was a gentleman of great spirit and enterprise, and at
considerable trouble and expense drained vast tracts of the low
ground, which rendered the neighbourhood more healthy. The river
Perry here forms several islands, and its shores are shaded by oaks,
perhaps the finest in the country.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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