Our easy-to-use website contains details and locations of places to visit around this area. Please select from:

	Places to Stay: Bed and Breakfast Hotels and Guest Houses Pubs with Accommodation Self Catering
	Places to Eat and Drink: Cafes, Coffee & Tea Shops Pubs serving Food Restaurants and Bistros
	Places of Interest: Places to Visit
	Gardens Centres: Garden Centres/Nurseries
	Specialist Shops: Antiques & Restoration Arts and Crafts Fashions Gifts Home and Garden Jewellery Food and Drink Shops

Hawarden

Mentioned in the Domesday Book, this small village close to the English border has two castles, one a ruin dating from the 13th century and another that was once the home of the Victorian Prime Minister, William Gladstone. After his marriage in 1839, Gladstone lived at Hawarden Castle (private), for some 60 years. The castle was started in 1750 and enlarged and castellated in 1809. The remains of the older castle, chiefly the circular keep and the hall, still stand in Castle Park.

The Parish Church of St Deiniol, as well as having stained-glass windows by Burne-Jones, also houses the Gladstone Memorial Chapel where marble effigies of the distinguished statesman and his wife, who are buried in Westminster Abbey, can be seen. The church was largely rebuilt after an arson attack in 1857. The parish was once a ‘peculiar’, which means that the rector was not answerable to any bishop. He therefore wielded considerable power and had his own ecclesiastical court. He could also issue marriage licences and prove wills.

The village’s connections with Gladstone continue to this day as the former Prime Minister donated his collection of some 20,000 books to the famous St Deiniol’s Residential Library, which stands next to the church. Gladstone had founded the Library in 1889 for the pursuit of divine learning. The magnificent Library building was erected as the national memorial to Gladstone and still attracts scholars, clergy and educators from all over the world. Some stay for only a day or two; others for several months.