Arnold Hughes gave a talk on Pool Park at yesterday's history club meeting.
Before the formal park, in the 4th or 5th century, it was believed to be in the hands of a local post-Roman prince, Emlyn. His burial stone, likely placed on high ground so in death he could oversee his estate, is possibly the reason why the merged Cyffylliog and Clocaenog primaries are called Ysgol Carreg Emlyn.
It was Colonel William Salesbury who established the modern estate, in the 17th century. Bachymbyd was actually the original house of the estate, to which Salesbury later added Rug (later Rhug). He had inherited the original estate in 1611 and it was in a poor state. It would eventually consist of 17,500 acres, four lodges, Home Farm, a further farm and the mansion itself. He restored the late 15th or early 16th century mansion.
Later, in a subsequent generation, a family quarrel resulted in the breaking up of the estate, half as Rug and half as Bachymbyd (including Pool Park). There followed a marriage of Jane Salesbury to Lord Bagot, of a wealthy English family from Staffordshire. Between 1826 and 1829, at a cost of £4,000, the second Lord Bagot rebuilt Pool Park mansion and converted it into neo-Elizabethan style we can see today. Pool Park was the focus of the Bagot estate and Bachymbyd was now simply a tenanted farm. Bagot also created Lady Bagot's Drive, so that the lady could travel between Pool Park and Bachymbyd without using Borthyn.
The Bagots were the first people to afforest the area (with conifers) and this was in the 1810s to 1830s. Pincyn Llys is a monument to their endeavours.
By 1835, the Bagots had little to do with the estate and indeed they rented it to three long term tenants who had basically been industrialists having made their fortunes and who craved the life of country gentlemen. One was a Mr Elkington of Birmingham, England, enriched through electroplating metals for the aspiring middle classes who could not afford silver. Elkington died at Pool Park. A second was a wealthy Liverpudlian brewer, Richard Blezard, who in 1906 also died at Pool Park, aged 93. He, apparently, was so popular as a philanthropist that both Ellis and Cambrian works closed for half a day for his funeral. Thereafter, it was the home of Sir Ernest Tate, the grandson of the sugar millionaire, also from Liverpool.
Tate was the last tenant and he left in 1928. It rather looks as if the Bagot wealth began to run out. The land was largely sold to sitting tenants. Meanwhile, in that year, the family put the house up for sale at £10,000 but it didn't sell. Eventually, in 1932, it passed to the Denbigh hospital for £2,500 (the price reflecting a sign of desperation on the part of the vendors). The purchaser spent five years and £4,000 converting Pool Park to an annex of the Denbigh which, with 1,500 patients, was overcrowded. It seemed it was cheaper to buy and convert Pool Park than expand (again) the Denbigh site.
Pool Park hospital opened in 1937 to 70 patents and this would increase to a peak of 100. There was a cinema and stage within; and the grounds and gardens offered occupational theory and recuperation. There were sundry modern additions and fire escapes bolted on.
The health board vacated Pool Park in 1995, in favour of care in the community. Roberts Homes soon bought it but left it to rot. It took Roberts some while to come up with a plan to create a care village for retired people and for this they eventually submitted and managed to get permission, in 2012. But how many retired people would wish to live in such an isolated spot. The answer was no one and Roberts could find no use for the house.
It went on the market this spring for offers over £1.75m and is believed to have been sold. It certainly is no longer available for sale.
The house is not be be confused with Pool Park Camp which would've been on former Pool Park land which had presumably been sold off. The camp land was under the ownership of Plas Efenechtyd and was situate where the late Elwyn Edwards used to live. In 1942, the British government had to find more and more accommodation for prisoners of war. Pool Park Camp housed Italians but also at the end of the war Germans who could not be repatriated in one go. Both the Italians and the Germans were relatively broadly free to come and go as they pleased. Some Germans preferred to stay in Wales than return to the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and they integrated with local people.
