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Kinmel is surrounded in Myths and Mysteries
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One such Mystery links the Samuel Wyatt Building and the W. E. Nesfield Building.
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The Samuel Wyatt Building was constructed to replace the much smaller and inadequate previous Hall -
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'Old Kinmael'
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The remains of which can still be seen in the grounds of the old Kitchen Garden on the Kinmel Estate.
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The 1st Lord Dinorben - William Lewis Hughes - had not long remarried after the death of his First wife when fire destroyed the Wyatt Building on
Monday 27th September 1841
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Can you see the link?
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2 days and 135 Years later fire nearly destroys the Nesfield Building!
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There is also a link between the Thomas Hopper Building and the Nesfield Building.
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Following the fire, Thomas Hopper was instructed to build the new Hall.
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As part of the 'new' Hall 4 Eastam Hydrostatic Rams were installed on the Estate.
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Linked together these Rams powered a Private Fire Hydrant System for the Hall - along the lines of the one seen in 'Downton Abbey's' Highclere Castle.
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Fortunately during the life of Hopper's Building the new Fire Hydrant System was not needed.
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When the Nesfield's started work on the Third Hall they made use of the Eastham Ram which was conveniently located under the site of the newly landscaped Formal Venetian Gardens to the West of the Hall.
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William Andrews Nesfield took a feed from the Ram to feed the Ornamental Fountain as the Centre Piece of his Garden.
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This was not the Neptune Fountain seen in the grounds today.
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'THE VENETIAN GARDENS'
by
Pte. CYRIL BLAKEMAN
R.A.M.C. 1944
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William Eden Nesfield took a feed from the Pump to power the luggage lift in the Servants Quarters better known as
'The Stone Passage'
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Former Luggage Lift - Current Store Room
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This explains the anomaly
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Every time the lift came down
The Fountain went Higher
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The back pressure caused by the lift forced the Fountain to go higher because Nesfield's design was Pressure fed - the water coming downhill from a reservoir behind the Hall.
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'Perseus and Andromeda'
The same design used at Witley Court
According to Mr Mill's Family and Mr Nash - Clarendon's last Gardener the way they used to service the Ram when cleaning the bowl of the fountain each year was by going out of the walled garden by the Drawing Room and under the garden into the vaults.
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This was sealed up in 1975 to prevent sheep falling into the vaults.
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It has been recently discovered that there is another route into the vaults beneath the gardens from within the gardens themselves.
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As you stand with your back to the Dining Room Windows looking towards the Fountain.
Just in front of you there is a Drain Inspection Cover - except it does not give access to a drain.
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This very long shaft drops down into a tunnel that leads into the vaults that contain the Ram.
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WHAT LIES BENEATH?
It has recently been discovered that the tunnel this drain gives access to is also accessible from the cellars of the Hall herself - because they are from the hall designed between 1791 and 1802 by
Samuel Wyatt
KINMEL HALL CELLARS
SAMUEL WYATT
CUERDEN HALL CELLARS
LEWIS WYATT
SAMUEL WYATT'S NEPHEW
However, this tunnel does not just go to the vaults! It turns out that this tunnel is one of two tunnels from the cellars of the Hall that were built by
William Lewis Hughes.
One of these tunnels runs from the Hall under the gardens and through the vaults containing the ram
The other tunnel runs to the North of the Hall and into the surrounding Parkland.
It has recently been brought to our attention the possible location of one of the entrances to one of these tunnels is located near to the
Gamekeepers Lodge.
The entrance to the other tunnel is not known however, further recent developments have led to a possible answer to this question as well.
Between 1939 - 1982 the Post Office in the village of St George was located at Bryn Iolo, just outside the village.
The family that ran the Post Office had been in service to the Hughes family since the time of Lord Dinorben.
The Post Mistress's Husband was Head Gardener to Col. H.B.L. Hughes who lived at Hendre Gyda.
Their descendants live locally and informed us that the Churchyard of St George holds some surprises.
The current building is not the original Church on that site having been redesigned in the 1870's
Remnants of the previous building still remain in the grounds of the Church - supposedly - including access to a trap door!
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