Erddig Hall (; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 acre estate, which includes a 1,200-acre landscaped pleasure park and the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle. Erddig has been described as 'the most evocative Upstairs Downstairs house in Britain' due to the well-rounded view it presents of the lifestyles of all of its occupants, both family and staff. The eccentric Yorke family had an unusual relationship with their staff and celebrated their servants in a large and unique collection of portraits and poems. This collection, coupled with well-preserved servants' rooms and an authentic laundry, bakehouse, sawmill, and smithy, provide an insight into how 18th to 20th century servants lived. The state rooms contain fine furniture, textiles and wallpapers and the fully restored walled garden is one of the most important surviving 18th century gardens in Britain. History The first recorded reference to Wrexham was in 1161 to a castle at 'Wristlesham'. This castle was probably constructed in what is now the grounds of Erddig. The remains of a Norman motte and bailey, constructed around 1090, can be found in the park of the later mansion. The fortress was built on a steep-sided promontory and the ramparts were adapted from a prehistoric hillfort and incorporate a section of Wat's Dyke. The original house was built on a dramatic escarpment above the winding Clywedog river between 1684–1689 to the designs of Thomas Webb for Joshua Edisbury of Pentre Clawdd, High Sheriff of Denbighshire. Joshua Edisbury was forced to borrow large sums to fund the project which resulted in his bankruptcy and, in 1716, he was forced to sell Erddig. John Meller, Master of the Chancery, bought the mortgage on Erddig from Sir John Trevor. John Meller refurbished and enlarged the house (including adding two wings in the 1720s). A staunch supporter of the royal House of Hanover, he treated his neighbours with suspicion in what was a strongly Jacobite locality. On his death in 1733, unmarried and childless, he passed it to his nephew, Simon Yorke ( 1767) (first cousin of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke) thereby establishing an unbroken line of ownership to last for almost 250 years. In 1771, Philip Yorke I began a programme of alterations to the main