Catherine Glynne’s Legacy on Hawarden Estate

Our aim is to make The Glynne amongst the best pubs in Wales and, although that is hard work, it is possible because we’re constantly working on it.

So, here are a few things that we’ve been thinking about and acting on in the last few months.

First, is The Glynne Arms the most historically significant pub in Wales?

Possibly, yes!

It’s been a pub for 212 years and has been called The Glynne Arms since the doors first swung open.

Hawarden is best known for its association with William Gladstone, four times PM to Queen Victoria and regarded by some historians as the most famous man in the world for a large chunk of the 1800s. That’s an amazing association for our small village.

But were it not for the Glynnes, he wouldn’t have ever visited Hawarden, let alone lived here.

The Glynnes first lived in Hawarden, on the site of the castle, in the 1650s.

Mr Gladstone was married to Catherine Glynne in Hawarden in 1839 in a joint wedding with Catherine’s sister, to whom she was immensely close. They remained married for just under 60 years, until William’s death in 1898.

Eventually the estate was inherited by Catherine and William, and ever since, the Gladstones have been associated with Hawarden much more than the Glynnes.

It’s funny really, because the way names used to always change during marriage means that the Glynne name pretty much died out in Hawarden towards the end of the 1800s. But as a family we have always remained here, called Gladstone, not Glynne.

And here we have The Glynne Arms on Glynne Way, and we feel that it’s time to reclaim Catherine’s name by recognizing what a remarkable woman she was; fierce, intelligent, public spirited, chaotic, funny.

There’s so much I could write about her; the more that I discover about my great, great grandmother, the more I like her, the prouder I am of her.

We have brought Catherine to the pub by recolouring the famous portrait of her by Frederick Richard Say (1856) which hangs in my home and putting that onto the beautiful new sign that swings above our storied doors.

We have made postcards and prints of this image, and I have written something about her that will be printed inside the menu.

And, for the first time for many years we have written the name on the front of the pub, exactly where it has been -on and off- for many years of its life. This was done by master signwriter, Rob Walker, entirely by hand. Rob’s skill always blows my mind.

By adding these two beautiful pieces of art and craft to the front of our much-loved pub we hope that people will intrinsically understand that their quality is reflected inside; we could have done this job quickly, and much more cheaply, but we want to do things really well and cutting corners is just not in our DNA.

It turns out that you can sometimes judge a book by its beautiful cover.

The Glynne is truly for everyone, we want it to sit confidently at the very heart of our exceptional village and for you to be proud of it.

I hope you are.
We are!

Charlie