Before the formal park, in the 4th or 5th century, it was believed to be in the hands of a local post-Roman prince, Emlyn. His burial stone, likely placed on high ground so in death he could oversee his estate, is possibly the reason why the merged Cyffylliog and Clocaenog primaries are called Ysgol Carreg Emlyn.
The central entrance may have come from Bachymbyd
It was Colonel William Salesbury who established the modern estate, in the 17th century. Bachymbyd was actually the original house of the estate, to which Salesbury later added Rug (later Rhug). He had inherited the original estate in 1611 and it was in a poor state. It would eventually consist of 17,500 acres, four lodges, Home Farm, a further farm and the mansion itself. He restored the late 15th or early 16th century mansion.
Later, in a subsequent generation, a family quarrel resulted in the breaking up of the estate, half as Rug and half as Bachymbyd (including Pool Park). There followed a marriage of Jane Salesbury to Lord Bagot, of a wealthy English family from Staffordshire. Between 1826 and 1829, at a cost of £4,000, the second Lord Bagot rebuilt Pool Park mansion and converted it into neo-Elizabethan style we can see today. Pool Park was the focus of the Bagot estate and Bachymbyd was now simply a tenanted farm. Bagot also created Lady Bagot's Drive, so that the lady could travel between Pool Park and Bachymbyd without using Borthyn.
The Bagots were the first people to afforest the area (with conifers) and this was in the 1810s to 1830s. Pincyn Llys is a monument to their endeavours.
By 1835, the Bagots had little to do with the estate and indeed they rented it to three long term tenants who had basically been industrialists having made their fortunes and who craved the life of country gentlemen. One was a Mr Elkington of Birmingham, England, enriched through electroplating metals for the aspiring middle classes who could not afford silver. Elkington died at Pool Park. A second was a wealthy Liverpudlian brewer, Richard Blezard, who in 1906 also died at Pool Park, aged 93. He, apparently, was so popular as a philanthropist that both Ellis and Cambrian works closed for half a day for his funeral. Thereafter, it was the home of Sir Ernest Tate, the grandson of the sugar millionaire, also from Liverpool.
Tate was the last tenant and he left in 1928. It rather looks as if the Bagot wealth began to run out. The land was largely sold to sitting tenants. Meanwhile, in that year, the family put the house up for sale at £10,000 but it didn't sell. Eventually, in 1932, it passed to the Denbigh hospital for £2,500 (the price reflecting a sign of desperation on the part of the vendors). The purchaser spent five years and £4,000 converting Pool Park to an annex of the Denbigh which, with 1,500 patients, was overcrowded. It seemed it was cheaper to buy and convert Pool Park than expand (again) the Denbigh site.
Pool Park hospital opened in 1937 to 70 patents and this would increase to a peak of 100. There was a cinema and stage within; and the grounds and gardens offered occupational theory and recuperation. There were sundry modern additions and fire escapes bolted on.
The health board vacated Pool Park in 1995, in favour of care in the community. Roberts Homes soon bought it but left it to rot. It took Roberts some while to come up with a plan to create a care village for retired people and for this they eventually submitted and managed to get permission, in 2012. But how many retired people would wish to live in such an isolated spot. The answer was no one and Roberts could find no use for the house.
From the agent's 2019 sale brochure
It went on the market this spring for offers over £1.75m and is believed to have been sold. It certainly is no longer available for sale.
The house is not be be confused with Pool Park Camp which would've been on former Pool Park land which had presumably been sold off. The camp land was under the ownership of Plas Efenechtyd and was situate where the late Elwyn Edwards used to live. In 1942, the British government had to find more and more accommodation for prisoners of war. Pool Park Camp housed Italians but also at the end of the war Germans who could not be repatriated in one go. Both the Italians and the Germans were relatively broadly free to come and go as they pleased. Some Germans preferred to stay in Wales than return to the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and they integrated with local people.
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