South Maesbury before the Canal

The map below is an estimate of what the southern part of Maesbury must have looked like before the canal arrived in 1795. There were just five remote farmhouses bordering the marshland (shown in green), plus a few labourers' cottages that seem to have come and gone as quickly as the labourers themselves. The top centre of the map is the bottom edge of the old village of Maesbury next to the River Morda.

We have a detailed map of Maesbury Hall Farm from 1787 - eight years before the canal, and before the mill. The owner at that time was a Mrs. Barretts.

F. A. Mason* gives some information about the pre-canal era, with some comments added in [ ] :

Maesbury Hall was built sometime in the past and rebuilt in 1714 by Edward Kynaston of Hardwick and at that time known as Dower House for Hardwick, a date stone in the building has his initials on it E.I.K. 1714. Earlier records give the Franks family (later of Rhy-dairy) [or maybe they were already at Rhydairy and this was another branch?] and they may have built the nearby water-mill [but that was almost certainly not there before the canal . . .] In 1830 the Hall was remodelled. . . The first record of the Peate family at the Hall was in 1846 . . . Before Peate's a John Franks - later of Rydairy - owned and ran the mill, plus the surrounding land. [this contradicts his 'earlier records' above . . ]

Llwyn Onn in Maesbury Marsh originally known as Maesbury House a walled in residence with outstanding features dating back to the 1700s, having a gate house called the Lodge, a drive way and nearer the house a cottage which would have been a groom's place. The whole area which included lawns, garden and orchard together with a croft, covered an area of about seven acres stretching alongside the main road as far as what was known in later years as Butchers or Rowlands Lane [now Fir Field Lane]. This was in the 1700s before the canal was put through. [but the 'main road' didn't exist before the canal . . . ., 'Marsh Lane', as it was known in the 1800s, must have ended at the junction of the Llwyn Onn drive and Pentre Maes lane (now Waen Lane), beyond that was just marsh]

Llwyn Onn and the Lodge in December 2005. The map from 1839 shows the driveway bewteen the two. Click on photos for bigger images.
Llwyn Onn	The Lodge
	Left: Waen Farm in 2005, showing an extension to the farm house. The barn on the right has been converted, now part of Body & Face. right: The Fields in 2005	--

* A Little Bit of Shropshire: The Village of Maesbury, 1800-1930 by F. A. Mason, published by Gee & Son, Denbigh, November 2000, ISBN 07074 0350 2.