Erddig Museum

Erddig (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɛrðɪɡ]) is a country house and estate in the community of Marchwiel, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Wrexham, Wales. It is centred on a country house which dates principally from between 1684 and 1687, when the central block was built by Joshua Edisbury, and the 1720s, when the flanking wings were added by its second owner, John Meller. Erddig was inherited by Simon Yorke in 1733, and remained in the Yorke family until it was given to the National Trust by Philip Scott Yorke in 1973. The Yorke family had an unusual relationship with their servants, and commemorated them in a large and unique collection of portraits and poems. This collection, and the good state of preservation of the servants' quarters and estate workshops, provide an insight into how servants lived between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The house is also significant for its collection of seventeenth-century furniture; this includes the state bed, a rare surviving example of a lit à la duchesse canopy bed which retains its original hangings and bed cover of silk satin embroidered with Chinese designs. The house was designated a grade I listed building in 1952. The gardens were laid out between 1718 and 1733, and the surrounding park was landscaped between 1767 and 1789. The estate is approximately 1,900 acres (770 ha) in size, and includes part of Wat's Dyke and the remains of a motte-and-bailed castle of the Norman period. A pair of gates, originally located at Stansty Park and attributed to Robert Davies, stand at the end of the garden canal.