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<\/a><\/p>\nTheir Denbigh office property specialist Matthew Holmberg, said: \u201cHenblas is a magnificent building which is probably the finest in a village which itself has a wealth of historic properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is quite exceptional and stands in about an acre of beautiful landscaped gardens and has a two-storey barn with a workshop and double garage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has a rich and wonderful history but it is still a lovely house to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n
That echoes the thoughts of owners David Lawton and his wife, Bridget, who have owned the property for 40 years and brought up their five children there.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWe were married 60 years ago in the church in the village but I knew it before then because I was born in Prestatyn and used to cycle up here.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was built for the Morgan family of Golden Grove at the time of the Civil War and actually during the siege of Chester.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has a wonderful history which includes having been used to house German prisoner of war officers in the First World War and evacuees in the Second World War.<\/p>\n \u201cAt one time it\u2019s been owned by the Mostyn family and also by Dennis Vosper MP, Lord Runcorn, who really restored the property in the 1960s after it had fallen into some disrepair.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been happy here and it\u2019s been a lovely home and easily maintained. It\u2019s compact and doesn\u2019t ramble but it\u2019s just a bit too big for the two of us now.\u201d<\/p>\n Lord Runcorn was an old boy of Marlborough College, an exclusive pubic school whose former pupils also include the Duchess of Cambridge, Samantha Cameron, the wife of the Prime Minister, John Betjeman, comedian Jack Whitehall and Mark Phillips.<\/p>\n He even bought several oak tables from the College and used them to re-floor the spectacular hall room on the second floor which is over 40 feet long and more than 17 feet wide and features massive oak cross beams and where one refectory table still survives.<\/p>\n Another notable local resident was Dr Edwin Parry, who lived there in the 19th<\/sup> century and is buried in the churchyard \u2013 he lost both legs in a railway accident but continued to practice from the house.<\/p>\n Matthew Holmberg added: \u201cThere are a number of interesting features to the house which has three floors and a cellar including a carving of a man and a woman above the front door and also some more interesting carving on one of the gable ends.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a verse in Old Welsh near the foot of the exterior wall while at the top there is a carving of a kneeling figure with the date of the house\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all adds up to making this a fascinating property and one of the most unusual \u2013 these sorts of historic houses don\u2019t come on the market very often.<\/p>\n \u201cInside there is some wonderful wood panelling in the dining room, a magnificent oak staircase and a series of spacious rooms, including at least five bedrooms.<\/p>\n \u201cThe house was added to later and there is also a separate lodge which dates from slightly later in the 17th<\/sup> century which is also for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n Local historian Paul Parry believes the house may also have a link to Owain Glyndwr. He said: \u201cThe verse in Old Welsh means \u2018I grew trees round thee to get thee ready for me\u2019 and is attributed to Gruffudd Fychan, Owain Glyndwr\u2019s father.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is buried in the Church and it is believed he could have lived here in the 14th<\/sup> century in an older building which would have been demolished with Henblas built on its foundations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe house was built for the marriage of a daughter of the Mostyn family of Talacre and one of the Morgans, from nearby Golden Grove, probably one of the fighting Morgans who all died in the service of the Royalist cause.<\/p>\n \u201cThe figures above the front door are probably the couple and on the gable end there\u2019s a carved kneeling figure with a scroll coming from his mouth and a Latin text.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a belief that the Morgan who owned the house was the famous pirate Henry Morgan but that\u2019s not the case, he was from South Wales though that didn\u2019t stop someone from digging up the grave of the local Morgan looking for the pirate treasure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be the Morgan who is commemorated on the walls of Chester with Morgan\u2019s Mount, a gun emplacement named after either Captain William Morgan or his son, Edward.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s also said to be a tunnel which leads from the cellar at Henblas across the road and from looking at the ground there does seem to be something underground and if it\u2019s only a drain then it\u2019s a very big one.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information go to http:\/\/www.jonespeckover.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n