Exploring Wepre Park's history

So what better time to look at the site's history, and give us lots to think about and look out for when it is safe to return.

I've visited the park more times than I could count, first as a dog owner and new arrival to the region in 1999, and then as a parent over the last decade but the origins of the place have always fascinated me.

This visitor centre is built on the foundations of at least three much older buildings. The most recent was Wepre Old Hall, built there in 1788 by Edward Jones, after demolishing the previous Elizabethan manor house.

At 41 Edward was a rich man and his new hall would have been the height of luxury.

Wepre lodge and drive.

William Purser Freme, a Liverpool trader, bought the Hall from the Joneses in 1865. He and his family also had a rich lifestyle with servants, horses and opulent interiors, and countryside sports.

Many of these photos are from this period, and some local people can still remember the stable buildings, heated greenhouses and cottages that were once part of the estate.

The derelict Hall was sadly demolished in 1960, but you can still see many features of the old estate such as the entrance avenue, the Old Hall Gardens, the Rosie Pool and a handful of spectacular specimen trees.

Wepre is listed twice in the Domesday Book when it was owned by St Werburgh's Abbey in Chester.

In 1157, Henry II led a huge army into Wales to fight Owain Gwynedd. Henry himself led a small group through Ewloe Woods, hoping to surprise Owain's army at Basingwerk, but was ambushed by Owain's army and narrowly escaped being killed.

Soon afterwards Henry II captured Rhuddlan Castle and so Owain surrendered his lands.

Almost 100 years later, the Normans enclosed Ewloe as a private hunting forest, which enraged the Welsh.

The powerful Welsh Prince of Gwynedd, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, built Ewloe Castle as a statement of defiance but it fell to Edward I in 1277.

Wepre Hall.

There was probably a house at Wepre from the seventh century and certainly by 1430 the sole heiress of the estate was Gwladys, remembered in the nearby hill Pen Gwladys.

Her son, Dafydd ap Edmund, was a poet who won first prize at the Eisteddfod at Carmarthen in 1451 and went on to tutor many young poets, including Tudor Aled, who wrote about St Winefride's Well, in Holywell.

During the Civil War the house belonged to Royalist supporters who supposedly hid Lord Petre in the cellar of Wepre Hall after the Battle of

Rowton Moor in 1645. The Fitzherbert family lived at Wepre Hall for four generations from 1695 onwards.

Wepre Hall was bought Edward Jones, a local man who had made his money from lead in 1788. He demolished the old manor house and built a grand Georgian Hall with nine bedrooms for himself and his family.

Wepre would have been a grand place to live, with fine views across Maes Gweppra, the Great Lawn, to the Dee.

Pheasantries were built near the Hall and Wepre Woods were managed for game.

Pont Aber was moved to its present location by Ewloe Castle, improving access to the Hall.

Edward's son, Major Trevor Owen Jones, inherited the estate in 1815 and made further improvements. Pen Gwladys Dairy Farm was built in 1815 and Wepre Lane, know locally as Major's Lane, opened in 1821.

Wepre Hall.

William Purser Freme, a Liverpool merchant, bought Wepre in January 1865 His son James was a keen game shooter and the official record for a three-day shoot was 2,500 pheasant and wild duck. He built Rosie Pool for sport fishing and also laid out the formal gardens at the rear of the hall.

Fox hunts were held occasionally together with a large pheasant shoot three times a year but access to the estate continued to be by invitation only. For locals the highlight of the social calendar was the Tenants' Ball held each January and in 1911 Wepre was opened to the people of Connah's Quay to celebrate the Coronation of George V and Queen Mary.

The Freme family owned Wepre until 1920.

The tradition of the Good Friday pilgrimage and picnic to Wepre Woods started in 1923 while Ewloe Castle opened to the public for the first time on October 22, 1927.

Wepre Woods were used by the armed forces during the Second World War and so was once again out of bounds until de-requisitioned in 1948. An official re-opening was held on Whit Monday and the Easter Walk was revived the following year.

Coronation day celebrations in 1953 included a procession from St Mark's Church up to Wepre where a sports day was held.

Today Wepre is home to a wealth of wildlife and is free for everyone to enjoy.