HANMER, a parish, in the hundred of MAELOR, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, comprising the townships of Bettisfield,
Bronington, Halgston, Hanmer, Tybroughton, and Willington, each of which is separately assessed for the maintenance of its
poor, and containing 2731 inhabitants, of which number, 546 are in the township of Hanmer, 5 miles (N. E.) from Ellesmere,
on the road from Wrexham to Whitchurch. This parish, anciently called Handmere, and subsequently Hanmere, takes its name
from a spacious mere, or lake, in form resembling a human hand, on one side of which the village is pleasantly situated.
This fine sheet of water covers a space of seventy-three acres, and derives a great degree of picturesque beauty from the
rich woodlands in its immediate vicinity, interspersed with highly cultivated eminences; from the venerable embattled
parochial church, with the circumjacent village; from the principal seat of the Hanmer family, which ornaments its banks
on the one side; and from the handsome mansion erected by Lord Kenyon, on the site of the old house of Gredington, which,
with its extensive plantations and spacious pleasure grounds, adorns its opposite shores. The situation of the village,
and the appearance of the country around it, are strikingly beautiful: the enclosures are small, and the fences full of
fine oak timber, of nearly one hundred years' growth, which gives to the scenery, especially near Gredington, a stately
magnificence of character. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books
at £6. 13. 4., endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £ 200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of Sir John Hanmer,
Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Chad, is a spacious and handsome structure, in the later style of English architecture,
with a lofty square embattled tower: from the numerous shields hearing the arms of Hanmer, which are ornamentally
distributed through every part of the edifice, it was probably erected by that family in the reign of Henry VII. The
interior consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with the two chapels of the Fenns and the Hanmers: the roof of the
church is of carved oak, and those of the north aisle and the Fenns' chapel are elegantly panelled in small compartments,
and richly ornamented with wreaths of flowers, fruit, and foliage. The roof of the Hanmer chapel is of exquisitely carved
oak, and the floor is laid with Saxon tiles: in this chapel are monuments to several of the family, among which are those
of Sir Thomas Harmer, Bart., who died in -1678, and his grandson, Sir Thomas Hanmer, Speaker of the House of Commons in
the reign of Anne: this latter gentleman, who died in 1746, is also well known for his superb edition of Shakspeare's
Plays, with annotations, in six volumes, published by the University of Oxford, to which he presented the manuscript. In
the chancel of the church is a fine mural monument to the memory of Lloyd, Lord Kenyon, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of
King's Bench, who died in 1802: it has a figure of his lordship in his robes, in a sitting posture, under a canopy
supported by well-sculptured figures, emblematic of Faith and Justice. In the north aisle is a monument to the memory of
Mary, widow of the Lord Chief Justice, which presents a figure of Mary at the feet of the Saviour, beautifully sculptured:
both these monuments are from the chisel of Mr. Bacon, Jun., and for beauty of design, delicacy in the draperies, and
spirit in the execution, reflect great credit on the artist. In the churchyard, within an iron palisade, is the tomb of
Luke and Catherine Lloyd, of the Bryn, who lived together in conjugal bonds for the long period of sixty-eight years. Mrs.
Katherine Eddowes, of Halgston, in 1674, gave to Luke Lloyd, Esq., and others, estates in Sesswick and Pickhill, in the
county of Denbigh, in trust, for the support of a schoolmaster, to instruct the poor children of this parish: the estates
at present produce a rental of £30, which is applied to that purpose, and for which all the children in the parish are
gratuitously taught. In 1624, Sir J. Harmer, Bart., bequeathed the tithes of Bettisfield for the better maintenance of a "
learned preacher in the parish church of Hanmer." In 1730, Sir Thomas Hanmer gave £40 to the poor, making, with several
previous donations, the snm of £ 576, which has been invested in the purchase of a farm, and conveyed to the vicar of the
parish and others, in trust, to distribute the annual rental, which is now £ 50, in clothing to the poor of the parish. At
a short distance to the east of the village is Hanmer Hall, the residence of Sir John Hanmer, Bart., a handsome modern
mansion of brick, commanding from the grounds much finely varied scenery, and from a turret by which it is surmounted an
extensive and almost boundless prospect of the surrounding country, extending into no fewer than nine different counties.
About a mile and a half from Hanmer Hall is Bettisfield, the original seat of the Hanmers, an ancient brick mansion,
pleasantly situated, in which is a fine collection of family portraits by eminent artists: among these are, a head of the
late Sir Thomas Hanmer, by Kneller; a portrait of Isabella, Duchess of Grafton, and Countess of Arlington, married to Sir
Thomas Hanmer, in 1698; a head of Sir Thomas Hanmer, the second baronet of this family, and another of his wife Susan,
daughter of Sir William Hervey; a portrait, by Cornelius Jansen, of which the subject is unknown; a portrait, by Kneller,
of Sir Thomas Hanmer, robed as Speaker of the House of Commons; a highly finished head of Charles I.; a three-quarters'
portrait of the same monarch, and of his Queen, Henrietta Maria; a portrait of Lady Hanmer, of Lady Warner a la
Magdalene, and others. About a mile west-south-west from the church is Gredington, formerly a seat belonging to Sir John
Hanmer, from whom it was purchased, in the reign of Charles II., by the Rev. Richard Hilton, vicar of this parish, and
passed by marriage with his daughter to Robert Eddowes, of Eagle Hall, Cheshire, whose daughter Jane conveyed it by
marriage to Lloyd Kenyon, Esq., in 1729, whose second son Lloyd, Lord ,Kenyon, the Lord Chief Justice, built part of the
present mansion, especially a dining-room and drawing-room, with oriel windows, also the stables, and laid out part of the
gardens: the present mansion has been almost rebuilt on the old site by the present Lord Kenyon, after a design by Mr.
Harrison, of Chester, in a style of great elegance, and is surrounded by a considerable demesne, including upwards of
sixteen acres of woodland, of about one hundred years' growth, to which has been added nearly the same quantity within the
present century: the pleasure grounds, including the gardens, which are tastefully laid out, occupy about eight acres,
and about one hundred acres more are laid down in pastures, meadows, and other farming land. The house contains some fine
paintings by eminent masters, among which are portraits, by Romney, of Lord Chief Justice Kenyon, and Lord Thurlow, Lord
High Chancellor; and two curious paintings, by a French artist, of the eldest son and daughter of James II., given by
that monarch to Dr. Kenyon, who, as his physician, attended His Majesty to St. Germain's: in the bosom of the princess is
a nosegay of flowers, painted by her own hand. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor of the whole
parish amounts to 561488. 7., of which, £237. 11. is the proportion raised for the township of Hanmer.