Wrexham County Borough 81- Erddig /the Cup and Saucer and the metal Forget me Nots

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What shall we do today? The "What is going on in the town " book came out and I noticed that there was a display of metal Forget Me Nots at Erddig Hall . These beautiful flowers were used by the hospice to fundraise . Last year or was it the year before they sold Forget me Not plants and set them all out in the hospice gardens . This year was a different plan . To produce metal Forget me Nots , sell them for £30 , place them in the Meadow at Erddig and then the owners could pick them up and put them in their own gardens . That was an excuse to go and see them .

Erddig is not far from us and it was only a few minutes from home that we found ourselves parked up on the grass inside the walled gardens . We had driven down the long tree lined drive and arrived at the Dovecot . There were quite a few visitors even at this early point of the morning . The house itself was not open until 12.30 but we had made the decision having been in many times before to miss the interior and concentrate on the exterior of the house, the gardens and the meadow. And perhaps find our way to the Cup and Saucer .

We have free entry to the hall as it is part of the National Trust so found ourselves in the courtyard where the original farm machinery was stored . Like the house contents the coaches were ancient and dilapedated . The farm implements old fashioned but well used . We never fail to be reminded that the Yorkes threw nothing away. Even if it were past its best it still was kept just in case . This hoarding has meant the house is unique and more interesting than most similar households.

We climbed the stairs to the stables , ordered our coffee and breakfast and just whiled away a half hour.

The house is stunning in its simplicity . It is amazing it still survives as its wealth was brought in by the local coal which was being mined beneath the foundations . The house sank in one corner and the National Trust were tasked with the hard work of trying to save it from collapse . A lovely job was made and its is difficult to imagine the way it must have looked . It had no electricity so even in the 1960's the old Squire Yorke lived without any hint of modernity . He barely lived in a handful of rooms . All of which would have been dark, gloomy, damp and cold . Heated only by coal fires and serviced by a handful of servants .

The gardens were pretty with the rows of trees. Early roses , perennial Sweet Peas grew along the warm walls . The borders were full of flowers and looked extremely pretty . We walked to the front of the house . Erddig is always approached from the back and the staircase always looks right as if it should be entrance . We rarely have walked to what seems as if it should be the back . A grander staircase appears . The house faces the bonc of the nearby Bersham Colliery . The cause of its demise . The meadow was blue . The Forget me Nots were planted into the bank . A short fence kept them safe and a sign explained why they were there and asked the public not to take any of them as they belonged to the families of people who had been cared for and possibly died at the hospice . They looked stunning . An electric sea of blue .

We left them and walked through the woodland to the valley below where the River Clywedog flows gentry through . We crossed a bridge and arrived at the Cup and Saucer . An odd thing - hard to describe . You need to be an engineer to work out what its purpose was . We read that it was an inflow to an hydraulic ram which used a drop in water level to raise some of it to a greater height . The ram was built by John Blake of Accrington and installed in the grounds of Erddig in 1899. I was standing where my dad once stood . Where he scrumped apples and he and his friends as children would have played . I imagined him wondering what it was all about. The machinery apparently made a thud when it worked and was nicknamed the The Heart of Erddig . It raised the spring water up 90 ft to storage cisterns in the roof of the house and is still used today to power the gardens fountains . The cup and Saucer was designed by William Emes in 1775. The brook named the Black Brook due to its running through the coal mines gathered water in a circular basin , the water fell over the weir and came out further down the valley through a tunnel . We read that the Cup was the hole in the middle of the saucer which was a large disc . Watching the water disappearing down the hole was fascinating .

Today it gently filled and the water disappeared . With rain it would become a roaring cauldron of boiling water . We earmarked it for another visit to see it in the wet weather and in the snow . All in all a trip not too far but one that was well worth it if only to see those lovely Forget me Nots .

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